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978.8 H14h V.2 1186742

GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC

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3 1833 01066 9460

HISTORY

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STATE OF COLORADO

EMBRACING ACCOUNTS OF THE

PRE-HISTORIC RACES AND THEIR REMAINS; THE EARLIEST SPANISH, FRENCH AND AMERICAN EXPLORATIONS ; THE LIVES OF THE PRIMITIVE HUNTERS, TRAP- PERS AND traders; THE COMMERCE OF THE PRAIRIES; THE FIRST AMERICAN SETTLEMENTS FOUNDED ; THE ORIGINAL DISCOVERIES OF GOLD IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS; THE DEVELOPMENT OF CITIES AND TOWNS, WITH THE VARIOUS PHASES OF INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL TRANSITION, FROM 1858 TO 1890.

IK B^oxjR ^ox^xjm:es.

ILLUSTRATED.

VOIiUME II.

FEANK HALL,

FOR THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN HISTORICAL COMPANY.

CHICAGO:

THE BLAKELY PRINTING COMPANY, 1890.

Entered According to Act of Congress, in the Year iSi)o, by

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN HISTORICAL CO.,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

INTRODUCTORY.

1J8G75:S

When the initial volume of our history was given to the public in June, 1889, it was believed to be possible to issue the second in Sep- tember following. Subsequent researches, however, consumed more time and involved greater labor than had been anticipated, hence it was not completed and published until March, 1890. It was a part of the plan also, to epitomize therein the more important chronicles of some, at least, of the counties, cities and towns originally organized under the Territorial government, continuing the same until the series should be completed, and while this purpose has not been abandoned, its execution is necessarily deferred by the demands of the general history of the Territory and State. Although the annals of several counties have been collated, it was found impracticable to present them here, therefore they are reserved for the succeeding volume.

The first three chapters of this work are devoted to an extremely interesting outline of the geological formation of the land we occupy, prepared by Mr. R. C. Hills of Denver. Although abridged to the narrowest limits consistent with its magnitude, and only designed as a sketch of the more essential features of this great subject, much valuable information is tersely conveyed respecting the primordial conditions of this portion of our continent, beginning with remote ages when the earth was but an incandescent fluid globe, and tracing the marvelous series of (iii)

iv ■ INTRODUCTORY.

mighty evolutions thence to the formation of primitive rocks, down to the emergence of the first dry land when the stupendous ranges of the Rocky Mountains, that are now the wonder and delight of all observers, appeared only in the form of a few small islands lifted above the waters of the vast Palceozoic ocean, onward epoch by epoch, to the stage in which we find them, with extensive notations of the birth of floral and faunal life and their development and decay. The treatise throughout evinces the care of a patient, learned and devoted student, and that the best lights of modern science have been thrown upon it. With the facts before us it is a matter of astonishment that he has been able to compress so much within the limit assigned. Though only the essential details have been extracted from the accumulated evidence, the sketch is remarkably comprehensive and interesting.

In the second chapter a subject that is of greater import, in a com- mercial sense, than any other with which the masses have to deal, — the character and distribution of our coal deposits, — is very clearly defined. In this branch of inquiry Mr. Hills has attained great proficiency through years of close application thereto, hence his deductions may be accepted as the best that have been, or can be formulated in the current stage of development. While he has reduced the enormous areas reported by more hasty examiners to be underlaid with coal, to less than 20,000 square miles of ascertained and workable seams, by the tabulated esti- mates which follow, based upon studious examination of the fields described, we are advised that the supply is practically inexhaustible.

Here, again, he is the first to attempt an approximation of the available tonnage of coal from the more prominent beds, and though accuracy is not claimed, a basis for calculation is thereby afforded, and the reader given an intelligent comprehension of the immense resources of superior fuel stored away in the plains and mountains, for present

INTRODUCTORY. v

and future generations, as has been done by otner well informed geol- ogists for Pennsylvania, Alabama, Illinois, Missouri and other coal bearing States. Taken in connection with his observations preceding and following these tables, we have, in place of wild guesswork, and irresponsible statements, a trustworthy guide that may be followed to rational conclusions.

The chapter which treats of the organization and work of the con- vention that framed the fundamental law of Colorado, and laid the basis of Statehood, was prepared by Judge H. P. H. Bromwell, because it was deemed advisable in view of some recent attacks in our legislative bodies upon certain provisions of that instrument, coupled with a demand for a new convention and a revised charter, to have that subject discussed, and clearly explained, by one thoroughly conversant with the manner of its construction, the men who framed it, and the influences which actuated them in the performance of their duties. It being the earnest desire of all the surviving members consulted, that Mr. Bromwell should be selected, because of his prominence in the convention, and their con- fidence in his desire and ability to give it due and proper consideration for permanent record, he was persuaded to undertake it. The result fully justifies the wisdom of their choice.

During the compilation of this volume, I have been favored with a large collection of historical notes from manifold sources, some of them valuable contributions to the annals of the country, and while the greater part relate to events occurring in the first years of settlement and may be classed as reminiscences, they cannot well be omitted without detracting from the original design of our labors, which is to embrace everything worthy of record in the chronicles of our State and its people. Hence, a place will somewhere be made for them, and also for much other data of a similar character yet to be gathered from counties and

vi INTRODUCTORY.

towns, from which the present and coming generations may be apprised of the struggles and adventures of the men who planted the seeds of civilization here, and how they did it. A few such narratives will be found in the succeeding pages.

And when the best that remain shall have been garnered, may we not anticipate that some one more skilled in literature and romance, will arise and weave them into thrilling song and story, as Joaquin Miller and Bret Harte have done for the Sierras and for California ? Unknown, perhaps, to many who may give these annals attentive reading, we have in our midst one who is pre-eminently endowed with all the qualifications for such a work, if he would undertake it, — Mr. Lewis B. France, who has already published some of the most charming tales of the parks and mountain trails that it has been our pleasure to read, and has in his portfolio unpublished writings in which the public would find still deeper enjoyment. With so much material at command, and with his superior faculty for tracing with infinite delicacy of pathos and humor the lights and shadows of romantic pioneer life, and withal capable of producing scenes of wondrous beauty, they could be made a delight to all dwellers in our land, and to thousands who have only witnessed its rugged outlines. Colorado should be the center and home of Western art, poetry and romance, for nowhere else is there to be found superior attractions of life or environment. Mr. John Howland, Mrs. J. A. Chain, Thomas Moran, Elkins and other artists have furnished some superb pictures ; Mr. Powers a few specimens of fine sculpture ; let us also have some skillful writers of poetry and fiction as supplements to art. Mr. France, " Fitz Mac," Patience Stapleton and a few others have published just enough to indicate their fine capabilities in this direction, but there is a demand for more, which it is hoped will be speedily supplied.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

An outline of Colorado geological history — condition of the continent

at the time of first emergence material of the earliest dry land

in colorado, and its probable origin arch/ean era life of the

ARCH^AN PALEOZOIC ERA — PRIMORDIAL ROCKS IN COLORADO— PROBABLE

LIFE OF THE PRIMORDIAL PERIOD OTHER SILURIAN ROCKS DEVONIAN ROCKS

CARBONIFEROUS AND PERMIAN ROCKS ABSENCE OF COAL IN THE CARBON- IFEROUS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS — LIFE OF THE CARBONIFEROUS APPALA- CHIAN REVOLUTION — MESOZOIC ERA — TRIASSIC ROCKS IN COLORADO — JURASSIC ROCKS — ATLANTOSAURUS BEDS LOWER CRETACEOUS OF TEXAS DAKOTA CRE- TACEOUS IN COLORADO MARINE CRETACEOUS LARAMIE EPOCH. - - l^

CHAPTER n.

Introductory remarks — laramie epoch — extent of the coal measures in

colorado grand river field vampa field la plata field raton field

northern colorado field north park field — canon city, south park,

and tongue mesa districts estimation of the area of the several coal

fields estimation of the probable tonnage of available coal in the

COMBINED COLORADO FIELDS PHYSICAL CONDITIONS ATTENDING THE CLOSE OF

THE LARAMIE EPOCH — LIFE OF THE LARAMIE. 4I

CHAPTER HI.

CeNOZOIC ERA — THE TERTIARY PERIOD GREAT FRESH- WATER LAKES OF THE TER- TIARY EOCENE EPOCH, STAGES AND LIFE DISTURBANCES AT THE CLOSE OF THE

EOCENE— OLIGOCENE OF THE FLORISSANT BASIN MIOCENE EPOCH, STAGES AND

LIFE END OF THE CONTINENTAL REVOLUTION — PLIOCENE EPOCH AND LIFE

TOTAL ELEVATION OF THE LAND — QUATERNARY PERIOD— THE EPOCHS REPRE- SENTED IN COLORADO LIFE OF THE QUATERNARY POSSIBLE EXISTENCE OF MAN

vii

viii CONTENTS.

IN COLORADO DURING THIS PERIOD EVOLUTION OF LIFE THROUGH THE CENO-

ZOIC ERA — ERUPTIVE ROCKS AND PAST IGNEOUS ACTIVITY— ORE-DEPOSITS OF COLORADO CONDITIONS GOVERNING THE FORMATION OF ORE-BODIES — THEORET- ICAL CONSIDERATIONS GEOLOGY OF SOME COLORADO MINING DISTRICTS IRON

ORES OIL-SHALES AND MARBLE MINERALS CONCLUDING REMARKS. - 64

CHAPTER IV.

1872— Success of the narrow gauge experiment— the Denver pacific consoli- dated WITH THE KANSAS PACIFIC OUR FIRST RAILWAY WAR A YEAR OF

RAILWAY PROJECTS CENTRAL CITY ANTICIPATES A GOLDEN FUTURE COMPLETION

OF THE COLORADO CENTRAL TO BLACK HAWK BUILDING OF THE ARKANSAS

VALLEY RAILROAD TO PUEBLO W. I!. STRONG'S VISION OF A GREAT SOUTHERN

METROPOLIS — THE DENVER AND SOUTH PARK RAILWAY NARROW GAUGE CON- VENTION IN ST. LOUIS OLD STAGING DAYS IN COLORADO— J. HARVEY JONES AND

HIS STAGE DRIVERS MOVED BACK BY THE IRON HORSE BANKING AND INTEREST

RATES — EXTRAVAGANCE GIVES WAY TO ECONOMY. 9I

CHAPTER V.

1872 — Founding of manufactures in Denver — john w. smith's woolen mill —

sinking an artesian well — the denver horse railway the denver water

company contracts with the city beet sugar attempts to establish

its manufacture — why they failed organization of free masons and

odd-fellows their struggles to secure a foothold resurrection of

THE STATE MOVEMENT J. B. CHAFFEE's WORK IN CONGRESS MEASURES PASSED

FOR THE BENEFIT OF COLORADO. - - - Ill

CHAPTER VI.

1872 — History of the great diamond swindle — universal excitement — how

THE PLOT WAS engineered THRILLING REPORTS OF WONDERFUL DISCOVERIES

GEMS WORTH MILLIONS DISCOVERY OF A MYSTERIOUS CITY DIAMOND STOCKS

IN SAN FRANCISCO GOVERNOR GILPIn's LECTURE ON THE SUBJECT JEWELS BY

THE CART LOAD CLARENCE KING EXPOSES THE FRAUD — FOREIGN BRILLIANTS

PLANTED IN SUMMIT COUNTY, COLORADO WHERE AND HOW THEY WERE

OBTAINED INTENSE INDIGNATION PHIL ARNOLD PROPOSES TO OPEN COURT

WITH A HENRY RIFLE — GAMBLERS AND GAMBLING. - . . . 126

CONTENTS. ix

CHAPTER VII.

1872 — Review of the year — murder of george bonacina by Theodore meiers

— capture, trial and execution of MEIERS — MURDER OF JOSIAH COPELAND

BY VAN HORN RIOTOUS ATTEMPTS TO LYNCH THE PRISONER HEROISM OF

SHERIFF COZENS — LEGAL EXECUTIONS DOWN TO 1888 — THE FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR m'COOK — APPOINTMENT OF GOVERNOR ELBERT — ARRIVAL OF PRES- IDENT GRANT m'COOK'S SCHEME TO OUST ELBERT REMOVAL OF FEDERAL

OFFICERS— A GREAT POLITICAL UPHEAVAL DETAILS OF THE CONSPIRACY

INVOLVEMENT OF D. H. MOFFAT, CHAFFEE AND ELBERT THE LAS ANIMAS LAND

GRANT. 146

CHAPTER VIII.

1873-1874 — Installation of the new regime — exposure of m'cook's con- tracts FOR supplying THE INDIANS — STRANGE APPROVAL OF A DIVORCE BILL

attempted removal OF TERRITORIAL OFFICERS — APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES BRAZEE AND STONE — INDICTMENTS AND SUITS AGAINST MOFFAT, STANTON AND

COOK, AND THE RESULT — ELBERT's GREAT IRRIGATING CONVENTION PLAN FOR

RECLAIMING ARID LANDS M'COOK'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION THE PRESIDENT

RECOMMENDS THE ADMISSION OF COLORADO INTRODUCTION OF BILLS TO THAT

END BLACK FRIDAY AND THE PANIC OF 1873 — EFFECT ON DENVER BANKS. 166

CHAPTER IX.

HaYDEN'S GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS IN THE WEST — TREATY WITH UTE INDIANS — SUR- RENDER OF THE SAN JUAN MINING REGION — MESSAGE OF CHIEF OURAY TO

GOVERNOR ELBERT BAKER's EXPEDITION AND HIS THRILLING ADVENTURES

LATER EXPLORATIONS FROM ARIZONA — SETTLEMENT OF THE SAN JUAN COUNTRY IN 1872 — FOUNDING OF LAKE CITY. 187

CHAPTER X.

1873-74 — Financial condition of the territory in 1S73 — yields of agri- culture—banks AND bankers — political dissensions — nomination of judge

BROMWELL and T. M. PATTERSON FOR CONGRESS THE SACRIFICE OF BROMWELL

AND THE ELECTION OF PATTERSON PROPERTY VALUES IN 1874— DESTRUCTIVE

VISITATIONS BY LOCUSTS EXTENT OF THEIR RAVAGES DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN

THE BLACK HILLS STAMPEDE TO THAT COUNTRY IN DEFIANCE OF TROOPS AND

ORDERS. - ■--- - 207

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XI.

Some old reminiscences of the founding of Denver — uncle dick wootten and

HIS exploits on the frontier general WILLIAM LARIMER LUCIEN B. MAX- WELL AN IDYL of blue lizard GULCH. 226

CHAPTER XH.

Reminiscences continued — French explorations of Colorado and new mexico

in 1739-40 lives and characters of col. a. G. BOONE, AND COL. JOHN M.

FRANCISCO TOM TOBEN'S SLAUGHTER OF THE MURDEROUS ESPINOSAS SOME

RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD ZAN HICKLIN AND THE REBELLION OF MACE'S HOLE. 246

CHAPTER XHI.

Preparations for the admission of Colorado into the union — the bill

PASSES the house HEAVILY AMENDED IN THE SENATE OBJECTIONS OF EASTERN

PEOPLE SHARP EDITORIAL STRICTURES ON THE COUNTRY PERSISTENT OPPO- SITION THE LONG FIGHT IN THE SENATE m'COOK's EFFORTS TO DEFEAT THE

BILL INFLUENCES OPERATING FOR AND AGAINST IT A MIGHTY BATTLE IN THE

HOUSE — MR. CHAFFEe's SPLENDID GENERALSHIP THE MEN WHO CARRIED THE

MEASURE — m'COOK RESIGNS AND JOHN L. ROUTT IS APPOINTED GOVERNOR

AN ALLEGORICAL PICTURE COLORADO ADMITTED — GATHERING OF POLITICAL

HOSTS. - - 268

CHAPTER XIV.

The CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION SYLLABUS OF MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED

CONDITION OF THE TERRITORY MEMBERS AND OFFICERS OF THE CONVENTION

ORGANIZATION ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT QUESTIONS CONSIDERED AT THE

BEGINNING CHARACTER OF THE DELEGATES APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEES AND

ASSIGNMENTS OF WORK REPORTS RENDERED DISCUSSION OF THE MORE IMPORTANT

PROVISIONS MEMBERS WHO HAVE SINCE BEEN DISTINGUISHED OFFICERS OF STATE

— AN INCIDENT WHICH DETERMINED THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876. 288

CHAPTER XV.

Area and boundary lines ok Colorado — character of the several divisions

gen. j. w. denver, and his stormy administration in kansas adoption

of our state constitution admission proclaimed by the president

CONTENTS.

XI

MEETING OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES — NOMINATIONS FOR STATE OFFICERS AND

FOR CONGRESS THE FAMOUS BELFORD-PATTERSON CONTEST COLORADO DECIDES

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876 — EFFORTS TO DEPRIVE BELFORD OF HIS SEAT IN CONGRESS. - - - 322

CHAPTER XVI.

BeLFORD sworn AND SEATED — THE STRUGGLE FOR THE FORTY-FIFTH CONGRESS —

REVIEW OF THE GREAT CONTEST IN THE HOUSE A LONG AND REMARKABLE

DISCUSSION PATTERSON SEATED EVENTS SUCCEEDING THE RATIFICATION OF

THE CONSTITUTION MEETING OF THE FIRST STATE LEGISLATURE FINANCIAL

CONDITION OF THE NEW STATE — ELECTION OF U. S. SENATORS — SHORT BIOG- RAPHIES OF CHAFFEE AND TELLER ELECTION OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS —

FIRST FEDERAL APPOINTEES — HALLETT, DECKER AND CAMPBELL. - - 342

CHAPTER XVH.

Progress of internal improvements — extensions of the rio grande railroad — short history of the Atchison, topeka & santa fe — companies formed

in pueblo inception of war between the SANTA FE AND THE RIO GRANDE

FORCIBLE SEIZURE OF THE MOUNTAIN PASSES — ENGINEER MORLEY's FAMOUS

RIDE ARMED CONFLICT IN THE GRAND CANON ARREST OF m'mURTRIE AND

WEITBREC — A GREAT BATTLE IN THE COURTS LEASE OF THE RIO GRANDE TO

THE SANTA FE — MANAGER STRONG's AMBITION RENEWAL OF THE WAR JUDGE

BOWEN's WRITS RIOTING ALL ALONG THE LINE TROOPS CALLED OUT. - 363

CHAPTER XVHI.

General palmer's circular — causes of the collision — the rio grande seizes

THE ROAD — GREAT EXCITEMENT — GOVERNOR HUNT's TRIUMPHAL MARCH — BLOOD- SHED AND CONFUSION — JUDGE HALLETT ORDERS RESTITUTION OF THE PROPERTY — FIGHTING AT PUEBLO — DE REMER'S FORTS IN THE GRAND CANON — COL. ELLS- WORTH APPOINTED RECEIVER THE LEASE CANCELED AND PEACE RESTORED

THE UNION PACIFIC AND KANSAS PACIFIC PRO-RATE WAR — A SHORT HISTORY OF THE KANSAS PACIFIC ROAD — JAY GOULd's INGENIOUS OPERATIONS — CHAFFEE'S SPEECH IN THE SENATE — CONSOLIDATION OF THE PACIFIC ROADS — HOW GOULD TERRORIZED THE BOSTON MEN ABSORPTION OF THE DENVER PACIFIC. - 383

xii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIX.

The COLORADO central railroad LOVELAND SEIZES THE ROAD AND SUCCESSFULLY

HOLDS IT HOW IT WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESTRUCTIVE STORMS AND FLOODS

D. H. MOFFAT APPOINTED RECEIVER FORCIBLE ABDUCTION OF JUDGE STONE

CARRIED INTO THE MOUNTAINS BY MASKED MEN ALARMING RUMORS TROOPS

CALLED OUT MOFFAT'S NARROW ESCAPE — STONE's EXPERIENCE WITH HIS CAP- TORS— EXTENSION OF THE ROAD TO FORT COLLINS AND CHEYENNE. - 406

CHAPTER XX.

Primitive records of lake county — two great epochs — organization under

THE territory — GULCH MINING DISCOVERY OF THE PRINTER BOY ORIGINAL

DISCOVERY OF CARBONATES — STEVENS AND WOOD THE IRON SILVER MINES

OTHER IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES THE DAWN OF LEADVILLE GREAT MINES AND

THEIR PRODUCTS OPENING FRYER HILL TABOR, RISCHE AND HOOK — THE ROB- ERT E. LEE GOVERNOR ROUTT FINDS HIS FORTUNE — W. S. WARD AND THE

EVENING STAR. - 525

CHAPTER XXI.

LeADVILLE CONTINUED — INCREASED IMMIGRATION — ORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT

PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS BUILDING OF SMELTERS THE GRANT SMELTING COMPANY

RATES PAID FOR ORES — BEGINNING OF THE BOOM CONDITION OF SOCIETY IN

THE PLUNGING PERIOD COLLAPSE OF THE LITTLE PITTSBURGH— EFFECT UPON THE

COUNTRY THE GREAT MINERS* STRIKE IN 1879 DECLARATION OF MARTIAL LAW

BY GOVERNOR PITKIN. 446

CHAPTER XXII.

Hard times of i876-'77 — dawn of a new era in 1878 — first great immigration

to leadville effect upon the state — building of the clarendon hotel

discovery of robinson mines in summit county tragic death of lieu- tenant governor robinson — completion of the rio grande railroad — discoveries in chaffee, gunnison and pitkin counties — influence of lead- ville on state politics — founding of newspapers banks and bankers

leadville as a smeltingpoint. 465

CONTENTS. xiii

CHAPTER XXIII.

lS7S-'79— REVIEW OF THE YEAR RAPID DEVELOPMENT RETIREMENT OF W. N. BYERS

FROM THE "news" HIS SERVICES TO THE COUNTRY JOHN L. DAILEY TRANSFER

OF THE "news" to W. A. H. LOVELAND DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTION

PROPOSED DIVISION OF THE STATE REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION — F. W.

PITKIN ELECTED GOVERNOR RETIREMENT OF SENATOR J. B. CHAFFEE ELECTION

OF N. P. HILL TO THE SENATE^SERVICES IN THAT BODY. - - - 480

CHAPTER XXIV

Indian affairs — some reflections on the attitude of the government

TOWARD ITS wards VIOLATIONS OF TREATIES FATHER MEEKER's ATTEMPT

TO CIVILIZE THE UTES, AND ITS TRAGIC ENDING — THE MASSACRE OF THORNBURG AND HIS MEN — ARRIVAL OF GEN. MERRITT — MASSACRE OF MEEKER AND HIS EMPLOYES — THE WOMEN CARRIED INTO CAPTIVITY — THEIR RESCUE BY OURAY

AND GEN. ADAMS THE INVESTIGATION SKETCH OF THE GREAT CHIEF OURAY

HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER— CHIEF, STATESMAN AND DIPLOMAT. - - 494

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOLUME II.

PAGE.

H. M. Teller '. Frontispiece.

O. A. Whittemore 1 1^

Louis Dugal 170

E. P. Jacobson 176

John A. Hanna 208

Geo. W. Kassler 210

A. J. Williams 228

George C. Corning 240

Henry Crow 260

J. D. Ward 278

J. H. Platt 284

C. P. Elder 292

W. E. Beck 300

Casimero Barela 312

P. H. VanDiest 324

Alvin Marsh 330

G. W. Miller 332

J. B. Belford . . 342

T. M. Patterson 350

W. D. Anthony 356

Otto Mears 360

PAGE.

D. C. Dodge 364

J. A. MCMURTRIE 368

A. N. Rogers 384

F. B.Crocker 402

A. W. Brazee 417

Iron-Silver Mine 424

H. A. W. Tabor 430

Geo. T. Hook 436

John L. Routt 442

Edward Eddy 446

W. H. James 448

J. B. Grant 45 1

W. H. Bush 454

John Arkins 460

James Burnell 470

John L. Dailey 4S0

F. W. Pitkin 486

Dr. R. G. Buckingham 488

J. P. Maxwell 492

Chas. H. Toll 496

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

CHAPTER I.

An outline of Colorado geological history — condition of the continent

at the time of first emergence material of the earliest dry land

in colorado, and its probable origin arch.^an era life of the

arch^an paleozoic era — primordial rocks in colorado — probable

life of the primordial period other silurian rocks — devonian rocks

carboniferous and permian rocks absence of coal in the carbon- iferous of the rocky mountains life of the carboniferous— appala- chian revolution — mesozoic era — triassic rocks in colorado — jurassic rocks — atlantosaurus beds — lower cretaceous of texas — dakota cre- taceous in colorado marine cretaceous laramie epoch.

When the mineral wealth of Colorado is considered, the impor- tance of her various metalliferous deposits, the immense reserves of her coal measures and mineral resources of lesser note, it becomes apparent how largely the operation of geological causes has contributed to the growth and prosperity of the State. Even the rugged grandeur of the Colorado panorama is but the final expression, rarely more strongly emphasized, of the effects produced by the same causes, acting through countless ages of time.

The geological history of a country, thus favored \\ith the treas- ures of the mineral kingdom, is replete with matters of intense interest not only to the student of science, but to educated and intelligent per- sons generally ; hence, its introduction in a popular form, into these pages, requires no apology. Indeed, rather is it to be regretted, that a subject so nearly related to our industrial development, could not, con-

18 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

sistent with the dimensions of this worlc, be afforded the space it deserves.

It would not be possible, within the limits assigned, to present more than a brief outline of what pertains to the geological record, itself necessarily incomplete, and, as in all newly settled countries, but yet imperfectly interpreted. Without reverting, in more than general terms, to the remote past, when, as we have good reason to believe, the earth was an incandescent fluid globe, or to a period still more remote when, in accordance with the nebular hypothesis, the entire solar system existed as a highly attenuated vapor, it will suffice for the present pur- pose if we follow in chronological order, the successive stages of geolog- ical development, beginning with the appearance of the first dry land in the region now embraced in the State of Colorado.

At that time the continent of North America was mainly sub- merged beneath the sea, although in a general way, its existing con- tour was already outlined in the ocean depths. The most extensive land surface was north of the great lakes. A group of islands, for the most part corresponding to the Appalachians and Adirondacks, stretched southward near the present Atlantic border ; while far to the westward, more remote from the main continental area, and separated by a broad expanse of ocean, were other similar islands corresponding to the Rocky Mountains and neighboring parallel ranges. It is with the most easterly islands of this ancient western archipelago, that we are chiefly concerned ; for they formed a nearly continuous land surface, trending north and south, through the central part of Colorado; areas that were never again completely submerged, the debris resulting from their degradation being found in the sediments of all succeeding geolog- ical periods.

The material of the first dry land consisted solely of granites, gneisses or allied rocks, already highly crystalline even before their emergence from the surrounding ocean.

The granites, and associated crystalline rocks, have a world-wide distribution, being everywhere recognized as the lowest in the geolog-

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 19

ical scale, no pre-existing, or more ancient, types being anywhere exposed to view. They ought not, however, to be regarded as a part of the original, unaltered, or first-formed crust of the earth. The theory of terrestrial evolution at present accepted, as most in harmony with physical laws, requires the first-formed crust to have been a super- ficial consolidation of the original fluid mass, resulting simply from loss of heat ; hence, the earliest rocks were probably similar to known types of highly crystalline lavas, — that is, they belonged to the large class included under the general term eruptives.

The ancient granites and gneisses do not partake of the characters common to rocks which have resulted from lava consolidation ; on the contrary they belong, more properly, to another large class of rocks, apparently produced by the slow crystallization (metamorphism) of sed- imentary deposits, through long-continued subjection to elevated tem- peratures in presence of water, and probably great pressure. These are termed metamorphic rocks, and the granite series may be regarded as the extreme term of such metamorphism, the varieties being, simply, aggregations of easily recognized, definite mineral species. Evidently, the origin of this class of rocks must have been subsequent to the time of first consolidation, or what may be termed the first stage of rock for- mation, and should rather be referred to the second stage, during which, the hydrothermal conditions necessary to metamorphism, first came into existence.

Following the first superficial consolidation, came long ages of con- stant but gradual cooling, accompanied by slow thickening of the solid crust, until finally the temperature of the surface was reduced to the point at which the condensation of water became possible. This was the beginning of the second stage of rock formation. Degradation and sculpturing of the surface began with the advent of water, and, considering the conditions then existing, the effects must have been stupendous ; for the temperature of the earliest seas, probably exceeded the boiling point, while from an atmosphere saturated with steam, and acid vapors, ceaseless torrents of hot rain were precipitated. The sur-

20 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

face of the globe was one vast cauldron. Water was then the all- powerful agent in the work of breaking up, and reconstructing, the material of the original crust. Nor was its action restricted to rapid mechanical erosion. In its heated and highly mineralized condition, it was capable of bringing about wide-spread chemical changes, not only in the nature of the decomposition but in the reorganization of material into mineral aggregates. The water of the ancient seas thus heated, and charged with mineral substances, was doubtless one of the principal factors involved in the metamorphism of the rocks of the earlier series, to which the greater part, if not the whole, of the granite rocks of the globe in all probability belong.

Some geologists even maintain that the hot, saturated water of the primitive seas was \\i& principal agent in the formation of granite and alHed rocks. This view, however, has not received much support, the most general conclusion being that complete metamorphism could only result from the subsidence of sediments to depths where the tem- perature was sufficiently high to induce chemical action. The latter view is, no doubt, most in keeping with observed facts, and may be largely true, yet it will hardly account for the universal and complete meta- morphism of the oldest sediments, or, to speak more plainly, of the ex- istence everywhere of a granite substructure.

The question of the origin of granite is still an open one, conse- quently, its discussion would exceed the scope of this work. It is merely necessary to state here that, beyond doubt, the process of granite formation required the presence of water at comparatively high temperatures, and under considerable pressure, and that the water of the ancient seas was active in bringing about consolidation of the earlier sedimentary accumulations, or was even capable of transforming them to some extent into crystalline aggregates, — that is, of inducing the first stages of metamorphism.

Considering how infinitely prolonged must have been the time during which the above causes were in operation, and also their com- paratively great activity, it is not surprising that the first-formed crust

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 21

has — at least as regards its original character — long ago disappeared, or become deeply buried under vast detrital accumulations long since transformed into highly crystalline granites and gneisses.

The long period of time associated with these changes, probably greater than all subsequent time up to the present, is usually termed by geologists the Archaean Era. The granite rocks of Colorado and other parts of the world, were formed during Archaean times ; conse- quently, so far as we can judge, the first important emergence of the land did not take place until toward its close, and the earliest land areas, as we know them, were really such as existed during the first period of the succeeding or Palaeozoic Era. Hence, our geological history really begins with the dawn of the Palaeozoic, whose successive periods were so many stages in the progressive development of the ancient systems of terrestrial life.

It begins with the earliest record of the actual existence of life, as clearly demonstrated by fossil remains. Regarding the previous exist- ence of life we possess no absolute proof, although there is sufficient evidence, of an indirect nature, to warrant the conclusion that to- ward the latter part of the Archaean, the lower forms of organisms were abundantly represented.

The form and extent of the Colorado land-surface, at the opening of the Palaeozoic, can only be outlined in a general way. The Archaean areas, as defined by Hayden, simply represent the Archaean rocks now exposed, and not the dry land actually existing at the beginning of Palaeozoic times.

Beyond question the dry land of that period must have been much more extensive than at any subsequent time in Palaeozoic history ; for throughout this era there was a gradual subsidence during which an enormous thickness of sediments, derived from the exposed areas through erosion, was deposited. Thus a large part of the first dry land Avas again slowly submerged, and became deeply buried under the con- stantly accumulating sediments resulting from its own degradation.

The map at the beginning of this chapter represents the probable

22 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

form and extent, of the Colorado land-surface at the dawn of the Palaeozoic. The shore contour is merely an approximation, and the area indicated was very much less at the beginning of the succeeding era; while the two main islands, although probably separated during the Silurian, were joined by a narrow isthmus toward the north during or preceding the Carboniferous Age.

Judging from the extent and thickness of stratified rocks, whick could only be derived from this land-surface, through its denudation, the mean elevation must have been very great ; surpassing anything known of like areas at the present day. One can only imagine the landscape of these ancient islands, — if indeed it was ever visible through the dense mists of the humid atmosphere, — to have been marked by extremely high mountains, and very deep gorges, with a general surface rough, water-scored, rocky, and utterly devoid of animal or vegetable life.

All the divisions of the Palceozoic, from the Cambrian to the Permo-Carboniferous inclusive, are probably represented, to a greater or less extent, in the geological sections of Colorado. The lower divis- ions however, appear to be wanting in characters whereby they can be specifically identified or defined, and with the possible exception of the Cambrian have nowhere a thickness approaching that developed by cor- responding Paleeozoic strata in the region of the Appalachians. This statement is true so far as regards this part of the Rocky Mountains ; but the development in the Wahsatch is very much greater, the total thickness of FaL-eozoic strata being reported by Clarence King at 32,000 feet. The Pakeozoic rocks of Northeastern Colorado, — that is, those exposed along the base of the Front Range, — probably do not exceed 1,000 feet in thickness. In Southeastern Colorado, along the Sangre de Cristo Range, they probably attain a thickness of 4,000 feet, pos- sibly more, since the existence of transitional beds — consisting of an enormous thickness of sandstones — renders it difficult to determine where the Palceozoic ends, and the Mesozoic begins. In the Mosquito Range, according to S. F. Emmons, the Palaeozoic rocks develop a total thickness of 4,000 feet; while in the San Juan Mountains of

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 23

Southwestern Colorado, the corresponding rocks have a maximum thick- ness of not less than 15,000 feet. All the Palzeozoic strata were sub- sequently buried under more recent sediments, the latter generally overlapping along the shore-line ; and since the former were deposited on a sloping surface, they were thinner along the old shores than else- where. From which it follows that the thickness exposed will be greatest in localities where the old shore-deposits have been deeply eroded. In describing the Palaeozoic beds of Colorado it will be best to take them in their occurring order, beginning with the lowest in the scale.

SILURIAN SYSTEM. CAMBRIAN OR PRIMORDIAL PERIOD.

Of the Cambrian rocks, or what have been provisionally assigned to this period, the greatest thickness developed is in the San Juan Moun- tains in Ouray County. They consist of quartzites, slates, and quartz conglomerates, aggregating from 10,000 to 12,000 feet in thickness, exposed in the gorge of the Uncompahgre River above Ouray. This great development of Cambrian strata, nearly equal to that observed in the Wahsatch Mountains, is altogether local, probably owing to the fact that the sedimentary beds have been more deeply eroded on the Un- compahgre than on any stream draining the western slope of the San Juan Mountains, except the Rio Las Animas. On the branches of the Rio San Miguel erosion has not even exposed the uppermost of the Palaeozoic strata ; while on the Rio Dolores the Cambrian quartzite is barely exposed in the mouth of Silver Creek, by the erosion of a great anticlinal uplift cut by the river. Rocks, part of which may be Cam- brian, are exposed in the Needle Mountains south of the Rio Las Animas. These three exposures probably belong to one and the same series of beds extending beneath, and hidden by overlapping strata of more recent age. The remaining Cambrian exposures of Colorado, so far as known, are by comparison quite insignificant. Emmons reports only 200 feet in thickness as being developed in the Mosquito Range, and but 50 feet in Manitou Park. Quartzites which Hayden refers to the Silurian, but which may contain some Cambrian, are exposed on

24 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

Grand River between Glenwood Springs and Dotsero, and extending northward, cover a portion of the White River Plateau.

Regarding the Hfe of this period in Colorado little is yet known, and at present its character can only be inferred from the remains abounding in other regions, and which conclusively show the world-wide distribution of the dominant types. The Primordial rocks of the globe contain the oldest known faunal remains, which are represented in Europe, and different parts of Eastern North America, notably also in Nevada and Utah, largely by Crustaceans (Trilobites) belonging to genera of Olenellus, Paradoxides, Olenus, etc. These are associated -with Mollusks, representing species of Brachiopods, Gastropods, Cepha- lopods and Pteropods. The only plants were sea-weeds. Marine worms, and sponges, also made their appearance in this period, and Echinoderms toward its close.

The dominant forms were Crustaceans, which were comparatively numerous, and the individuals of remarkably large size. All of the species, and several of the genera, became extinct at the end of the Cambrian. The oldest rocks of this period contain the remains of a genus of Crustaceans called Olenellus, which, with certain associated forms are collectively termed the Olenellus- fauna, and the horizon at which they are found, the Olenellus zone. Usually, where this zone has been identified in the West, it is underlaid by a considerable thick- ness of Pre-Cambrian stratified rocks ; hence, the probability that part of our Colorado Cambrian may be Pre-Cambrian, or Algonkian as defined by Walcott. It is interesting, in connection with this oldest of known faunas, to note the high degree of perfection already attained by animal life. Contrary to what might have been expected, we find the Crustaceans among the largest of the kind ever known ; while among Mollusks several of the grand divisions of the present time were well represented. These facts lead one to conclude that, between this period and the Archaean, there existed long ages of organic devel- opment of which the record is still wanting, and during which these

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 25

highly organized types were slowly evolved from the primitive forms indirectly shown to have swarmed in late Archaean seas.

The presence of a typical Cambrian fauna in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona, in rocks deposited in the bed of the same sea, renders it highly probable that similar forms abounded along the Cambrian shores of Colorado, notwithstanding the scarcity of fossils in the few localities where they have been searched for.

The remaining Silurian rocks of the West have nowhere attained a development approaching that of the underlying Primordial.

In Middle Nevada, according to King, the Silurian, exclusive of the Cambrian and Quebec, has a total thickness of 2,000 feet ; and, according to the same authority, but half this thickness is exposed in the Wahsatch Mountains. In Colorado but 200 feet is reported by Emmons in the Mosquito Range. It has been identified in several localities in Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico by characteristic fossils, mostly of the age of the Canadian and Trenton Periods of the Lower Silurian (Ordovician).

The rocks are usually limestones which, in Colorado, rarely contain fossils. The limestone exposed just above Ouray on the Uncompahgre, and which underlies, uncomformably, the strata of the Carboniferous there so conspicuously developed, probably belongs to the Post- Cambrian portion of the Silurian, judging from the lithological suc- cession observed elsewhere in the West. Rocks of corresponding age, cover a considerable part of the White River Plateau.

Among the rocks frequently exposed is a pinkish colored sandstone containing numerous worm-burrows, in some places normal to the planes of bedding like the Scolithus of the Potsdam sandstone. Silurian strata, of limited thickness, are often present at the base of the upturned sedi- mentaries, bordering the several Archaean areas, but are not deemed of sufficient importance to demand special mention.

While the evidence of life afforded by the Silurian rocks of Colorado, is of the most meager description, it does not follow that the conditions were altogether unfavorable for its existence, — for, no doubt,

26 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

subsequent alteration of the rocks has had much to do with the oblit- eration of the life-record. In the Appalachian region, and in Europe, the strata of this age afford a marine fauna rich in species. Land-plants, represented mostly by Club-mosses, first made their appearance at about the middle of the age, and in Europe, Vertebrates (fishes) also. These were the precursors of the life which attained such an expansion during the remainder of the Palaeozoic.

DEVONIAN SYSTEM.

This system of rocks, so well defined in Europe and Eastern North America, is, so far as known, barely represented in Colorado. Pinkish, or red-colored, sandstones, bordering the Archaean, near Canon City, appear to contain characteristic Devonian fossils.

The upper part of the beds referred to the Silurian may really belong to the Devonian ; a question which has not yet been decided, owing to the absence of palaeontological evidence. King reports the Devonian quartzite and conglomerate as 2,400 feet thick in the Wahsatch Mountains, and 2,000 feet thick in Middle Nevada. The quartzites and conglomerates exposed around Treasury Mountain, in Gunnison County, may, on the ground of lithological similarity and order of succession, be referred to the Devonian, and for the same reasons the underlying limestones are probably Silurian.

The remarks made with regard to the paucity of organic remains in the Silurian rocks of Colorado are equally applicable to the Devonian rocks. In other parts of the world they abound in fossils, indicating that the earth teemed not only with animal but Avith vegetable life, and with forms much higher in the scale of development than are found to have existed in the preceding age. The land was clothed for the first time with forests of coniferous trees, — with Lepidodendrons, Sigillaria, Calamites and ferns ; while the seas swarmed with Ganoid and Placoid fishes, covered with bony plates or scales, and possessing characters which allied them in part to the reptiles. True fishes (Teleosts) and true reptiles were, however, yet unknown ; nor did the Devonian veg-

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 27

etation reach the exuberant growth which characterized the forests of the succeeding age.

CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM.

The rocks of this system in Colorado are better defined and more evenly distributed than those of either the Silurian or Devonian systems. They are usually separated into three divisions, corresponding to the three periods of this age, viz.: The Sub-Carboniferous, the Car- boniferous proper, or coal measures, and the Permo-Carboniferous. In the Wahsatch Mountains and in Middle Nevada the strata of the three periods aggregate about 15,000 feet, of which about one-half is lime- stone. In Colorado the Carboniferous varies in thickness from a few hundred to nearly 5,000 feet, according to the distance of the exposures from the old shore-line, — or, in other words, according to the amount of erosion. The line of demarkation is generally clearly defined at the base, owing to angular non-conformity with the underlying rocks. At the top of the Carboniferous series it is rarely possible to separate defi- nitely the occasionally fossiliferous sandstones of the Permo-Carbonif- erous from the non-fossiliferous sandstones at the base of the overlying Mesozoic, — that is, the two blend insensibly into one another. The same absence of demarkation is generally observed at the junction of the Permo-Carboniferous with the coal measures. Between the latter and the Sub-Carboniferous the line of separation is usually well defined.

Throughout the Carboniferous exposures of Colorado there exists a common and easily recognized lithological similarity. The Sub-Car- boniferous consists mainly of limestone ; the coal measures of gypsiferous clays and shales, with more or less inter-bedded sandstone, — the latter predominating in Southwestern Colorado, — while the Permo-Carbon- iferous consists largely of variegated sandstones frequently conglom- eritic. Coal is rarely present in the true coal measures, having been observed at only three localities, viz.: Near Villa Grove, in the San Luis Valley, at Aspen just over the ore-zone, and near the head of the Huer- fano River. None of the coal beds are of workable size except the one

28 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

near Villa Grove, and the coal is in each case of inferior quality. Probably the best defined exposure of the entire series of Carboniferous strata occurs on the Rio Las Animas in La Plata County. The series is also well exposed at different points in Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle Counties, especially near Glenwood, and above Dotsero on Grand River, likewise in the Mosquito Range, and along the eastern flank of the Sangre de Cristo Range.

The life of the Carboniferous in Colorado, in common with that found elsewhere in the rocks of this age in the West, was throughout mainly marine ; while in Eastern North America and in Europe the coal measures were mainl)- fresh water deposits, as shown by the numerous seams of coal, and by the remains of a luxuriant land vegetation.

Nowhere throughout the Rocky Mountains does it appear that the conditions necessary for the formation of coal (extensive swamps and exuberance of vegetable life) ever had more than a comparatively brief and extremely local existence. Sedimentation took place either in deep waters surrounding a precipitous coast, or along the shores of seas with strong currents ; in the former case giving rise to calcareous deposits, and in the latter to sandstones and conglomerates. The Rio Las Animas strata are highly fossiliferous, especially below the mouth of Hermosa Creek, where crinoid stems, bryozoans, and characteristic Carboniferous marine shells are quite abundant. The remains of a few land plants, mostly ferns, are present in the exposures along the stage road running from Rockwood to Rico. Permo-Carboniferous shells are abundant at one point in the pinkish, or purplish, coarse sandstone exposed on the hillside a short distance west of Hermosa Creek. Marine fossils are likewise quite numerous in some of the Carboniferous strata above Dotsero on Grand River, especially near the mouth of Sweetwater Creek. Elsewhere in this series fossils are less abundant, though careful search will generally reveal them.

The great Palaeozoic Era terminates with the Permo-Carboniferous, and the close of this period witnessed, everywhere, the extinction not

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 29

only of all Palaeozoic species, but of nearly all the genera. The Permian was the period of transition from the Palaeozoic to the Meso- zoic, — from the ancient life era to the middle life era. In it the types of ancient life still predominated ; while as precursors of the coming life true reptiles made their appearance, amphibious having already appeared earlier in the Carboniferous.

Comparing the Rocky Mountain Palaeozoic with the corresponding era in Eastern North America, these facts are noticeable, — that the amount of sedimentation was much less, — that the conditions for the existence of life were probably less favorable, — that during the coal period the topographical conditions were unsuited to the growth of extensive swamps or marshes, necessary for the formation of continuous beds of coal, and finally, — that the era was not brought to a close by grand dynamic manifestations such as marked the great Appalachian revolution. The transition from the Paljeozoic to the Mesozoic in Col- orado took place without any serious break in the continuity of subsi- dence and sedimentation, so that the non-conformity between the rocks of the two ages is much less strongly marked than that already noted between the Carboniferous and the strata of Silurian or Cambrian Age.

MESOZOIC ERA.

This is the second grand division of time as applied to the develop- ment of terrestrial life, and the third in geological history. The three systems which it includes, the Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Creta- ceous, are all represented in Colorado, the latter especially, beside being the best defined and most extensively developed geological system in the State, is likewise economically considered the most important, for it was the great coal-forming period of Western North America ; in this respect bearing the same relation to Rocky Mountain geology, that the Carboniferous does to the Appalachian.

The close of the Palaeozoic witnessed a marked change in the geog- raphy of the continent. By the Appalachian revolution nearly all the country east of the Mississippi, to the Atlantic shore-line, was perma-

30 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

nently elevated above the ocean level, forming an extensive land area in its main features corresponding to what we now find. In the country west of the Wahsatch, sedimentation continued on through the Triassic, when that portion of the continent also began to rise, and was probably dry land at the beginning of the Cretaceous. In the Rocky Mountain region, however, from Eastern Kansas to the Wahsatch Range, subsi- dence was more or less continuous throughout the entire Mesozoic, and the Colorado land areas were still but islands in the inter-continental sea. The dry land of the far western part of the State, remaining unsub- merged at the close of the Carboniferous, ceased to be such at the opening of the Mesozoic, for we find there the earliest sediments of this era reposing directly on the Archsean ; indicating that this portion had not previously received sediments, and that it was formerly a Palaeozoic island. The depression now represented by the basins of North and Middle Parks, which was probably a submerged area during the Palae- zoic, although without any clearly established ocean connection, was undoubtedly submerged to a still greater extent during the Mesozoic, and formed a large salt-water bay directly connected by a narrow outlet with the main sea to the westward.

The two principal islands shown on the map as probably entirely separated during the early part of the Palaeozoic were, as previously stated, no doubt permanently connected toward the north during the Carboniferous, and so remained throughout the Mesozoic. As all the systems of this era possess points of interest, it will be best to describe them separately, beginning with the beds of the oldest.

TRIASSIC PERIOD.

Of the Colorado rocks referred to this period only the lower, non- fossiliferous portion can be regarded, with any degree of probability, as the equivalent of Triassic beds elsewhere. The middle and upper por- tions, found to be fossiliferous in Southwestern Colorado, are probably the equivalent of similar strata in New Mexico ; referred by Prof. New- berry, on palaiontological grounds, to the horizon of the Rhetic beds of

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 31

Europe, which are considered as passage-beds between the Triassic and Jurassic systems as there developed.

The Rocky Mountain Triassic series has been designated Jura-Trias by Hayden, Le Conte and others, in view of the possibility that the extreme upper portion may be of Jurassic age. There is very little doubt but the upper members of the system as developed in Colorado, are older than the Jurassic of Europe, while the lower members are probably referable to the Triassic proper, so far as they can be separated from similar fossiliferous rocks belonging to the Permo-Carboniferous. This separation is not easy anywhere in the State, and in a few places, notably on the eastern flank of the Sangre de Cristo, the passage-beds between the strata evidently of Carboniferous age on the one hand, and of Triassic age on the other, are probably over 2,000 feet thick west of the Spanish Peaks. To a less extent the same is true all over Colorado where these beds outcrop, — there is always a non-fossiliferous zone of heavy-bedded sandstone, merging into the recognizable Triassic above and into the Carboniferous below, without any defined line of demarka- tion between them.

On the eastern flank of the Front Range the entire series is non- fossiliferous, and rests directly on the Archaean. The strata are assigned to the Triassic principally on account of their position with reference to the overlying Jurassic beds, their lithological character, and prevailing brick-red color. This pronounced coloration, so commonly observed in the Triassic of the Rocky Mountains, has led to their being designated the " Red Beds," a term often applied to the system in the West. The red sandstone so much used for building in Denver is mostly of this age.

One of the most familiar occurrences of Triassic rocks is the red sandstone so conspicuously exposed at the gateway to the Garden of the Gods. The same bed of sandstone outcrops frequently along the base of the Front Range northward to the Wyoming line ; while southward it is found at Canon City, in the Greenhorn Mountains, and along the eastern base of the Sangre de Cristo, where it is continuously exposed, underlying the Jurassic clays and shales as in Northern Colorado.

32 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

The Red Beds are yet more fully developed west of the continental divide. From the northern to the southern boundary of the State, and throughout the western part, in localities high up toward the summits of the mountains, and in the deep gorges of all the principal streams, Triassic rocks are frequently exposed. Among the most noteworthy occurrences may be mentioned those along the main Grand River, and its tributaries, the Roaring Fork and Eagle River.

Conspicuous examples may be seen in the exposures at Red Canon, Glenwood, and North Caiion Creek on the main stream ; and around Mount Sopris on the Crystal River branch of Roaring Fork.

The most complete series of Triassic rocks in Colorado is found in the southwestern part of the State. They are exceptionally well developed on the western slope of the San Juan Mountains, — on the Rio Las Animas, — on the Rio Dolores for a large part of its length, — on the Rio San Miguel, — on the Uncompahgre, in fact, on every prin- cipal stream tributary to the Grand and San Juan.

Probably the most typical section is that seen in the valley of the Rio Las Animas where, in addition to the Red Beds, all the geological terranes of the State, from the Carboniferous to the Wahsatch Tertiary inclusive, are clearly exposed in stratagraphical order, dipping westerly and successively disappearing as they reach the level of the river. In the Rio Animas section the Triassic includes three fairly well marked divisions, consisting of about 1,200 feet of brownish-red sandstone at the base, 200 feet of brick-red sandstone at the top, and at the middle about 200 feet of alternating calcareous conglomerate and drab-colored sandstones. This middle division is the fossiliferous zone of the series, and can be traced northward to the Rio San Miguel; but with the upper division thins out entirely just north of that stream. It does not appear in Northwestern Colorado unless represented by a thin bed of similar conglomerate, containing bone fragments, occurring on Red Dirt Creek near Grand River. The drab-colored sandstones have yielded imprints of land jilants, and on the San Miguel, specimens of imper- fectly preserved fishes probably allied to the genus Catopterus common

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 33

in the Triassic rocks of the Atlantic coast. The bands of conglomerate invariably contain reptilian remains consisting of teeth and scattered fragments of bone.

Throughout the Triassic Period the deposits were formed in shallow seas, and frequently subjected to the action of strong currents ; hence, the conditions were favorable to the production of sandstones and conglomerates, and unfavorable to the production of limestones and other rocks of deep-sea origin. The general absence of the latter, and of the remains of marine life, are marked features of the exposures of this age in the Rocky Mountains.

Reptiles, which first made their appearance near the close of the Palaeozoic Era, are everywhere recognized as the dominant class in the animal life of the Triassic Period, and to have so continued through the remainder of the Mesozoic; for which reason the latter has been appro- priately styled the Age of Reptiles. The abundance of fragmentary saurian remains in the bone-conglomerate of the southwestern part of the State, and the paucity of all other animal remains in the same beds, indicates very strongly that the reptilian was also the dominant form during the Colorado Triassic ; though as compared with other parts of the world the system is less well-defined, and the life but little known.

JURASSIC PERIOD.

The rocks of this period in Colorado are nearly co-extensive with the Red Beds which they succeed, and even in the few localities where they have not been recognized, certain beds are found which may be partly, or wholly, of Jurassic age.

Along the eastern base of the Front Range the system is represented principally by limestones, shales, and variegated clays, of which the uppermost strata are designated by Marsh the Atlantosaurus Beds, from the remains therein discovered of a genus of Dinosaurs, — the most gigantic of known reptiles, living or extinct. The enormous bones of this Dinosaur were first brought to light, by the explorations of Prof. A Lakes, of Golden, in the Jurassic beds along the foot-hills.

34 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

West of the continental divide the beds of this age are litho- logically similar to those of the Front Range, but have nowhere a thick- ness of more than a few hundred feet. They are usually present in the Mesozoic sections of Northwestern Colorado and have been identified by Hayden on the Rio Dolores, and elsewhere in Southwestern Colorado. Typical Jurassic beds have not been reported as occurring in the San Juan Mountains, though on the upper San Miguel a limited thickness of non-fossiliferous strata, sandwiched in between the Red Beds and the Dakota Cretaceous, and containing bituminous limestone, is thought to be of this age.

Along the eastern base of the Sangre de Cristo Range, from the Huerfano River southward to the line of New Mexico and probably beyond, there are exposures of typical Jurassic beds underlying the upturned, and usually quite prominent, Dakota sandstone.

Jurassic beds are likewise well exposed in Wyoming, from which the remains of marsupial mammals have been identified and described by Marsh.

The presence of some limestone in the Rocky Mountain Jurassic indicates the occasional existence of marine conditions. At other times lacustrine conditions prevailed, and the beds may be in part of brackish- water or fresh water origin.

While plant life is not represented, the remains of huge herbiverous reptiles point strongly to a luxuriant growth of land vegetation, probably confined largely to the low marshy shores of the shallow Jurassic seas.

The earliest known forms of mammalian life, the few small marsu- pials which first appeared in the latter part of the Triassic of Europe and Eastern North America, show an increase in the number of species in the Jurassic.

These diminutive forms appear in the Rocky Mountains, for the first time, in the Atlantosaurus beds of Colorado and Wyoming, associated with the remains of great numbers of gigantic Dinosaurian reptiles.

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 35

CRETACEOUS PERIOD.

The Cretaceous is the most extensively developed of all the geolog- ical systems in Colorado, and is, economically considered, also the most important, since it contains our great coal-measures.

The rocks of this age form broad surface exposures, or are found immediately underlying the soil and drift throughout nearly the entire plains country east of the mountain border, the noteworthy exceptions being the eruptive overflows of Las Animas County, — the Monument Creek Miocene Tertiary, on the Arkansas-Platte divide, — the White River Tertiary in the northeastern corner of the State, and probably patches of Pliocene Tertiary along the eastern margin near the Kansas and Nebraska line. They are also prominently developed in the western half of the State, but are not to the same extent exposed owing to the presence of the more recently deposited Lower Tertiary beds occupying the Uinta and San Juan basins. ii8G^42

The Cretaceous system, as defined in the Rocky Mountains, has been separated into a number of well-marked terranes, distinguished from each other by remains of characteristic fossils, and more or less pronounced lithological features. The second epochs recognized are designated as Dakota, Fort Benton, Niobrara, Fort Pierre, Fox Hills and Laramie, — the relative age corresponding to the order given. Orig- inally they were known as Cretaceous No. i to No. 6 respectively.

The Dakota and Laramie terranes,— that is, the upper and lower, — were formed in shallow, brackish-water seas, and contain remains of land plants ; for which reason they are always separated from the interme- diate members, the latter being altogether of marine origin. On this ground some geologists are inclined to combine all of the marine beds into one great group termed the " Colorado," referring all of the Creta- ceous above to the Laramie, and all that is below to the Dakota. The majority, however, restrict the name Colorado to the two lower members, the Fort Benton and Niobrara ; while the upper members, the Fort Pierre and Fox Hills, are by Hayden and others termed merely Upper and Lower Fox Hills. Recently the name "Montana" has been sug-

36 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

gested to designate the group including the upper half of the marine beds, to avoid discarding the old formation name of Fort Pierre, while still retaining that of Fox Hills, both being comprehended under the term Montana group, where it is not possible or desirable to separate them.

A description of all these terranes in detail, would be out of the question, and to economize space they will be referred to as Dakota, Marine Cretaceous, and Laramie ; the latter being the most important economically, will be considered at greater length than the others.

DAKOTA EPOCH.

The Dakota, or lowest of the Cretaceous beds in Colorado, is rep- resented by a varying thickness of sandstone up to 700 feet, the greatest development being in the southwestern part of the State, and the least along the eastern border of the Front Range. Wherever the sedimen- tary beds are upturned on the flanks of the Rocky Mountains the Dakota sandstone can usually be found projecting above the softer overlying and underlying shaly strata, and in Southwestern Colorado its exposures cover a comparatively large area of country. Along the eastern base of the Sangre de Cristo, and west of the Spanish Peaks, the upturned sandstone of this epoch stand up conspicuously above the adjacent country, forming in western Las Animas County what is called the "Stone Wall." Near Golden the Dakota contains the important bed of fire clay, and in Ouray, San Miguel, Dolores, La Plata and Mesa Coun- ties, it contains limited quantities of workable coal The coking-coal near Rico, the semi-anthracite near the mouth of Dallas Creek on the Uncompahgre, and the bituminous coal on the Gunnison near Grand Junction, belong to this epoch. Much of the sandstone used for building and paving is of Dakota age.

In a few places, notably at Golden, it affords remains of land plants, indicating nearness to the shores of a shallow, brackish-water sea. Al- though the oldest of the Cretaceous series in Colorado it is more recent than the Trinity and Comanche beds of Te.xas, — beds which are now

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 37

regarded as the oldest Cretaceous of America. It is worthy of remark, however, that certain pinkish and light-colored massive sandstones," underlying the Dakota proper on the Rio Dolores, the Rio Las Ani- mas, and elsewhere, and reported as Lower Dakota by Hayden, may be the Rocky Mountain equivalent of the Trinity sandstones.

The Dakota Epoch marks the first appearance of the modern types of vegetable life in Colorado. The abrupt introduction of a radically new and dominant flora, differing so widely from that of the Jurassic, points to a great break in sedimentation, and an elevation of the land above ocean level for some distance away from the Jurassic shore-line during the early Cretaceous. While the latter conditions prevailed in the Rocky Mountains, a great thickness of sediments accumulated in Texas and along the Atlantic coast ; represented by the Trinity and Comanche beds of the former, and the Potomac beds of the latter. It is in the last named that the earliest representatives of the modern types of plant life in America first appear, — types from which the existing ones have been, through long ages, gradually developed.

MARINE CRETACEOUS.

Succeeding the Dakota are marine beds consisting of shales, clays, limestones, and near the top, sandstones, aggregating usually from 3,000 to 3,500 feet, occasionally more. They form extensive exposures in Southeastern Colorado, and are prominent in the valleys of all the principal streams west of the continental divide. Along the eastern base of the Front Range, in Northeastern Colorado, the upper part is known to contain Fox Hills, Fort Pierre fossils. The same beds cover large areas in the western part of Kansas and Southern Nebraska, are exten- sively developed in Northern New Mexico, and to some extent in Eastern Litah. In a few localities the shales of the Marine Cretaceous outcrop high up on the mountains, and on the divide south of Mount Wilson there are typical exposures at an altitude of 1 1,000 feet above sea level The lower members of the series, or what would be considered as be- longing to the Colorado group, are well shown in the vicinity of Pueblo,

38 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

and along the valley of the Arkansas River. At Florence near Canon: City the Montana beds contain the petroleum for which that locality is noted.

The Marine Cretaceous of Colorado abounds in the remains of the marine life of the times. Among the most interesting forms were the coiled and straight-shelled Cephalopods, which appear to have existed in vast numbers in the Cretaceous seas, and whose remains are common in many Colorado localities. The order of Cephalopods first appeared in the Lower Silurian, being then represented by the straight-chambered Orthoceras, which was followed later in the Palaeozoic by the coiled Goniatites, Ceratites, Ammonites, Baculites, Scaphites, Heteroceras, Helicoceras, with other genera, appeared in the Mesozoic, and with the exception of Ceratites are all abundantly represented in the Cretaceous beds of the Rocky Mountains and of Colorado. Of the Mesozoic Cephalopods only one genus, the Nautilus, has survived to the present time, although the order is still represented by a greatly diminished number of genera and species. The Cretaceous forms were prob- ably the progenitors of the Octopus, Cuttlefish and other genera of existing seas, and their gradual development from the ancient Ortho- ceras constitutes an interesting and instructive page in the history of marine life.

Of the vertebrate life of the Marine Cretaceous, so far as concerns Colorado, little is known. The rich fauna obtained by Marsh, from the beds of this age in Kansas, no doubt indicates the life common also to the eastern half of Colorado. In what are designated by Marsh, the " Pteranodon beds," are found the remains of huge, toothless, flying lizards, allied to the Pterodactyles. Some species measured twenty-five feet between the tips of the wings. Other remarkable forms from Kan- sas are the Odontornithes, or birds with teeth, either arranged in grooves (Odontolcae), or in sockets (Odontotormae) which were first discovered, and their peculiar characters investigated by Prof. Marsh. Associated with these were countless numbers of Mosasauroid reptiles, highly characteristic of the age in America. They were slender, snake-

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 39

like forms, provided with paddles, and some of the species were probably the longest reptiles that ever existed.

Other kinds of organisms characteristic of the Cretaceous generally were not wanting in Colorado. The chalk of Europe, which consists wholly of the remains of Foraminifera, is not represented, litholog- ically, in the Cretaceous of the Rocky Mountains ; but there are, in Colorado, beds of calcareous shales, which appear to be mostly made up of the remains of Foraminifera similar to those of the chalk. These minute organisms still exist in countless millions, but only under pelagic conditions, or at great depths in the ocean, where the remains form the well-known deep-sea ooze. The absence of Foraminifera from shallow seas points strongly to the deep sea origin of all calcareous rocks con- taining them ; hence we may conclude that during the Marine Cretaceous, or rather during a large part of it, the Colorado archipelago was sur- rounded by deep seas, resulting from the final subsidence of the land which terminated the shallow water conditions of the Dakota Epoch.

With the close of the Marine Cretaceous ended the long period of true marine sedimentation in the Rocky Mountains. Previously there had been two grand revolutions in the geological history of the continent. First, the Appalachian at the close of the Palaeozoic Era. Second, the Sierra Nevada revolution at the close of the Triassic. The third, or continental revolution, may be said to have begun at the close of the Marine Cretaceous ; though for some time there continued to be oscilla- tions of the land, which permitted occasional submergence, for brief periods, by the ocean, and the introduction of marine life. Brackish water sedimentation then began on an extensive scale, and probably con- tinued through the greater part of the succeeding or Laramie Epoch ; the last and most important of the Mesozoic terranes.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

CHAPTER II.

Introductory remarks — laramie epoch— extent of the coal measures in

COLORADO grand RIVER FIELD VAMPA FIELD LA PLATA FIELD RATON FIELD

— NORTHERN COLORADO FIELD — NORTH PARK FIELD — CANON CITY, SOUTH PARK,

AND TONGUE MESA DISTRICTS ESTIMATION OF THE AREA OF THE SEVERAL COAL

FIELDS ESTIMATION OF THE PROBABLE TONNAGE OF AVAILABLE COAL IN THE

COMBINED COLORADO FIELDS PHYSICAL CONDITIONS ATTENDING THE CLOSE OF

THE LARAMIE EPOCH — LIFE OF THE LARAMIE.

The economic map of Colorado, included in the Geological Atlas published by the general government, is based on observations made by the geologists attached to the survey under Prof. Hayden ; and since their work was merely preliminary it is not to be expected that they could do justice to our coal fields, which no doubt ought to have been made the object of a special detailed survey. Indeed, it would have been more to the interest of the State if the matter of our coal resources had not been touched upon ; for nothing could be more unsatisfactory, not to say misleading, than the chapter on lignitic coals contributed by Marvine to Hayden's Report for 1S73, based as it is on a mere inspec- tion of the Northern Colorado districts, which produce the most inferior coals mined in the State. So likewise, with the economic map, in which large sections of country, worthless for coal, are represented otherwise, and highly valuable workable areas are entirely overlooked.

The reports which appear from time to time in the United States Mineral Resources are creditable, and so far as they go, entirely just to Colorado mines ; but they are necessarily largely statistical, and lengthy descriptions, involving comprehensive details, would be out of place in such a work. Yet these reports and those of Hayden, contain the sum of our literature on this important subject. This being the case, where

42 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

shall one who seeks for exact information regarding our coal resources- turn for aid ?

Clearly this question can only be answered when the results of aa organized systematic survey, under State control, shall be given to the public. It would certainly seem that work of this kind, impressed with the stamp of official authority, would at this stage of our progress, be of great benefit to Colorado, and exercise a direct influence on its industrial development.

The lamentable want of trustworthy information, on the subject of our coal resources, is the writer's apology for bringing forward the brief and imperfect description of Colorado coal fields presented in this chapter.

LARAMIE EPOCH.

The strata of the Laramie were for a long time regarded by palseo- botanists as Lower Tertiary, for the reason that the flora first studied, and which was thought to contain many species common to the Eocene (Lower Tertiary) of Europe, was obtained near the very summit of the series ; while the beds near Golden, that have afforded a large number of so-called Laramie species, are now known to be erosionally uncon- formable with the Laramie proper. The Golden beds extend over a large area in the Denver basin, and are hence termed the Denver Beds.

The question of their age is still unsettled. The flora is regarded by Newberry as Upper Laramie, a conclusion supported by the decidedly Mesozoic aspect of the vertebrate remains in which the Dinosaurs pre- dominate, though there are a few forms which in their affinities approach, nearer to Tertiary types. At present, however, so far as regards the Laramie proper, few will question the propriety of its assignment to the uppermost Cretaceous, which makes it the closing epoch of the Mesozoic Era in Western North America.

The terms, "Post-Cretaceous," and, "Lignitic," often applied to the Laramie series, are now nearly obsolete, the former for the reasons just stated, and the latter for the reason that it originated in the erroneous, impression that the coals were merely lignites ; whereas, it is now well

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 43-

known that all the varieties of bituminous coal common to the Carbon- iferous are common to the Laramie also. What the Carboniferous is to the Appalachian region and to Europe, the Laramie is to the Rocky Mountains, it being, pre-eminently, the coal-bearing formation through- out the West.

The deep sea conditions of the Marine Cretaceous ceased with the beginning of the Laramie, when sedimentation took place in shallow, brackish-water seas, or alternated with periods during which extensive swamps, covered with an exuberant growth of semi-tropical vegetation, served for the accumulation of vast peat-like deposits, which were after- ward submerged and covered with sediments.

This alternation of conditions, due to the irregularity of the sub- siding movement, continued throughout the Laramie, or up to the time of the continental revolution, which closed the Mesozoic and permanently elevated the western half of the continent above the ocean level.

The rocks of the Colorado Laramie have everywhere nearly the same lithological characters. There is usually at the base, — and directly over- lying the Marine Cretaceous — a stratum of sandstone, from lOO to 200 feet thick, massive in the upper half, and often containing fucoidal remains (sea-weeds) in the lower half. Above this basal band of sand- stone, which is much used for building purposes, are others, separated from each other by shale-beds of varying thickness. These alternating shale-beds gradually decrease in thickness until, finally, at a distance of from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the base, sandstones largely predominate. The workable coal-seams are confined to the lower portion of the form- ation, or to the lower 1,500 feet. In Northeastern Colorado there is also a series of shales and sandstones which has been referred to the Upper Laramie, and which contains coal, — seams of workable thickness, but too inferior in quality to furnish a marketable product. The Lower Laramie ranges in thickness from 3,000 to 5,000 feet; the Upper Lar- amie about half as much more, although the line of separation between the two formations is, to a great extent, arbitrary.

44 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

EXTENT OF THE LARAMIE COAL MEASURES.

The amount of exact information available, regarding the extent and development of the Laramie, is very insufficient, and rather a matter of surprise considering its importance as a coal-bearing formation, to Colorado and the prairie States. Of the area of available measures still less is known, so that the tabulated estimates given beyond are approxi- mative only, and liable to considerable modification whenever systematic surveys shall have demonstrated the full extent of what is doubtless destined to become the most valuable and lasting of our mineral resources.

While the workable measures throughout the State, excepting a few isolated areas in the Dakota, are probably of contemporaneous origin, they are not continuous, but are divided by areas of denudation, and by the main range of the Rockies, into six distinct fields; viz., the Grand River field, — the Yampa field, — the La Plata field, — the Raton field, — the North Park field, and the Northern Colorado field ; besides three small but important districts, hereafter mentioned, and a limited area in the Dakota Cretaceous of Southwestern Colorado, which is like- wise included in the estimates.

GRAND RIVER FIELD.

This field is so named for the reason that the most valuable, as well as the most accessible, part of the measures is situated on the drainage of Grand River, and its tributaries in Gunnison, Pitkin, Garfield and Mesa Counties ; although a large, but less accessible, part of the field lies on the drainage of White and Yampa Rivers.

Beginning at the southern extremity of the field near Crested Butte, where valuable beds of anthracite and coking coal are worked, the out- cropping measures can be traced with but little interruption, around Mount Carbon, to the mines of domestic coal at Baldwin, and thence westward to Mount Gunnison, where, on Coal Creek, large seams of semi-coking coal are exposed. From Mount Gunnison the outcrop con- tinues westward across the North Fork of the Gunnison River and

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 45

around Grand Mesa to Hogback Canon on Grand River, about sixteen miles above Grand Junction. From Hogback Canon to the Utah line the outcrop conforms to the trend of the Little Book Cliffs, along which the measures are traceable to Greeh River ; and extending beyond, prob- ably underlie a large part of the country east of the Wahsatch Range.

Along the opposite margin of the field the outcropping coal-seams are also readily traceable. Sweeping westerly from Crested Butte they skirt the western slope of the Anthracite Range, the southern base of the Ragged Mountains, and appearing for a short distance on Crystal River, again trend westward into Coal Basin. From Coal Basin north- westerly, the measures outcrop along the Huntsman's Hills, through Jerome Park, and on to Pifion Basin and Newcastle. At this point the Laramie exposures following the course of the Great Hogback, cross to the north of Grand River, and pursuing a northwesterly — and then a northerly — course, continue uninterruptedly to White River, where the coal-seams are well exposed a few miles below Meeker. From there the outcrop trends, in a great elliptical curve, northward in the direction of the Yampa, and continuing the curve, again appears on White River a few miles below the mouth of the Pi-ce-ance. Thence it follows the course of the Uinta fold across the State line into Utah, and on to Green River. This is substantially the outline of what is the largest and most important of known Rocky Mountain coal fields, or rather the boundaries of the Colorado portion of it. Regarding the Utah extension of this field little is known beyond the existence of workable coal at a number of points between Green River and the Wahsatch Mountains ; indicating the probable continuance of large areas of accessible measures as far west as that range.

The coals of the Grand River field show a wide variation in char- acter and composition, although throughout they are found to be of very superior quality. The Anthracite Range and Ragged Mountain coal, as also part of what is contained in the limited area on Crystal River, and on Slate River near Crested Butte, is anthracite and semi-anthracite of excellent quality, but variable in thickness and contained in beds much

46 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

broken and fractured, so that but a small part of the total anthracite acreage can be profitably worked in the regular way. So far as known, the total area of available anthracite and semi-anthracite, will not exceed 3,000 acres, unless further exploration in the Elk Head Mountains and Grand Mesa, should develop a larger area than these localities now show. In Coal Basin and northward along the eastern border of the Huntsman's Hills, also in Jerome Park, the coal is an excellent coking variety, and the seams that are of workable size and accessible, aggregate as much as thirty feet of clean coal. From the southern extremity of Coal Basin to the northern end of Jerome Park, a distance of nearly twenty miles, the seams furnish only coking-coal. To what distance back of the outcrop the coal will continue to be of this character can hardly be conjectured ; nor is it yet clear to what cause the alteration of the coal in this district is directly attributable beyond the probability that it was induced by the intrusion of the dykes, and large masses of eruptive rock, which occur in that neighborhood. For economic purposes it is unnecessary to specu- late on the distance to which the coking-coal extends beyond the working limit, and there can hardly exist a doubt of its retaining its character to that extent.

In Coal Basin the seams have an inclination of from 9° to 15°, and can be mined, in places, a long distance back of the outcrop. North from Coal Basin the seams soon become highly inclined, having a dip of about 40° in Jerome Park, so that there the limit of profitable working will be sooner reached than in Coal Basin. Altogether, the total area of available coking-coal in this district may reach thirty-five square miles. In the Crested Butte district the area of coking-coal is quite small, the seams graduating into dry domestic coal on one side and into semi- anthracite on the other.

From Jerome Park, along the Great Hogback, to the head of the Pi-ce-ance, there is a noticeable increase in the inclination of the meas- ures. At South Canon, Pinon Basin, Newcastle, and Dry Gap, the dip is about 57°, while at Rifle Creek Gap it is not less than 80°. From there the dip gradually diminishes until it is about 30° at the upper

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 47

■exposures on White River. The inclination of overlying conformable strata, everywhere indicates that the dip of the coal measures decreases rapidly after leaving the outcrop, a fact which explains the absence of high inclination in Coal Basin where the beds have been eroded to a distance of several miles back of the general line of the exposures.

The character of the coal along the Hogback varies considerably in the different seams, though it all belongs to the class known to the trade as "domestic," being similar to the European varieties, "splint," and " cherry," the best adapted of all soft coals for domestic uses. As a rule, the upper measures furnish the cleanest and dryest coal, while the lower, owing to greater thickness, are capable of producing the largest quantity. The dry coals of the Canon City and Pifion Basin type, which coke but slightly or not at all, are usually less sooty than semi-coking coals, and these in turn than coking-coals, which form too much soot to use as a domestic fuel. Hence the importance of the Garfield County product, which is well suited to meet the requirements of the growing demand from the prairie States.

The total thickness of available coal along the Great Hogback exceeds what has been observed elsewhere in the Colorado fields, the measurements made at a number of points indicating about fifty feet as the average aggregate thickness, for while in places it is greater, the added amount will usually include more or less impure and unmar- ketable material.

North and west from Meeker, in fact, so far as regards all the •countr)' north of White River, the measures are generally but slightly inclined, or of medium inclination, becoming highly inclined near the Utah line, under the influence of the Uinta fold. The coal possesses the same characters observed in the seams of Garfield County, being exclu- sively of the domestic kind. This part of the field has been but little explored and in no place has the entire series of seams been opened up ; consequently, in assigning an average workable thickness of coal, the true thickness cannot be given. It may be assumed, however, that the minimum thickness of tweh'e feet, the least anywhere observed where

48 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

openings have been made, will not exceed the true amount, and it is highly probable that future explorations will prove the latter to be much greater.

The slightly inclined or nearly horizontal measures of the south- western margin of the field includes the entire outcrop between Mount Gunnison and a point about five miles west of Hogback Canon en Grand River, with the addition of limited areas near Baldwin and Crested Butte. Along the Little Book Cliffs, north of Grand Junction, the inclination reaches, in places, i8°, which is the maximum dip observed in that part of the field. With the exception of the limited area in the Crested Butte district, which contains coking-coal and anthra- cite, and possibly a small section of country near Mount Gunnison, the whole of the coal of the southwestern border is of the semi-coking kind, and of good quality for domestic requirements.

The thickness of available coal, assigned to this portion of the measures, is partly based on measurements, and partly assumed. On the North Fork of the Gunnison the aggregate thickness of workable beds is known to be as much as fifty feet ; but around the western extremity of Grand Mesa only an aggregate of fifteen feet has been discovered. Taking into account the possible existence of unworkable areas around the comparatively unexplored Grand Mesa outcrop, which is to some extent troubled by a great eruptive overflow, an aggregate available thickness of twenty feet is thought to be a conservative estimate. With the central part of the field we need not concern ourselves, since it is buried under from 5,000 to 10,000 feet of later sedimentary accumu- lations, and is therefore practically inaccessible.

YAM PA FIELD.

This field contains a total area of about 950 square miles, and is situated altogether on the drainage of the Yampa River. Though separated from the Grand River field by an area of erosion, it was probably at one time continuous with it, and also with the Southern Wyoming field, with which it may still be connected beneath the

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 49

eruptive overflow of the Elk Head Mountains. Including a fractional part of the Wyoming field, which extends southward into Colorado, the total area will approximate i,ioo square miles.

At present writing not a single productive mine has been o^Dened in this field, and beyond the few shallow openings from which farmers and blacksmiths are supplied with fuel, the explorations are superficial and unimportant. Natural exposures showing a workable thickness of coal are quite common around the margin of the measures, and also in localities where they have been deeply eroded by water-courses. On the north side of the Flat-Top Mountains there are four workable seams exposed in a vertical distance of less than loo feet. In the region of the Elk Head Mountains the coal has, in a few places, been altered to anthracite, and semi-anthracite, by the intrusion of thick sheets of eruptive rock into the adjacent strata during a former period of eruptive activity. On the head of the Dry Branch of Elk Head Creek the out- crop of a seam of anthracite, from seven to eight feet thick, has been drifted into at several points in a distance of about 1,500 feet, showing a very good article of fuel ; to which, however, little value can be attached, until the existence of a large available area has been demonstrated, owing to the uncertainty of anthracite occurrences depending on the proximity of lava intrusions, and the necessity of a certain assured quaatity to justify railway extension to so remote a point. Other, but smaller, seams of anthracite are exposed, about fifteen miles distant, on Elk Head Creek, but are of doubtful economic importance, as the coal soon changes into a bituminous variety.

The soft coal of this field is essentially of the same character and composition as that of the Grand River field, being a slightly-coking domestic coal of excellent quality.

The average thickness of available coal assigned to this field is thought to be justified by the known thickness exposed at various points around the outcrop. It should be noted, however, that a very careful survey will be required to determine, even approximately, the total quantity of available coal, principally owing, to the presence of numerous 4 II.

50 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

flexures, and consequent irregularities of dip, which bring to the surface and make available, considerable areas in the central part of the field.

LA PLATA FIELD.

The La Plata field has been but little explored, being remotely situated with reference to trunk lines of railway, either present or pros- pective. As defined on the accompanying map it includes all the known Laramie exposures lying north of the New Mexico line, and is really the Colorado portion of a larger field extending beyond the State boundary southward. The area of the La Plata field in Colorado is estimated at J, 2 50 square miles.

The greater part of the outcropping measures are but slightly inclined, especially in the Rio Mancos and Rio San Juan regions. On the Rio La Plata the inclination of the beds is generally less than 10°. East of the Rio Las Animas the dip increases, and on the Rio Florida the measures are highly inclined. Openings, exposing a work- able thickness of coal, have been made on the Florida, Animas, La Plata, on Cherry Creek, and at a number of points in the vicinity of the Man- cos ; while natural exposures of thick coal are frequently met with, and are quite noticeable on the San Juan.

The general character of La Plata coal remains to be investigated. The sample tested by the War Department — by a method which is open to serious objections, since all fuels are subjected to the same treatment without regard to character or composition — indicated the evaporating power to be near that of Trinidad coal, which is considered by the trade to be above the average as a steam fuel. In all probability the most of the coal from this field will be of the semi-coking kind, owing to distance from centers of eruption, the exception being that which occurs in the neighborhood of the La Plata Mountains, and which at Durango is a true coking coal. It may be stated here that the result of observation on Rocky Mountain coals proves, beyond question, that the several varieties owe their origin to different degrees of alteration, produced in common lignite by the direct, or indirect, influence of neighboring

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 51

eruptive masses, and that the amount of alteration is greater the nearer the measures are situated to eruptive centers.

Until the La Plata field shall be more thoroughly explored, it will be impossible to estimate the thickness of available coal with any degree of certainty. The so-called " Mammoth " vein at Durango, which is of extraordinar)' thickness, is really an aggregation of small seams sepa- rated from one another by bands of shale, on the whole capable of pro- ducing large quantities of coal. Other seams of workable size, but higher in the measures, have also been exposed in the vicinity. So far as known, the Mammoth coal beds, except in a contracted form, are not continuous through the entire field, but are confined to the region about Durango ; hence, the total thickness available in that district, is phe- nomenal, and ought not to figure in an estimate of the total available coal. At the best, any estimate that can be given will be little more than a guess, and such it must be candidly admitted is the nature of the one presented beyond, which is therefore merely intended as a substitute for the more accurate figures which future surveys may be expected to furnish.

RATON FIELD.

The Colorado portion of the Raton field has been more thoroughly explored than any other coal-containing area of corresponding size in the State, consequently the statements here presented are thought to approach very closely the actual facts.

In calculating the total area of available and unavailable measures in this field, all that portion lying north of the Cuchara River, and west of the meridian of La Veta, has been rejected as not coal-bearing to a workable extent. So also the extensive area of Laramie beds lying east of the 104th meridian, which are represented by Hayden as coal bearing, but which up to the present time have not been shown to contain seams of workable thickness. The propriety of including such large areas of barren measures in the coal land of the State is open to question. No useful purpose is served thereby. As well might we include the whole of the Dakota Cretaceous, because it contains workable coal in South-

52 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

western Colorado. Wherever a workable thickness of coal can with reason be supposed to exist, that portion of the measures should cer- tainly be included as coal land, no matter what limit we may, for the time being, assign to the available coal ; for we know not but the requirements of coming ages, aided by vastly improved methods of mining, may indefinitely extend this limit. Excluding, also, about thirty square miles for the eruptive areas of the Spanish Peaks and Raton Mountains, the entire field in Colorado will embrace a total of 1,300 square miles. East of Gray's Creek the margin of the measures has not been carefully outlined, so that the above figures may be in error to the extent of a few square miles ; a contingency that will not materially affect the available tonnage, since the coal in that part of the field is thin, and the calculations are affected more by length of accessible out- crop, irrespective of smaller meanderings, than by width of area. Throughout the remainder of the field the margin has been located, with a fair approach to accuracy, by reference to established section corners, — a work for which the State is indebted to the enterprise of the Colo- rado Fuel Company.

The least important part of the measures outcrop just east of the base of the Sangre de Cristo Range, and extend from the northern line of New Mexico, west of the Spanish Peaks, to a point a short distance south of Veta Mountain, beyond which the seams cease to afford a workable thickness of coal, or at least such has yet to be found. Along the northern extent of this outcrop the inclination ranges from 40° to 80", and at present coal is only mined for local con- sumption on Middle and Indian Creeks. West of the Spanish Peaks, for a distance of nine miles, intrusive sheets of lava have transformed the coal into natural coke, too poor in quality and irregular to be of any economic value. About a mile north of Coal Creek the eruptive intrusions terminate, and from there southward the seams are of work- able size, but inclined, in places, as much as 25°, — a dip less desir- able in mine workings than one much greater. A large number of

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 53

superficial openings demonstrate fairly well the continuity of the coal and its semi-coking or domestic character.

Along the eastern margin of the field, which is now the scene of extensive mining operations, we find the workable coal thinning out a few miles south of Badito. In the next township east the coal has a persistent thickness of about five feet and an inclination of 14°. The inclination diminishes rapidly going southward, rarely exceeding 7° along the next fifteen miles of continuous and well defined outcrop, which extends through Townships 28 and 29, in Range 66.

This part of the measures includes the important mines of Rouse, Walsenburg and Pictou. At the two last mentioned localities there are three productive coal beds, aggregating about fifteen feet in thickness, known respectively as the Cameron, Walsen and Robinson seams. Of these the Cameron seam, the lowest in the measures, affords the best quality of coal. This seam, which is only thirty-nine inches thick at Walsenburg, expands to six feet at Rouse, where it is the only coal mined, and in fact the only workable seam, the others being transformed into coke by lava intrusions. At Santa Clara, and beyond nearly to Canon Salada, it is still of workable size, aggregating, with the Walsen seam, thirty-five feet above, about ten feet of coal.

Between Canon Salada and the Apishapa the outcrop has been scorched by intrusions of lava, and probably not to exceed an average of three and one-half feet of coal will be extracted from it. In the Apishapa Valley there are two seams exposed, aggregating about eleven feet of coal.

All the coal in the above districts is of the slightly-coking domestic kind, varying in quality with the different seams, the lower or Rouse- Cameron seam affording the best coal for domestic purposes, mined in this field. The Apishapa Valley coal cokes more strongly than the Rouse and Walsenburg coal, and will be found more sooty, but it is nevertheless a good quality of coal.

In the district south of the Apishapa, embracing the Canon de Agua, Stock Canon and Road Canon mines, there is an upper as well as

54 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

a lower series of workable seams. The former contains the best quality of coal, of about six and one-half feet in thickness, while the latter series aggregates about twelve feet. South of the Apishapa the coking char- acter of the coal becomes more pronounced, improving its value some- what for steam purposes, but rendering the product less desirable as a domestic fuel. Such is the character of the most of the coal from the district just mentioned. There is also considerable true coking-coal of fair quality, but drier if anything, than Engleville or Sopris coal. Be- tween Road Canon and the Purgatoire River, — a district which includes the Chicosa, or Tingly Canon mines, — the measures usually afford a workable thickness of coal, strongly-coking in character, but yet too dry- to make beehive coke.

Where the outcrop crosses the Apishapa the inclination is about 17°, but decreases rapidly westward or away from the outcrop. In the districts south of the Apishapa the inclination in no place exceeds 7°.

In the Trinidad district there are usually two workable seams present, occasionally three, belonging to the lower series ; and always one and often two belonging to the upper Cafion de Agua series, out- cropping from 800 to 1,000 feet higher in the measures. None of these seams maintain a continuous workable thickness over large areas, but as there are quite a number in the section, at least twenty-seven being known, one or more in a given locality will be found of workable size, though not corresponding to the thick coal developed in the adjoining ground. The present workings clearly indicate the variability in thick- ness. At Engleville the coal is won from the lowest bed in the measures, while at the Starkville, Sopris and Valley mines, it is some one of the higher seams of the lower series that has the greatest productive capacity. Up to the present time nearly all the coal e.xtracted from the mines of this district has been taken from seams ranging from six to nine feet in thickness, usually about five and one-half to seven feet of this amount being available. Trinidad coal produces a hard, extremely dense coke, and is much used as fuel for locomotives.

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 55

Adjoining the Trinidad district on the west, is the Purgatoire River district, in which the lower series of seams does not outcrop. This district may be defined as a strip about twenty miles long, of varying width, extending up the valley of the Purgatoire and including several of its lateral branches. Here, the nearly horizontal measures have been deeply eroded, so that both from the valley itself and the principal side canons the lower series of seams can be easily reached through shafts, while the upper series can be mined directly from the outcrop. By this means a large area of land, probably as much as 135 square miles, will eventually be made available.

The varieties of coal contained in the Raton field, although probably of contemporaneous origin with the lignite-coals of Northern Colorado, show a much higher degree of alteration, evidently due to the influence of numerous dykes and intrusions, which are everywhere met with, the greatest alteration being noted at Trinidad, where the great overflow of the Chicorica Mesa seems to have played an important part in the process.

NORTHERN COLORADO FIELD.

This field, as here defined, is a strip forty miles wide, extending from the Wyoming line southward to Franceville, and having a total area of about 6,800 square miles. It does not include the entire extent of Lar- amie rocks, nor yet more than a portion of the immense tract in North- eastern Colorado represented as coal land on Hayden's economic map. Here we again meet with the necessity of establishing a line between what may reasonably be considered coal land and adjacent areas of barren or utterly worthless measures ; and since the change from one class to the other is not abrupt but gradual, and takes place at inaccessible depths, there is room for considerable difference of opinion as to where this line should be drawn. The limit here suggested, of a line forty miles east of the western outcrop, and having the same general contour, will, it is thought, approximately define the extent of the coal basin in Northern Colorado ; for while it is known that workable seams are nowhere exposed along the eastern border of the Laramie, thin beds

56 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

which may eventually be worked for local consumption, are exposed at both the northern and southern extremities of the field at a distance of about forty miles from the western margin.

All of the accessible outcrop north of Boulder is but slightly inclined, as also most of that in the vicinity of Erie, Louisville, and Lang- ford. In the neighborhood of Franceville and Colorado Springs the inclination is from 7° to 10° with a tendency to flatten out away from the great fold of the Front Range. The remainder of the outcrop, or that lying contiguous to the mountains, is upturned from 40° to 80°.

In what may be termed the Franceville district, the workable coal ranges from six to ten feet in thickness. Along the highly inclined out- crop, and in the Boulder County districts the aggregate thickness is greater ; but in the more northern part of the field the beds thin out, being only three to four feet thick at Plattville and Eaton.

All the coal from the Northern Colorado field is intermediate in char- acter between lignite and cherry-coal, in composition approaching the former ; in structure and appearance, the latter. The principal ob- jection that can be urged against it is its capacity for absorbing moisture, which varies from twelve per cent, in that from the Boulder County dis- tricts, to over twenty per cent, in the more inferior qualities from other districts. Such hygroscopic coals invariably disintegrate on exposure for a short time to the atmosphere, for which reason they are poorly adapted for either storage or exportation. At the same time they find a ready sale in the nearest markets on account of their cheapness.

The amount of available coal which this field may contain, is not easy to estimate. Notwithstanding the thinning out of the beds in the northern half, their accessibility, even in places far to the east of the out- crop, coupled with the requirements of the treeless region in which some areas are situated, may eventually render profitable the working of quite thin seams. What the limit will prove to be can hardly be conjectured, and for the present must be taken at the thickness that can be mined under existing conditions.

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 57

The districts lying in Boulder County contain a number of small tracts, of slightly inclined measures, separated from one another by faults or abrupt flexures, whose origin is to be referred to the dynamic movement accompanying the final elevation of the Front Range, and a certain amount of eruptive activity indicated by the Valmont dyke. This part of the measures affords the best quality of coal in the Northern Colorado field ; hence, notwithstanding the disturbance to which much of the ground has been subjected, it will no doubt be thoroughly exhausted before abandonment.

The upturned measures probably contain the greatest aggregate thickness of coal so far as one can judge from the limited amount of exploration, yet for several reasons they can hardly be considered economically accessible below a depth of half a mile. The extreme southern part of the field possesses on the whole the most merit, except in the quality of the product. The coal is of fair workable thickness, while the slight inclination of the beds renders it possible to mine it eco- nomically for several miles back of the marginal outcrop. There is also a noticeable absence of abrupt folds, faults, and displacements, such as are common in the Boulder County districts, and which are a serious obstacle to extended continuous operations.

While the Northern Colorado field contains a vast quantity of available coal, and has the advantage over all our fields of nearness to markets, the inferiority of the product places it below both the Grand River and Raton fields in importance to the State, — a fact which will become more and more evident as the country develops.

NORTH PARK FIELD.

This field, like the Yampa field, has been but little explored, and up to the present time no systematic work on the seams has been attempted. The measures extend from the northeastern border of the North Park basin, — where there are exposures of coal between the Canadian and Michigan Rivers, — as far south as Grand River in Middle Park, where very thin streaks of coal are met with around Hot Sulphur Springs.

58 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

The measures of economic value are, however, restricted to the North Park basin and the region on the head of Muddy Creek around Mount Wheatly. The most accessible part of the field, and that which contains by far the greatest aggregate thickness of coal, is the northern extremity. Between the Canadian and Michigan the measures are brought to the surface by an anticlinal flexure, from the apex of which they dip in opposite directions about 15°. To the northeast of this flexure there is a synclinal depression, about three miles broad, termin- ating in the marginal outcrop, where the beds again come to the surface. For a distance of about twelve miles along this outcrop seams of lignite- coal are exposed naturally or by excavations. There are apparently three workable beds in this part of the field, — the Red Hill seam, from twenty-one to thirty-two feet thick, the Coal Hill seam, fifteen feet thick, and the Walden seam, four to five feet thick ; all of which are remark- ably free from shale and other impurities.

The composition of North Park coal is decidedly lignitic, the moist- ure retained ranging from twelve per cent, to eighteen per cent, in which respect it corresponds to the coals of the Northern Colorado field, although when first extracted it is black and lustrous like ordinary soft coal, hence the term, "lignite-coal" to distinguish it from true lignite, which is not known in Colorado. The estimate of available coal in this field, given beyond, is not based on a thorough exploration of it : conse- quently, the figures are merely suggested as probably within reasonable limits.

OTHER DISTRICTS.

The areas of coal land remaining to be noted embrace those isolated districts which cannot be included in any of the great fields ; at the same time they are severally too limited in extent to be treated as so many independent fields. These are the South Park, Canon City, and Tongue Mesa, districts. They are estimated to contain collectively fifty square miles of available measures.

The South Park district includes the mines which, for a number of years, have been systematically worked near Como. The principal seam

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 59

is from five to six feet thick, and produces a strongly coking-coal of fair quality ; probably the best mined in Northeastern Colorado. The measures have been considerably disturbed in the vicinity of the mines, but the district may develop better ground when its capabilities shall have been further investigated.

The Canon City district is the best known of the three, having for years produced a very superior variety of domestic fuel, which finds a ready sale in the market, and has served to establish the importance of the vast reserves of this kind of coal so abundant in the measures of Western Colorado, and in the northern part of the Raton field. Most of the Canon City coal is taken from a seam about five feet thick, having usually a varying thickness of shale toward the center, and is mined from a number of openings on Coal Creek and Oak Creek, about four miles southward from Florence. Along the western border of the district the beds are upturned at a high angle, but flatten rapidly toward the eastward, and over the greater part of the area the measures are but slightly inclined, so that nearly the whole will in time be made available.

Tongue Mesa district includes a long, narrow strip of land, elevated and capped with lava, lying between the Cimarron and Uncompahgre Rivers. There are four workable seams ranging from five to twenty feet in thickness, reported as outcropping on the south side of the Mesa. A small amount of coal has been mined for local consumption ; but the location is too remote, and the quality of the product, so far as known, too inferior to make it desirable as an export fuel. Like the bulk of Western Colorado coal, it is semi-coking, but will not form coke.

The following statement exhibits, in a condensed form, the area and available capacity of the Colorado coal fields, based on the most reliable data obtainable. In making these estimates the economic limit of one- half mile from the general line of outcrop is assumed for highly inclined measures; for measures dipping from io° to 20' at from one to two miles, according to the amount of inclination away from the outcrop, and the thickness and quality of the coal. For horizontal or slightly inclined measures, four miles is assumed to be the working limit for

60 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

thick coal, and three miles for beds from three to four feet thick only. An exception may be noted in the case of the upturned measures of the Great Hogback, where the enormous thickness of superior coal, the depths of the gorges, or points of attack, below the mean level of the outcrop, and general accessibility, makes it reasonable to assume that the seams will be worked to an average distance of one mile. In the Raton field, which has been carefully meandered, the small areas in advanced position, relative to the points of attack, have been calculated and added to the total. Owing to want of accurate data it was impos- sible to do this in the case of any other field. The least workable thick- ness is assumed to be three feet, for although smaller seams are worked even now under very favorable conditions, they cannot be followed with profit beyond a short distance.

The above limits may appear to many engineers much too circum- scribed, even when measured by European standards of the present day without taking into account the more advanced engineering methods of the future. But we cannot anticipate the possibilities of the latter ; neither would it be reasonable to apply the former under the conditions existing in this country. Moreover, on the same ground, we might object to the estimates made on other coal fields. On the whole the figures here given are thought to possess a comparative value, though there can be no doubt that they will be considerably modified by the results of future surveys.

ESTIMATED AREA OF COLORADO COAL FIELDS.

SQUARE MILES.

Grand River Field (Colorado portion) 6,950

Yampa Field, including part of Wyoming Field in Routt County 1,100

La Plata Field (Colorado portion) 1,250

Raton Field (Colorado portion) 1,300

Northern Colorado Field , 6,800

North Park Field 300

South Park, Canon City, and Tongue Mesa Districts 100

Dakota Measures (Southwestern Colorado) 300

Total 18,100

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 61

ESTIMATED QUANTITY OF AVAILABLE COAL IN COLORADO FIELDS.

ACCESSIBLE AREA AVAILABLE

LOCATION. IN SQUARE MILES. GROSS TONNAGE.

Grand River Field (in Colorado) i,ii6 26,384,800,000

Yampa Field 440 5,961.500,000

La Plata Field (in Colorado) 300 3,387,200,000

Raton Field (in Colorado) 473 4,490,200,000

Northern Colorado Field , 405 2,568,600,000

North Park Field So 1,806,500,000

Caiion City, South Park, and Tongue Mesa Districts 49 429,000,000

Dakota Cretaceous Measures 50 169,300,000

Total 2,913 45,197,100,000

Total net tonnage, or 75 per cent, of gross estimate 33,897,800,000

It will be interesting to compare the above figures with the estimate of Dr. H. M. Chance, on the available bituminous coal of Pennsylvania. The total area of coal land is calculated at something less than 9,500 square miles, which includes 470+ square miles in the anthracite fields. No reliable estimate has yet been made of the amount of available anthracite.

The net available bituminous coal is placed at 22,908,000,000 long tons, — equal to 25,657,000,000 short tons, — the limiting thickness being three feet, and the maximum distance from the outcrop two miles where the beds are not less than four feet thick. The distance limit, it will be seen, corresponds to the maximum assumed for beds, inclined from 10° to 20° in Colorado, where, in most of the accessible measures, the tendency is to flatten out away from the outcrop. In Pennsylvania the working limit is largely determined by the depth below water level ; but in the dry Colorado climate, with extensive areas of slightly inclined measures elevated above the surrounding country, and to some extent drained of surface water, the working limit will in most cases be determined rather by the cost of mine haulage ; consequently, where coal has been assumed as accessible, at a distance of four miles from the outcrop, it is obvious that, under the circumstances, it will be made available before the fields are exhausted.

The available bituminous coal of Alabama has been estimated by Mr. Henry McCalley at 108,394,000,000 tons in the seams over eighteen

«2 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

inches thick. Evidently there is a vast amount of coal in Alabama, but the assumed limited thickness is so small that no fair comparison can be made between Mr. McCalley's estimates and those given for Colorado and Pennsylvania. The States u^hich rank Colorado in area of coal land are, according to Ashburner : Illinois, with 36,800 square miles, and Missouri with 26,887 square miles; while Iowa, Kansas and West Virginia are not far behind, having 18,000, 17,000 and 16,000 square miles respect- ively. In all these States, except West Virginia, the coals are of inferior quality when compared with our own.

With the composition of Colorado coals, and the causes operating to produce the several varieties, we shall not now attempt to deal ; such subjects can only be discussed intelligently from a purely scientific stand- point. The foregoing brief review of our coal fields, is merely intended to give the reader a general idea of the magnitude of our resources in that direction.

Conclusions naturally suggest themselves. The vast reserves of fuel will play a more important part in the future prosperity of the State than all our metalliferous deposits combined ; for the supply is practically inexhaustible, and the market a large and growing one.

The physical conditions attending the close of the Marine Creta- ceous and the opening of the Laramie, foreshadowed the great conti- nental revolution, which permanently elevated the Rocky Mountain region and adjacent plains country above the ocean level.

During the early part of the Laramie, especially west of the conti- nental divide, we find marine conditions to have alternated with brackish- water conditions. There were times when extensive swamps and marshes stretched away, probably a hundred miles, from the permanent shore- lines. There were also intermediate periods when the conditions were favorable to the existence of a purely marine fauna, and so we find beds containing coal, and the remains of land vegetation, interstratified with others containing marine shells ; indicating that the land was subject to oscillations of level, and occasional incursions of the ocean. In the Jiigher horizons of the Laramie, evidence of these alternating conditions

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 63

no longer exists, and the organic remains are of typical land, or brackish- water forms.

Several hundred species of fossil plants, indicating the luxuriant vegetation of this epoch, have been collected in Colorado localities, notably in the Raton Mountains, at Rouse, in the Boulder County districts, at Golden, in the vicinity of Crested Butte, and on Crystal River. The Denver beds, overlying the coal-measures, are rich in species, referred by Newberry to the upper part of this epoch.

Most of the Laramie genera have their representatives on this con- tinent at the present day; but certain types like the Fig, Magnolia, Cinnamon, Fan-Palm, etc., common in Laramie beds, indicate a warmer climate than now exists ; a difference that may be attributed to the low- ering of temperature consequent on the elevation of the land.

The vertebrate life of the epoch included chiefly reptiles. The Dinosaurs, regarded as characteristic of the Mesozoic, are still dominant, but in diminishing numbers and highly specialized forms. A genus of huge horned Dinosaur, the Ceratops, existed all along the Rocky Mountains, several individuals having been found in the Denver beds which for this reason are regarded by Marsh as probably of Laramie age, although this question has not yet been definitely settled.

Mammalian life appears to have been mainly restricted to small marsupials, of which quite a number of species have recently been described by Marsh, from what are considered to be Laramie beds of Wyoming. This is the first discovery of abundant mammalian remains in Cretaceous strata, although similar types were already known from the Jurassic of Colorado.

In their affinities nearly all these Laramie forms were allied to their earlier representatives, and in nowise foreshadowed the highly organized true mammals, which suddenly appeared in vast numbers at the beginning of the Tertiary.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

CHAPTER III.

CeNOZOIC era — THE TERTIARY PERIOD GREAT FRESH- WATER LAKES OF THE TER- TIARY EOCENE EPOCH, STAGES AND LIFE DISTURKANCES AT THE CLOSE OF THE

EOCENE OLIGOCENE OF THE FLORISSANT BASIN MIOCENE EPOCH, STAGES AND

LIFE END OF THE CONTINENTAL REVOLUTION — PLIOCENE EPOCH AND LIFE

TOTAL ELEVATION OF THE LAND QUATERNARY PERIOD — THE EPOCHS REPRE- SENTED IN COLORADO LIFE OF THE QUATERNARY POSSIBLE EXISTENCE OF MAN

IN COLORADO DURING THIS PERIOD — EVOLUTION OF LIFE THROUGH THE CENO- ZOIC ERA — ERUPTIVE ROCKS AND PAST IGNEOUS ACTIVITY— ORE-DEPOSITS OF COLORADO — CONDITIONS GOVERNING THE FORMATION OF ORE-BODIES — THEORET- ICAL CONSIDERATIONS — GEOLOGY OF SOME COLORADO MINING DISTRICTS — IRON ORES — OIL-SHALES AND MARBLE — MINERALS — CONCLUDING REMARKS.

CENOZOIC ERA.

This is the third grand division of geological time as applied to the development of life, although the fourth in geological history. The Cen- ozoic is divided into two periods, viz., the Tertiary and Quaternary. The first finds remarkable representation in the fresh-water lake-beds of the West, which have yielded so abundantly of well preserved mamma- lian remains, and thus enabled palseontologists to trace, step by step, the ancestry of many existing species. The Quaternary beds are also well represented, but have not yet been studied in detail.

The elevation of the interior part of the continent was brought about by successive stages of upheaval, beginning at the opening of the Laramie, and terminating at the close of the Tertiary. The first eleva- tion ceased when the bed of the inter-continental sea had about risen to tide-level. By the second upheaval, at the close of the Laramie, the entire region lying east of the Wahsatch, and west of Middle Kansas and Nebraska, was finally elevated beyond the reach of ocean waters.

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 65

The dynamic movement accompanying the second stage of conti- nental upheaval, produced a certain amount of folding parallel with the axes of the Wahsatch and Rocky Mountain Ranges. In the region between these ranges broad areas were depressed, and became the basins of three immense fresh-water lakes. These basins have been called, respectively, Green River, Uinta and San Juan. The first was confined to the country north of the Uinta uplift ; the second covered North- western Colorado, and a large part of Eastern Utah; while the third covered the southwestern corner of Colorado, and extended into New Mexico. During the early Tertiary the lakes of the San Juaii and Uinta basins may have formed a continuous sheet of water; or, as gen- erally supposed, the former was merely an extension of the latter during the Lower Eocene Epoch. A fourth, but smaller lake occupied a basin lying between the Sangre de Cristo and the southern continuation of the Wet Mountains. The last is known as the Huerfano basin.

Throughout the epoch of the Lower Tertiary (Eocene) there was a steady accumulation of sediments, in the Green River and Uinta basins, until the deposits attained a thickness of 10,000 feet. In the Huerfano basin sedimentation probably ceased at the end of the Middle Eocene, and in the San Juan basin at the end of the Lower Eocene.

While sedimentation appears to have continued almost without interruption through the Lower Tertiary, it is obvious that great cli- matic changes must have taken place, to have so thoroughly individualized the groups or stages, which it includes ; for not only are these each- litho- logically distinct from the others, but there is in each case a marked dif- ference in the character of the vertebrate remains, — so much so, that the latter can usually be relied on to determine the relative age of the beds.

The several groups which have been shown to possess distinct lithological and faunal characters, are known, respectively, as the Wahsatch, Green River, Bridger and Uinta. The two last find but meager representation in Colorado, but the former, which are the oldest, cover large areas in the western part of the State, being well exposed along the White, Grand and San Juan Rivers. 5 II- •

66 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

Underlying the Wahsatch of Northwestern New Mexico, are dark- colored marly beds, about 500 feet thick, called by Cope the Puerco group, which are thought from the faunal remains to be still older than the Wahsatch stage.

The Wahsatch beds or lowest Eocene, consist of variegated clays, marls, shales and toward the base, sandstones. The Green River beds consist of highly bituminous shales and marly limestones, usually exhib- iting a very continuous, thin lamination, suggesting the name "Book Cliffs" to the extensive exposure of these beds on Grand River. Some of the Book Cliffs strata are so rich in condensible hydro-carbons as to yield up to thirty per cent, of dark brown oil on distillation ; and the rock, when piled up and ignited, burns with a bright tlame like poorer varieties of cannel coal. The well preserved fossil fishes, so commonly seen in the Denver curiosity stores, are from the beds of this group in Wyoming.

Bordering the Great Eocene lakes were dense forests, which afforded protection and subsistence for countless numbers of strange animals of types long since extinct. Some idea of the variety and abundance of mammalian life, in Colorado and the adjacent country, during this epoch, may be gained from the fact that the species already recognized, in the remains from the three basins just mentioned, must be double the number now existing on this continent. Many of the Eocene species were of gigantic size, and possessed of remarkable char- acters. Tapir-like forms appear to have predominated. Remains of the Coryphodon, a genus of Ungulates without specialized characters, and common in the Eocene of Europe, are common in the Wahsatch deposits of Colorado, but are entirely confined to this horizon, which has, in consequence, been designated by Marsh the, "Coryphodon beds." Remains of the earliest representatives of the Horse family, of the genus Eohippus, are also found in the same beds ; while the remains of another genus, the Orohippus, more nearly allied to the modern Horse, are found in the Bridger beds of the Middle Eocene. Others of still more modern type, are found in higher members of the Tertiary, the

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 67

approach to the modern form increasing as we ascend, until in the Qua- ternary the species all belong to the existing genus Equus. The evolu- tion of the Horse is one of the most interesting of the well-established facts that palaeontology has given us, — facts which have had great influence in moulding the present accepted theory of the origin of species.

The Green River beds contain remains of fishes, plants, and insects but so far as known, none of mammals. The nature of the life, and the lithological composition of the Green River group, point to the presence of brackish-water in the middle and northern of the great Eocene basins during this stage ; indicating that they had become so far depressed as to be connected with tide-water through the western outlet.

The succeeding or Bridger beds are noted for containing abundant remains of the remarkable order, named by Marsh, the Dinocerata. These animals were of elephantine size, and related somewhat to the Coryphodon of the Wahsatch. They bore on the head three pairs of horn core-like prominences, which may have served for the attachment of horns, but are generally thought to have been simply covered with a layer of thick horny skin. In addition, they were armed with sharp, strong tusks, curving downward and backward. Though of great size and power, they possessed, like most Eocene mammals, an exceedingly small brain, and were consequently very low in intelligence. Great numbers of these animals inhabited the Green River basin, during the Bridger Stage, but disappeared entirely at its close ; for which reason the horizon has been designated by Marsh the "Dinoceras Beds." Between the Green River and Bridger beds. King reports a slight non- conformity ; indicating an interval marked by disturbances, which suf^ced to elevate the basins above sources of brackish-water ; hence, during the Bridger Stage, sedimentation took place in fresh water, and the mammalian hordes again roamed the shores of the Eocene lakes.

The Uinta beds (Upper Eocene) are well exposed on Lower White River, where they consist of sandstones and brownish clays and

68 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

marls. In Colorado there are soft strata of doubtful age, exposed on the Blue and Muddy Rivers in Middle Park, which Hayden has assigned provisionally to this group but which are probably of later age. Of the faunal remains from these beds, those of the Diplacodon, a genus of tapir-like mammals, are the most characteristic, which led to the horizon being designated the "Diplacodon beds."

The Eocene lake bed of the Huerfano basin, already mentioned, is of quite recent discovery, and the relation of its Eocene deposits to those of the great basins west of the Rocky Mountains, remains to be studied in detail. Among mammals the Tillodonts, which range from the Puerco up into the Bridger, are represented in the Huerfano beds. These peculiar mammals combine the general characters of Ungulates with the enormously powerful incisors common to Rodents. They were termed by Leidy, who first described them, "gnawing hogs." Carnivores, true Rodents and Lizards of the genus Glyptosaurus, like- wise existed in the Huerfano basin during the Eocene Epoch. Glypto- saurus includes certain species of extinct reptiles having the head and body covered with small tuberculated, enameled bony plates. So far as known, the Huerfano beds are the only fresh-water Eocene deposits lying east of the Rocky Mountains.

Throughout the Lower Tertiary, except in the beds of the Green River group, remains of numerous species of Ungulates and Carnivores, are common ; also of Monkeys and Rodents, many of the later species being more specialized types of allied forms already extinct.

One of the most prominent characters of early mammals and birds, as Marsh has shown, was the remarkably small size of the brain, when compared with that organ in existing species. There was, however, a notable increase in size during the remainder of the Tertiary, while Quaternary mammals had a brain capacity nearly equal to that of their modern allies.

The close of the Eocene in Colorado witnessed great changes in the topography of the land. The ranges were considerably elevated, and the strata on their flanks, — already more or less tilted by the con-

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 69

tinental movement at the end of the Mesozoic, — thrown into great folds, either parallel or coincident with pre-existing lines of plication. At the same time, the region between the Rockies and the Wahsatch was elevated, and drained of its ancient lakes. East of the Front Range, the immense horizontal pressure, developed by the mountain- making movement, caused the formation of extensive areas of depres- sion in the adjacent plains country, and a corresponding elevation of the land further to the eastward. These depressions became the basins of the Miocene (Middle Tertiary) lakes; in which were deposited the sedi- ments now known, respectively, as the Monument Creek, and White River beds.

In the South Park region, at Florissant, there is a limited extent of beds believed, from the organic remains, to be intermediate between the Eocene and Miocene, or to belong rather to the epoch of the Oligocene. These beds abound in the remains of plants and insects, and have afforded several species of Fishes of the genus Amyzon, which has led to their being designated by Cope the "Amyzon beds."

The depression containing the White River beds lies mostly beyond the Colorado boundary, in Nebraska and Wyoming. The Monument Creek beds lie wholly in Colorado, covering a considerable area of country, east of the Front Range, between Denver and Colorado Springs. Both of these groups belong to the lower Miocene, with the probability that the Monument Creek beds may correspond to the lower part of the White River group ; the horizon of the Brontotherium beds, — so named from the characteristic remains of a gigantic two- horned mammal, allied to the tapirs and to the Dinoceras of the Eocene.

The upper part of the White River beds does not contain Bronto- therium remains, but affords another genus equally characteristic, and restricted to that particular horizon ; viz., the Oreodon, an animal allied to the Hog, Deer and Camel. Hence, this portion of the White River group has been called the Oreodon beds. The Lower Miocene fauna, also, included new species of the Horse family, many new Carnivores,

70 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

Rhinoceroses, Tapirs and Rodents, with the earliest of American Beavers.

Of the later Miocene beds none are represented in Colorado, these being confined to the Pacific coast, the Atlantic border, and the Gulf States.

In the interval preceding the opening of the Pliocene, or Upper Tertiary Epoch, additional dynamic movement occurred, other depres- sions were formed, and further elevation took place. But this was the last mountain-making movement of any importance ; and, except that it has in places been deeply scored by erosion, the country has essentially the same orographic features now that it had in the Pliocene Epoch.

The Pliocene deposits of the West include the lower, or Pliohippus beds, and the upper, or Equus beds, so called from the characteristic remains of these genera of the Horse family. It has not yet been shown that either of the divisions is extensively exposed in Colorado, outside of the North Park basin, although certain limited deposits on the Huer- fano, and probably others in Eastern Colorado, belong to the Pliocene Epoch. The North Park beds cover a large area in the North Park depression, and on the Platte River in Southern Wyoming, but according to Hague, only develop a thickness of a few hundred feet.

The life of the Pliocene in this region may be inferred from the many species described from the Nebraska and Wyoming beds. These include several species of the Horse, Camel, Deer, Rhinoceroses, pow- erful Carnivores like the Tiger, an Elephant (Elephas Americanus) and the first Mastodon. The deposits of the Huerfano basin have recently afforded well-preserved remains of both the Horse and Camel. Many of these animals were of a size surpassing their living representatives, but were afterward overshadowed by the giants of the Quaternary.

The existence of man in California, during the Pliocene, has been maintained by no less an authority than Prof. Whitney, from the finding of flint implements, and human bones, in supposed Pliocene gravel. Others, however, who have examined the evidence express doubts of its authenticity. (Dana.)

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 71

The termination of tlie Pliocene brings us to the close of the Tertiary Period. Mountain-making movement had ceased, but elevation of the Rocky Mountain region probably took place, to a limited extent, even after the Pliocene. From the close of the Marine Cretaceous to the close of the Tertiary the elevation of the land in Colorado, due to conti- nental movement alone, amounted to about 6,000 feet, while in the mountains this was supplemented by about 5,000 feet more, due to crumpling up of the strata. So in a few localities, notably on the head of the Rio Dolores, near Mount Wilson, and on the head of Crystal River, we find the Cretaceous beds tilted up on the flanks of the mount- ains to an elevation of 11,000 feet above sea-level.

QUATERNARY PERIOD.

This is the last chapter in our geological record, and its closing epoch brings our history up to the present time. The Quaternary in America begins with the great ice-age, — the Glacial Epoch. At that time all of Northern Europe, Including the British Isles, together with the northern half of this continent, as far south as Ohio and Pennsyl- vania, was covered to a great depth with a continuous sheet of Ice, whose duration In time was doubtless very great. The southern limit of the Ice-field Is marked by a deposit of boulder drift, called the "terminal moraine." Over all the country lying north of the moraine the rocks have been fluted and scratched by the steady southward march of the ice-stream.

With the final melting and breaking up of the North Polar Glacier, came the Champlain Epoch, — a time of great floods, and of the distri- bution of immense quantities of the material, which for ages had been carried forward by the Ice. The Drift Epoch In Europe, — the equiv- alent of the Champlain in America, — was succeeded by the Second Glacial Epoch, of much shorter duration than the first. Evidence, by no means conclusive, Is not wanting of the existence of a Second Glacial Epoch in America ; and by some geologists this Is beginning to be regarded as a settled fact. The record left by the extinct glaciers of

72 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

our own mountains, if anything, tends to support this view. Colorado lies far to the south of the great glacier limits on this meridian ; but the higher mountains, then as now, must have had a climate similar to less elevated regions far to the northward, or within the glacial limits. Hence one might conclude that a time of general glacial in the north would be represented by a time of local glaciation in our own mountains.

Evidence of the former existence of glaciers can be observed any- where in the mountain regions where the elevation exceeds 7,000 feet, and occasionally local glaciers have crept down into the valleys as low as 6,000 feet. The First Glacial Epoch may be represented by broad glaciated areas, often covered with heavy boulder-drift, such as we find on the White River Plateau, in the country just west of the Ragged Mountains, and in the upper San Miguel region, — areas which have since been deeply scored by transverse canons. The Second Glacial Epoch may be represented by a later system of glaciers, which were confined to the principal valleys, and existed up to a very recent period, indeed, almost to the present day.

The Animas Valley glacier was, doubtless, the longest of the local ice-streams, and must have had a length of fully sixty miles. Huge boulders of granite, transported by the glacier, are found some distance below Durango. Terminal moraines, or ridges of boulders stretching across the valley, mark the halting places in its final retreat back to the snow-fields. One such moraine, formed by two parallel ridges of drift, crosses the valley at Animas City. All the valleys in the San Juan INIountains, and in the Elk Mountain region, afford indisputable evidence of the existence of glaciers at no very distant period ; when the mean annual temperature was probably lower, and the average precipitation greater than at present.

The drift deposits of Colorado are, in places, quite extensive, but have not yet been studied outside of the Denver basin, and the assignment of any portion of them to the Champlain Epoch is therefore provisional.

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 73

It seems probable that much of the boulder-drift, covering certain elevated areas of the State, is truly morainal in character and may ante- date the age of the Champlain, provided the existence of the First Glacial Epoch, in the Rocky Mountains, shall be clearly established. On the other hand, the coarse drift of the mountain valleys can only be considered as the morainal material of the more recent local glaciers that has been subjected to fluvial reassortment ; consequently all such drift properly belongs to the present era. The drift deposits scattered over the plains, or underlying the loess-like accumulations of the great valleys, are really the only beds which may be regarded as the probable equivalent of the Champlain. The loess-like deposits, often of consid- erable thickness, which are frequently met with on the plains and in the valleys, should no doubt be referred to the very uppermost Quaternary, when subaerial degradation and corrosion furnished material which could be distributed by aeolian agencies.

The life of the early Middle Quaternary differed from the modern in many important particulars. The Carnivores, Ungulates, Probo- cidians, Edentates and Rodents were all of the most gigantic size ; and their remains, which are so abundant in the drift of Europe and America, are found, on the former continent, associated with the remains and rough stone implements of Palaeolithic Man. In America, the evidence of man's existence in the Champlain Epoch is confined to certain remains stated to have been found in the lava-covered auriferous drift of California, concerning the age of which there is some doubt, and they may belong to the Pliocene Tertiary. The finding by Mr. Belt, a well known English geologist, of a human skull in drift, of probable Quaternary Age, exposed in a railway cut near Argo, may be cited as indicating the bare possibility of man's existence in Colorado during the Champlain Epoch. The death of Mr. Belt soon after, and the want of any complete published statement by him, renders it impossible now to judge of the value of the discovery. Assuming, however, that the skull was found in Quaternary drift, the limited thickness of the deposit in the Denver basin, and in the locality cited, would place the horizon of

74 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

the find within the reach of burrowing animals, and through their instrumentality remains of all kinds might be carried down into the drift, and in course of time, so far as the eye could discover, appear to be in place there.

The remains of Quaternary mammals, known to have been found in Colorado, include species of the Mammoth, Camel, Rhinoceros, and Horse, all of gigantic size ; indicating that the life was identical with that of the remainder of the continent. All of these species except the Mammoth, which had already appeared in the Pliocene, probably invaded the country at the end of the First Glacial Epoch, but disap- peared at the beginning of the Second Glacial Epoch, which was fol- lowed by the invasion of existing species.

Throughout the Cenozoic, the fauna of each succeeding stage had its allies in the more generalized fauna of the preceding stage ; and the tendency was strongly toward the development of more perfect types with greater brain capacity and higher intelligence. But between the mammals of the lowest known Tertiary and those of the preceding epoch (Upper Laramie) there is a great zoological break. The Lar- amie mammals have their affinities among the earlier marsupials of the Jurassic. The large number of Laramie species brought to light by the recent investigations of Marsh, are nearly allied to the ancient types, and fail to exhibit any anatomical characters foreshadowing the highly organized mammals which suddenly appeared in countless num- bers in the early Eocene of Colorado and Wyoming.

This is one of the most surprising gaps in the whole range of geological history. Yet such a break in the continuity of the record might, indeed, result from the great change of conditions effected by the continental revolution. It is also within the range of probabilities that, in the comparatively unexplored portions of the West, especially the Northwest, we may find transition beds between the Laramie and Eocene, and in them the remains of the long-sought progenitors of the Eocene hordes.

There are certain phases of geological development which cannot

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 75

well be treated chronologically, and at the same time comprehensively. Belonging to this category are the ancient eruptions and ore deposits ; the consideration of which, for the above reason, has been referred to

the last part of this chapter.

ERUPTIVE ROCKS AND ERUPTIONS.

During the mountain-making period, the entire Cordillerian region of the West was the scene of great igneous activity, and of eruptive outbursts in magnitude unsurpassed in the world's history. This activity was manifested on a grand scale in Colorado, especially in the south- western portion, and it is safe to say that one-seventh the area of the State is covered with eruptive rocks. They are found breaking through metamorphic and sedimentary strata of all ages from the Archaean to the Tertiary inclusive. The principal eruptions took place in the early part, of the latter period, a few being of preceding, and others of somewhat later age ; although few can be cited more recent than the Miocene, and only one can be referred to Post-Tertiary times.

The kinds of eruptive rocks found in Colorado, not including the numerous intermediate varieties, are the following, based on the modern classification :

Porphyry: A crystalline, or granular, aggregate of orthoclase (potash-feldspar), usually with some plagioclase (soda-lime-feldspars) and quartz. Other minerals may appear and give rise to varieties, for instance, hornblende-porphyry. The Colorado porphyries are mainly quartz porphyries.

Trachyte: Differs from porphyry in containing the variety of orthoclase called sanidine, and in having a more or less glassy or felsitic groundmass.

Rhyolitc : Consisting of glass alone (pearlite and obsidian), or of glass containing a relatively small number of quartz and sanidine crystals (liparite), or of glass containing a relatively large number of the same crystals as compared with the groundmass (nevadite).

Diorite: A crystalline aggregate, of like-sized grains, of plagi-

76 HISTORY OF COLORADO. .

oclase, with either hornblende, angite, enstatite (hypersthene), biotite or quartz. The term is usually qualified by prefixing the name of the principal constituent mineral, as quartz-diorite, mica-diorite, quartz-mica- diorite, etc.

Porphyritc: Corresponds essentially to diorite, but with one or more of the minerals conspicuously (porphyritically) developed as crys- tals, in the crystalline or granular groundmass.

Andcsitc: Differs from porphyrite, mainly in the groundmass, which is more or less glassy or felsitic.

All the above rocks have a high percentage of silica, and for this reason are termed "acidic ;" the five next succeeding contain a compar- atively low percentage of silica, and are termed "basic."

Basalt: Contains plagioclase and angite, frequently with olivine, in a felsitic or glassy groundmass.

Dolerite: Corresponds essentially to basalt, but has a granular or wholly crystalline groundmass.

TcpJiritc: Mainly plagioclase with nepheline or leucite, sometimes with both, and generally with other minerals as accessories ; in a partly felsitic or glassy groundmass.

Plionolitc: Principally orthoclase and nepheline, with conspicuous crystals of sanidine, in a more or less felsitic groundmass.

Peridotite: Consists mainly of olivine, but varieties contain horn- blende, angite, etc.

Eruptive Breccia: Contains fragments of eruptive or other rocks, embedded in an originally plastic eruptive matrix.

Ttifa: Consolidated ejectamenta from old volcanic vents.

Volcanic Ash: Consists of fine particles of volcanic glass or dust, not consolidated.

So far as known, phonolite and peridotite are extremely rare, only one occurrence of each having been announced by Dr. Cross from Col- orado localities. The same authority reports as probably nepheline- tephrite, certain eruptive rocks from the Elk Head Mountains, collected by Mr. F. F. Chisholm. Trachyte occurs at Silver Cliff, in the Mos-

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 77

quito Range, and probably at Del Norte, but is one of the least common of Colorado eruptives. Limited accumulations of volcanic ash are found in the Pliocene beds of the Huerfano basin. The remaining eruptives are of frequent occurrence.

The most recent manifestation of igneous activity in Colorado, was the outburst of scoriaceous lava on Eagle River, near Dotsero ; which, according to Prof. Lakes, was poured from a vent situated in a small amphitheater about three or four miles north of the river. The flow is quite modern in appearance, suggesting the probability that it may have been erupted during the historic period.

The most recent of the great Tertiary eruptions that occurred in Colorado are represented by the vesicular basalts of Grand Mesa, and of the country lying between Roaring Fork and Eagle River ; likewise, certain small masses on the Rio Grande near the New Mexico line. These were preceded by overflows of more compact basalts, dolerites, and allied basic rocks, which were, in turn, preceded by rhyolites, andesites and andesitic breccias ; the whole corresponding to a series of grand eruptions, extending back to the early Tertiary. The older basalts and dolerites are represented by the Fisher's Peak overflow ; by the overflows of the White River Plateau and Elk Head Mountains ; by certain occurrences in the North Park and Middle Park regions, and on the Piney ; and by the small Table Mountain overflow, near Golden. The andesites, breccias and rhyolites are well represented in the San Juan region ; in the district around Silver Cliff ; in the Mosquito Range, and Ten Mile districts. Rhyolite containing garnet and topaz, occurs near Nathrop ; while the tufaceous rhyolite of Castle Rock is well known, being much used for buildings in Denver.

The time of greatest igneous activity probably corresponded to the period of greatest mountain-making movement, — that is, about the end of the Eocene Epoch. Belonging to this period are certain porphyries, diorites and porphyrites, which do not occur as overflows, but appear as masses of mountain dimensions, tilting up, or arching the flanking strata ; and sometimes spreading, as huge lens-shaped bodies, laterally beneath

78 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

them. The eruptive cores of the Ragged Mountains, Mount Carbon, Mount Gothic, Crested Butte, Snow Mass Mountain, Mount Sopris, La Plata Mountain, Ute Peak, Spanish Peaks, Veta Mountain and Badito Cone, with several others, are of this character. The same rocks often occur as dykes traversing sedimentary strata, or as thick sheets intruded conformably with them. All of these forms are well illustrated in the Spanish Peaks region.

Eruptive rocks have directly, or indirectly, played an Important part in the production of the several varieties of Colorado coals ; the change from lignite to semi-coking or coking-coal, or to anthracite, being in each case clearly traceable to the heat directly radiated by eruptive masses, or indirectly applied through the medium of hot water. The association of these rocks with metalliferous veins can be best considered in connection with the next subject.

ORE DEPOSITS.

Certain eruptives have apparently greatly influenced the conditions attending the genesis of many ore-bodies. The analyses of Leadville rocks by Hillebrand, showed them to contain very minute quantities of the precious metals and lead, only determinable when considerable of the material was subjected to analysis. Nearly all the eruptives of Sum- mit district in Rio Grande County, can be made to yield appreciable quantities of gold by fire assay. In Europe, where many rocks of this class have been specially analyzed for metals, small quantities of the latter are usually found as an ingredient of one or more of the basic silicates. There is no reason why many Colorado eruptives should not yield like results when fully investigated. Masses of mountain dimen- sions, even though containing metals in mere traces, are capable of enriching the material of veins traversing them, to an extent that will make the latter economically valuable. In the eruptive rocks, and probably also in the crystalline schists, we have all the elements required in the formation of productive veins, under conditions favorable to the secretion of the disseminated contents. In but few cases does it appear necessary to call in the aid of solutions ascending from deep-seated

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 79

sources, in order to account for the origin of a particular ore-body; for admitting that metals were originally brought up from great depths, we must still regard the eruptive rocks as the most reasonable medium of translocation, since they have emanated from a source more deep-seated than it would be possible for circulating waters to attain. The theory of lateral secretion, now very generally advocated, derives additional support from the frequent association of metal veins with eruptive rocks of certain types ; while other types again are seldom knov.m to contain important ore-bodies.

Notwithstanding the study that has been given to the subject of ore-deposition, both in Europe and in the United States, and the many ingenious theories that have been advanced, we are still forced to acknowledge the fact that in all that relates to the conditions governing the formation of ore-bodies, we are yet in the speculative stage.

At the present time the following points only can be considered of general application:

That the most valuable ore-bodies occur inclosed by, or in direct contact with, either eruptive or highly metamorphic rocks ; or if in sedi- mentary rocks, then in localities where these have been intersected or broken by eruptive or metamorphic rocks.

That they may occur as the material filling pre-existing fissures, or be deposited along contact, — or fault, — planes, by the partial or entire replacement of the constituents of the inclosing rock.

That they have been deposited from aqueous solutions, which have derived their metallic contents from the contiguous, subjacent, or not very remote rocks of the region in which they occur.

While these points cover the majority of known metalliferous occur- rences, they are very general in character, and, within the limits given, the ore-bodies themselves show great variation in mode of occurrence and niineralogical composition and association.

The eruptive rocks most frequently found associated with ore- deposits are porphyries, diorites. andesites, less frequently trachytes, and rarely rhyolites, all of which belong to the class of acid eruptives.

80 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

The basic eruptives, like basalt, dolerite, etc., are seldom, if ever, asso- ciafed with important ore-bodies, — hence the chara':ter of the eruptive rocks of a region may furnish a valuable clue to those who explore for metalliferous veins.

The age of the rocks inclosing the veins of a district is of little or no importance, for we find productive veins in rocks of all ages from the Archaean to the Tertiary inclusive. Nor is it likely that the oldest veins are always contained in the oldest rocks ; on the contrary, veins of quite recent origin may occur in the most ancient varieties of granite. The ore-bodies of Boulder, Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties, while contained in granite rocks, are more likely to have originated during the disturb- ances of the mountain-making period than at any earlier time. The ore-bodies of Leadville and Aspen are contained in rocks of Carbonif- erous Age, yet the association of these with eruptive rocks of Creta- ceous or Tertiary Age, warrants the supposition that the ore-bodies were formed at a much later period than the inclosing rocks. Con- cerning the other great vein-systems of the State, there can be little doubt of their Tertiary age.

The mode of occurrence of ore-bodies is likewise a feature of less importance than is usually supposed. All forms of deposits, whether fissures, gashes, bedded veins, segregations, or mineralized zones, have been found equally productive, and, in turn, marvelously rich. Nor is there any foundation, as the record of all our older mining districts will show, for the commonly entertained notion that veins increase in. richness with depth.

Lithological similarity of the inclosing rocks does not indicate, as a rule, that the veins of separate districts will be of similar mineralogical composition. Thus we find the auriferous veins of Boulder County to contain combinations of gold and silver with tellurium ; those of Gilpin County to contain the gold in the free state, or mechanically mixed with pyrites ; while the Clear Creek County ores are largely argentiferous compounds of base metals, — yet all of these are contained in the same continuous granite formation of the Colorado Ranee.

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 81

It is not the intention liere to enter fully upon the description of all the different mineral districts of the State ; but for the purpose of illus- trating the main features of ore-deposition, as exemplified by the vein systems of Colorado, and already outlined abov'e, brief reference will be made to the best known and most important.

The remarks on the veins of Northern Colorado, just given, require but little amplification to enable one to gain a general idea of their true character. They all belong to the class known as fissure veins, — that is, they extend, more or less vertically, for a considerable distance into the earth. The granite inclosing rock is often found to be traversed by eruptive dykes, and frequently impregnated with ore adjacent to a pro- ductive vein. The want of similarity in mineralogical composition may be partly due to the dyke rocks associated with each system of veins ; yet it would appear more probable that it was due to the latter having originated in separate zones of granite ; each zone differing from the other in the composition of its contents, and the secretions it afforded.

The placers of Gilpin and Boulder Counties, which have yielded so largely in times past, no doubt owe their enrichment to the liberation of gold, through the constant and long-continued degradation of the aurif- erous veins of these districts.

Somewhat similar to the Northern Colorado deposits, but much less productive, are the auriferous veins of Independence on the head of Roaring Fork, and those of Granite on the Upper Arkansas.

In the Leadville district, which has been very thoroughly studied and described by S. F. Emmons, the ore-bodies lie in nearly horizontal position, between the floor of Carboniferous limestone and the roof of white porphyry, — or in what is termed by miners the "contact." Some- times the ore, in irregular form, replaces the limestone for a consid- erable distance below this contact. By a series of faults the ore-sheet, which was probably once continuous, has been cut up into several sepa- rate areas or benches.

The most characteristic ore consists mainly of calcareous earthy matter containing oxidation products of lead and iron ; these metals 6 II.

82 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

existing mostly as carbonates, frequently as oxides, and in exceptional cases large quantities of iron oxide are present. The silver in the ore is usually combined with chlorine, bromine and iodine, some of the mines producing specimens rich in horn-silver. In some mines the ores still exist as sulphides. Other ore-bodies of this district of an entirely different character, — like the Printer Boy, mainly auriferous, — have in times past served to enrich the placers of California Gulch, and probably those of the Upper Arkansas. According to Emmons the Leadville porphyry is of late Mesozoic Age (Cretaceous), hence the ore-bodies themselves must be referred to this age, or to a period still later, — that is to the early Tertiary.

Outside of the Leadville district, but yet in the same region, are many others of lesser note. At Red Cliff there are a number of product- ive ore-bodies, yielding oxidized silver-lead ores of similar character to those of Leadville, and occurring at nearly the same geological horizon, may be somewhat older. The deposits are found mostly in metamorphic strata, though near by are intrusive eruptives, and coarse granite is exposed in the canon of Eagle River.

The veins of Ten-Mile district belong mainly to the class typified by those of Leadville, and illustrate very forcibly the iniluence of neigh- boring or adjacent eruptive masses on the formation of ore-bodies.

Along the Mosquito Range the same connection is apparent. The veins occur in Palaeozoic strata, frequently cut by dykes of quartz-por- phyry, diorite or porphyrite. Some of the deposits yield auriferous ores, others argentiferous galena and oxidation products ; still others, as at Mount Lincoln, approach the Leadville ores in composition.

The district around Breckenridge, — one of the oldest in the State, — includes a number of valuable ore-deposits, which on the whole cannot be referred to any particular system, owing to variation in mode of occurrence and mineralogical composition. Nearly all the argentiferous veins contain simply argentiferous ores, usually of lead and copper. There are exceptions, for instance, on Shock Hill, where base metals are absent, and the silver exists in the chloride form. Some of the auriferous

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 83

ore-bodies afford exceedingly rich ore, notably the Ontario, which, in the joints and crevices of the rock, contains beautiful specimens of matted wire-gold. The rocks in the auriferous portion of the district are often traversed by eruptive dykes, which may partly explain why the ore is, in some instances, distributed through zones of altered and enriched country rock, without well defined boundaries. On the west side of Blue River, the rocks are granitic or metamorphic.

The placers near Breckenridge were noted for their richness in times past, and are still productive. The gold of French and Leaven- worth Gulches is often more or less crystalline, like that of the lodes from which it was derived.

The same region likewise includes the once rich and still productive placers of Alma, Fairplay and Tarryall.

The principal ore-bodies of Aspen lie in, or near, a highly inclined plane of contact in Lower Carboniferous limestone, or between what are locally termed the "blue" and "short-lime." The deposits of both Aspen and Smuggler Mountains, which are situated on opposite sides of Roaring Fork Valley, evidently belong to the same geological horizon, if not to the same contact-plane, and will probably be found more or less continuous in the intervening drift-covered valley whenever this shall be explored. In the vicinity of the Aspen Mountain ore-bodies, the strata appear to have been synclinally folded between the main Archaean area on the east, and an intrusive mass of granite at the western extremity of the mountain ; thus producing a second series of oppositely inclined beds, also containing a few ore-bodies. Intrusions of partly altered diorite, or porphyrite, occupy a prominent position in the intervening trough, and may have seriously faulted, or dislocated, the strata in the depths. The ore is not always confined to the "contact" between the "blue" and "short-lime," but may branch out irregularly for some dis- tance into these rocks, although such spurs or impregnations, are evidently related to the "contact" ore-bodies.

The bulk of the Aspen ores consists largely of oxidation products of argentiferous minerals, with true silver minerals, associated with calca-

84 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

reous matter and considerable heavy-spar ; it is therefore what is called " dry ore," and requires to be mixed with silicious lead ores, or with matting ores, before it can be treated. A few veins, away from the main contact, yield ores containing a high percentage of lead ; but they are not as rich in silver as the dry ores, and as yet do not promise to become an important source of lead for smelting purposes in this district.

The ore-deposits of Southwestern Colorado, or what is known as the San Juan country, possess great interest for students of vein phenomena ; and economically considered, may eventually prove the most lasting and valuable in the State. In no part of the Rocky Mountains are metalliferous veins so numerous over such a wide extent of country.

The majority of the San Juan deposits are referable to the great system of veins common to all the mining districts of Hinsdale, Ouray, San iVIiguel and San Juan Counties. The origin of this system may be briefly explained as follows : During the early part of the Tertiary Period, an eruption on a grand scale, covered the higher region of the San Juan Mountains to a depth of 1,500 feet, with an overflow of brec- ciated andesitic lava, which on cooling, developed fissures of contraction (shrinkage-cracks) traversing the mass in all directions. The filling of these fissures corresponded to the formation of the existing system of veins, which, as a rule, terminate at the base of the breccia. Following the first grand overflow were others of less magnitude, consisting of non- brecciated andesites and rhyolites. The dynamic movement attending these later eruptions, produced in places, fissures which extend below the horizon of the breccia, into the stratified rocks, but usually cease to be productive below the eruptive zone. Again, there are ore-bodies, such as the Calliope, Boomerang, Trout and Fisherman, and Mineral Farm, which evidently do not belong to the main system, being situated far below the eruptive horizon. These deposits occur in the vicinity of dykes of andesite or diorite, which probably mark the channels of past eruptions, and apparently have had some connection with the origin of the neighboring ore-bodies.

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 85

There are still other ore-occurrences in San Juan which form, as it were, a group by themselves; among these the deposits of Red Mountain district are at present the most important. In typical cases the ore-bodies occupy a series of more or less connected irregular chambers, trending downward, which were probably at one time the channels of thermal, or mineral, springs. The action of the mineralizing water upon the surrounding eruptive rock, brought about complete sil- icification for some distance away from the chambers, so that the ore- bodies they contain are in each case virtually distributed through a huge irregular column of quartz extending to an undetermined depth. The ore-deposits of this district afford one of the few instances where the ascension theory can find logical application. The famous Bassick mine at Rosita has by some been cited as another ; but this theory can hardly be applied to the great system which has its downward limit at the breccia.

At a number of localities in the San Juan Mountains there exist immense decomposed masses of eruptive and sedimentary material, of yellowish or variegated colors, which appear to have been acted upon by mineral waters, not confined, as at Red Mountain, to particular channels, but circulating everywhere, through joints and fractures, or along bedding-planes, producing, according to the nature of the rock acted upon, either kaolinization or local metamorphism. No doubt ore- bodies often exist in these altered masses ; indeed, such have already been discovered near Ouray and elsewhere, which are considered quite important.

The bulk of the productive ore from the San Juan district consists of argentiferous gray-copper, copper pyrites, and galena, associated with some zinc-blende, and iron-pyrites in a quartz matrix. In particular districts, like Poughkeepsie Gulch, the ore often contains a high per- centage of bismuth. In Marshall Basin the most productive mines yield largely of the true silver minerals, pyrargyrite and polybasite, while the ore from the same mines carries considerable quantities of gold. Other mines on the San Miguel drainage, and a few in San Juan County,

86 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

afford auriferous ores only. Tellurium has been found, in combination with the precious metals, at the Hotchkiss Mine near Lake City.

At Rico on the Rio Dolores there is an interesting group of veins entirely independent of other San Juan deposits. The ore-bodies are con- tained in carboniferous limestone, or in the contact between the limestone and a mass of porphyrite, or andesite ; the intrusion of the latter having tilted up the sedimentary beds anticlinally, which has been deeply eroded by the river, down to and below the level of the intrusion and its associ- ated ore-bodies. Pyrargyrite, and a few other silver minerals, are present in some of the veins, but the bulk of the ore consists of argentiferous oxidation products of lead, copper, and manganese, with considerable galena at lower levels. Large quantities of carbonic acid are exhaled along the line of the eruptive intrusion, and by its superior density dis- places the air in sheltered hollows, and along the floors of tunnels, often to such an extent as to prove fatal to mice and other small animals.

The La Plata Mountains include a district which, while properly- belonging in the San Juan region, has an entirely independent system of veins. It may be mentioned as one of the few localities in the world containing compounds of gold and tellurium. The mass of the La Plata Mountains is eruptive, and in places, the tilted sedimentary beds on its flanks have been partly or wholly metamorphosed. There appear to be two distinct groups of deposits in this district, viz.: Auriferous veins containing free gold, tellurides, pyrites, and sometimes, as at the old Comstock mine, argentiferous minerals like cosalite ; argentiferous veins, containing galena and zinc-blende, with some silver. The matrix is usually quartz.

While small quantities of very rich ore have been produced from La Plata mines, the average is generally of low grade and often refractory. Still the district is not entirely without promise ; valuable ore has been found there, and exploration may at any time develop more important ore-bodies.

Of much less value than the metal veins, yet nevertheless worthy of mention, are the San Juan placers. These are mainly on the San

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 87

Miguel, although some washing has been done on the Uncompahgre, near the mouth of Dallas Creek, and on the La Plata, below Parrott City. The gravel of the Animas also contains gold, but hardly in paying quantities. The San Miguel placers extend from Marshall basin nearly the entire length of the river, and include large quantities of auriferous drift that could be profitablv worked with improved appli- ances and cheaper labor.

The district which includes Rosita and Silver Cliff contains some unique and interesting forms of ore-deposits, which appear to be either mineralized zones of country rock, or else ore-bodies without defined boundaries, like the Bassick. The latter extends to an unde- termined depth, apparently following an old channel of deposition. In the former the silver usually exists as chloride ; while in the ore- bodies of the Bassick type, argentiferous compounds of lead, zinc, copper, and occasionally tellurium, are found coating, in concentric layers, detached boulders and pebbles. The ore-bodies of this character have been thought by some to have been deposited in the channels of ancient thermal springs ; a view which may be open to question, since it is not improbable that the channels are simply old eruptive vents, choked up, so to speak,with worn fragmental ejectamenta,the result, possibly, of an outflow of mud and boulders. In this case the channels might merely perform the part of receptacles for lateral secretions, and the assumption of a deep-seated source would be unnecessary. Rhyolite, trachyte, and andesite are the common eruptive rocks, and rest immediately on the granite mass of the Wet Mountain Range.*

The numerous deposits of the Elk Mountain region, including those of Irwin, Slate River, Gothic, Schofield, Crystal, Ashcroft, White Pine, Pitkin, Tin Cup, with many others, may be cited as additional instances of the association of productive ore-bodies and eruptive or metamorphic masses ; an association everywhere illustrated in the mining districts of Colorado.

*This district will be fully described in a forthcoming report by S. F. Emmons of the U. S. Geo- logical Survey.

88 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

Regarding the iron deposits of the State, Httle can be said until their extent has been better determined. So far as known, the workable ore- bodies are confined to the occurrences on the west side of the Sangre de Cristo near Villa Grove, at Calumet near Salida, at Ashcroft, and at several localities in Gunnison County, including those at White Pine and the deposits near Snow-Mass Mountain. The ores consist of the oxygen compounds of iron, magnetite, hematite and limonite, of average purity and richness.

Throughout the coal measures there is considerable low-grade iron- stone, and in the mountains many deposits of bog-iron ; but neither of these are sufficiently rich or pure to be utilized, except for fluxing pur- poses, even under the most favorable circumstances.

Tin-ore has not yet been found in Colorado in important quan- tities, but its existence has been proved in the Pike's Peak region, where a few specimens of tin-oxide have been obtained by mineralogists ; hence there is a possibility that deposits may be found somewhere in the great Archaean areas.

Nickel-ore occurs in limited quantities at the Gem Mine, near Silver Cliff ; and a small amount of uranium has been taken out near Central City.

To describe here all the mineral deposits of the State, which have a present, or prospective value, would be out of the question ; certain occurrences, however, possess too much interest to be entirely overlooked.

In the remarks on the Green River Eocene, allusion was made to the richness of the shales of this group in condensible, /. c, liquid, hydrocarbons. The great thickness and extent of this formation in the Book Cliffs Plateau, invites the consideration of it, as a future source of mineral oil. It must not be supposed that the present petroleum supply of the United States can be maintained indefinitely, and a serious decline in the production might so advance the price of the commodity as to render profitable the distillation of the richer shales of the Green River beds. From the tests that have been made it is known that in the Book

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Cliffs exposures, along Grand River, there are as many as fifty bands of marly limestone, ranging from two to ten feet in thickness, which will yield twenty per cent, of crude oil; while of the remaining 1,200 feet there is much that will yield ten per cent. The richer carbonaceous material can, if necessary, be used as fuel in the distillation process, since it burns readily w^hen ignited. The distillation of the Scotch shales, }'ielding from ten per cent, to fifteen per cent., is one of the most profit- able industries in the British Isles, and it is only a question of time when a similar industry will be developed in Colorado.

Among other noteworthy occurrences may be mentioned the great bed of white marble on Yule Creek, in Gunnison County. On both sides of the creek this bed is exposed, dipping westward about 30°, and finally disappearing under partly metamorphosed limestone of the same age (Upper Silurian ?). The marble stratum, denuded of its limestone covering by erosion, is shown resting on the slope of White House Mountain, and reaching half way to its summit.

On the weathered surface the rock has been acted upon by frost, and crumbles readily ; but shallow excavations develop the solid marble intact. Like the product of similar deposits in Vermont and elsewhere, the Yule Creek marble varies in quality, from grades suitable only for architectural purposes, to the highly prized "statuary."

A diamond drill hole, normal to the planes of bedding, showed the thickness of workable marble to be about eighty feet ; and the core clearly demonstrated its firmness and excellent quality.

The other rocks of economic value have already been mentioned in connection with the formations containing them, — it only remains to note the most interesting and valuable of our non-metallic minerals.

The Pike's Peak region has long been celebrated for its beautiful specimens of bluish-green microcline (amazon-stone) which have been exported in large quantities to different parts of the world. The crystals of smoky-quartz, associated with the amazon-stone, are cut into gems, in which form the mineral is much used for cheaper kinds of jewelry, finding a ready sale under the trade name of " smoky-topaz."

90 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

Among gem-stones of a higher grade, occurring in the same region, may be mentioned true topaz and phenacite. The latter, notwithstanding its rarity, is not often cut into gems, owing to want of hardness. The topazes furnish very fair stones when cut, which are generally limpid or of a bluish or wine-colored tint, and range in weight up to 1 50 carats, or more. The beryls (aquamarines) from Mount Antero, furnish small gems, up to three carats weight. Corundum occurs in small crystals in a band of schist (corundum-schist) near Calumet. The crystals are usually of a bluish tint, and in places, they possess sufficient clearness and d -pth of color to entitle them to be called sapphires.

Zircon crystals, which are abundant in some Pike's Peak localities, have been exported to the Eastern States for the extraction of the earth zirconia ; but the bulk of the supply of this substance comes from the Southern States.

Colorado contains many other beautiful and rare minerals, and not a few that are new to science. Many of them are highly valued as min- eralogical specimens, but find little or no application in the arts.

In concluding the foregoing brief sketch of our geological history, there remains but to emphasize the most important part of the record. In the time intervening between the beginning of the Laramie and the close of the Tertiary, — a period very short indeed, when compared with the whole geological time, — the great coal measures were deposited, and the entire region elevated above the ocean by the continental revolution. Following this came the great eruptions, the deposition of nearly all the valuable ore-bodies and the final upheaval and crumpling of the Rocky Mountains. The same period witnessed, also, the sudden appearance, and gradual development in Colorado and Wyoming, of some of the most remarkable types of mammals the world has ever seen.

Beyond question, the continental revolution was the prime cause of the changes associated with the origin of our mineral wealth ; for the period just mentioned coincided with the beginning and the end of this revolution, and all the changes were directly connected with the several phases, of which the record is well preserved.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

CHAPTER IV.

1872 — Success of the narrow gauge experiment — the Denver pacific consoli- dated WITH the KANSAS PACIFIC OUR FIRST RAILWAY WAR A YEAR OF

RAILWAY PROJECTS — CENTRAL CITY ANTICIPATES A GOLDEN FUTURE — COMPLETION OF THE COLORADO CENTRAL TO BLACK HAWK — BUILDING OF THE ARKANSAS

VALLEY RAILROAD TO PUEBLO W. B. STRONG's VISION OF A GREAT SOUTHERN

METROPOLIS — THE DENVER AND SOUTH PARK RAILWAY — NARROW GAUGE CON- VENTION IN ST. LOUIS OLD STAGING DAYS IN COLORADO J. HARVEY JONES AND

HIS STAGE DRIVERS MOVED BACK BY THE IRON HORSE — BANKING AND INTEREST

RATES EXTRAVAGANCE GIVES WAY TO ECONOMY.

Reviewing further the progress of the Rio Grande Railway in its experimental stages, we find that machine and repair shops, with car building works, were erected at the point three miles above the city, on the Platte River, now known as " Burnham Station," by the Denver & Rio Grande Company, in the autumn of 1871. At this time the working force comprised three machinists, three laborers, one boiler maker and one pattern maker. Meanwhile the success of the narrow gauge experiment had been, if not fully, very satisfactorily demonstrated by the operation of the first division. It proved of material commercial value, also, to the City of Denver in the way of additional trade. Prior to its opening the only lines of exterior traffic which brought tribute to this city were in the mining regions of Gilpin, Clear Creek and Boulder. Merchants in those parts who were financially able to purchase by the carload in Chicago or St. Louis, used Denver only as a stocking point, to fill the minor deficiencies. With the inauguration of the new artery commerce began to expand, by small degrees at first, but in a manner to indicate heavy accessions when the most populous centers south of the Divide should be placed in communication by rapid transit. A few

92 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

orders came in from New Mexico, a trade territory that was to be exten- sively cultivated. It was hoped that as the narrow gauge railroad pro- ceeded further and further southward under the great scheme projected by Palmer, Denver would in time supply the principal towns lying south of Colorado. It was not then anticipated that a gigantic rival, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, would step in and crush these aspirations by diverting the trade of both sections to Kansas City. Some delicious dreams were indulged in by our wholesale merchants, of the rich com- merce to come to them from these prolific fields. No doubts of its acquisition were entertained. It was one of the certainties of the immediate future. A few years later, before they had enjoyed even a reasonable opportunity to establish friendly relations with Santa Fe, every stone in their carefully reared fabric was ruthlessly pulled down by the rough iconoclasts of the Atchison Company. Nor have our people since been able to secure more than a fraction of their anticipated trade in that direction.

Meanwhile the Denver Pacific Railway had become a prominent disturber of railway traf^c between the East and the Pacific Coast. The first week in March, 1872, matters reached a crisis which impelled the resignation by Governor Evans of the presidency, when Gen. R. E. Carr was chosen in his stead.

This proceeding, brought about after some rather acrid discussion, gave the Kansas Pacific full control between Kansas City and Cheyenne. The impossibility of making an equitable arrangement for through business with the Union Pacific while the management was divided between two distinct companies, led to the change. The consolidation was a sudden surprise to the entire community. The reasons subse- quently made public were, in substance, that the original charter for a Pacific railway provided for one main continuous line and a system of branches. The Central and Union Pacific Companies were to construct eastward and westward respectively, forming a junction at an interme- diate point. The Eastern Division was one of the branches provided for in the system, and it was required to make connection with the main

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 93

trunk, first on the one hundredth meridian, but it was subsequently changed to read at a point not more than fifty miles west of the meridian of Denver; this, in accordance with the Congressional act of iS66, changing the Kansas Pacific route from the Valley of the Republican to the Smoky Hill. The charter provided, also, that the two roads should pro rate with each other on through business, and be operated as one line, — not two distinct lines, each endeavoring to harrass and cripple the other to their own injury and the detriment of the people they were created to serve.

When the Kansas Pacific was completed to Denver, and had thus made its proper connection, as it supposed, or assumed, with the Union Pacific at Cheyenne via the Denver Pacific, Gen. Carr demanded the pro rate for its west bound traffic, and was promptly refused, on the ground that the connection had not been made in compliance with the requirements of the charter, the Denver Pacific being an independent line and in no legal sense a part of the Eastern Division. By this course of reasoning, which was not sustained by the facts nor by the courts, the Union Pacific, having no interest in or sympathy with Colo- rado, was enabled to put an effectual embargo upon its western traffic, and, in its results, shut it out from any business communication with the States and Territories outside its own borders, except Kansas.

The true secret of the opposition of the Union Pacific proved to be that it desired to compete for the Colorado carrying trade over the Denver Pacific track, and its managers took this method of enforcing that consummation. In making the consolidation, the Kansas Pacific hoped to accomplish its purpose of compelling the pro rate, but its pow- erful adversary remained obdurate, yielding not an inch of its advantage. It would neither pro rate nor recognize the Kansas road as a connecting line. Driven to extremities, Carr and his associates drafted a memorial to Congress quoting the law relating to the Pacific railroads, epitomizing the facts stated above, and praying that body to compel the Union Pacific to obey the law. This memorial was sent to the legislatures of Colorado, Kansas and Missouri for indorsement, and thence to

94 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

Congress, accompanied by a powerful lobby to urge the passage of proper remedial legislation.

In the meantime the war continued to rage fiercely. Merchants and consumers alike suffered great damage by the contention and the embargo. The Kansas Pacific was never a profitable line. Debarred from through business, it had great difficulty in meeting current expenses. It may be interpolated here, that until after its incorporation with the Union Pacific system by Jay Gould and Russell Sage, it was neither well patronized nor well maintained. Its ties rotted and were not replaced with new ones ; its iron wore out and was not relaid ; its traffic was insufiicient to meet its fixed charges, and it declined from year to year until, when well nigh wrecked, it fell into the hands of the great dictator.

Tom Scott, on behalf of the Kansas Pacific, proposed as a compro- mise between the contending roads, a through rate from Ogden to Kansas City, whereby the Union Pacific would receive sixty per cent, and the Kansas Pacific forty per cent, of the charges, but even this liberal concession was curtly declined.

The Senate Committee on Pacific railroads, after duly considering the memorial and the bill which accompanied it, decided in favor of reporting the bill compelling the Union Pacific to give the Kansas branch an equitable pro rate in its through business between Cheyenne and Ogden, but the measure was not brought up for action until near the expiration of the session, therefore it was buried in the debris of the adjournment and was never revived until after the admission of the State, when Senator Chaffee forced an agreement, as will appear hereafter.

In March, 1872, a company was organized with the declared inten- tion of building a railway to Georgetown, and thence across the mount- ains by the most feasible route to Salt Lake City, to effect a junction with the Central Pacific at Ogden. This was a bold move by the Kansas Pacific to secure an independent outlet to the coast. Carr, Evans, Moffat and Perry were among the leaders. The design was first to connept Denver with the chief centers of mining, and second to pene- trate and develop the well-known resources of the Middle and North

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 95

Parks, where lay immense treasures of coal, iron, petroleum, gold and silver. The line was to begin at Denver, running thence westerly through Mount Vernon Canon via Idaho Springs to Georgetown, and thence over the Range, — Black Hawk and Central City to be connected by a branch. R. E. Carr was chosen President, John D. Perry Vice- President, R. R. McCormick Secretary, and D. H. Moffat, Jr., Treasurer. Perry was appointed a commissioner to negotiate with the people of Clear Creek County for a liberal subscription in the form of county bonds. Evans, Hughes and others, also visited and addressed the people on the subject. As a result, the County Commissioners sub- mitted a proposition to the electors to vote two hundred thousand dollars in aid of the enterprise.

About the same time the Colorado Central Company, supported by the Union Pacific, proposed to build a narrow gauge short line from Julesburg, or Pine Bluff, up the valley of the Platte, taking in Greeley, Evans, Longmont and the Boulder Valley coal fields, to a junction with the Colorado Central, at a point about midway between Denver and Golden City. This project was an outgrowth of the intense rivalry between the Kansas and Union Pacific roads, and local contentions between Denver and Golden. It was advanced, apparently, as a foil to the proposed Denver, Utah & Pacific, — otherwise the High line, — and intended to strike a decisive and paralyzing blow at the supremacy and arrogant pretensions of Denver by virtually destroying the Denver Pacific, and giving Golden the prestige of a railway center. It became the subject of a long and bitter controversy. For months the news- papers blazed with arguments for and against the scheme. It provoked lively antagonisms between differing factions here and elsewhere. The Colorado Central interest, led by Henry M. Teller and W. A. H. Love- land, was arrayed in deadly hostility to the Denver interest, led by Carr and Evans. The former with some show of right, regarded the mount- ain counties as their exclusive property. They had mapped out a system of roads for Gilpin and Clear Creek, and while they could do little or nothing toward building them, resolutely determined that the Denver

96 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

people, having no right there, should be kept out. Human passions were stirred to their depths. It was war to the knife, and knife to the hilt, — Golden against the " Cherry Creek settlement," Teller against Evans, and the Union Pacific practically master of the situation, though acting perfunctorily. It wanted to hold the line, but manifested no- active desire to build.

As an offset to the Colorado Central proposition to build from Julesburg on the north side of the Platte to Golden, the Denverites proposed a standard gauge from Fort Kearney straight to their city. After this had been argued for a time, it was discovered that it would vir- tually kill the Denver Pacific, without affording them any material relief.

At the election held in April, 1872, Clear Creek County, exasperated by the long unredeemed pledges of the Colorado Central Company, and perhaps trusting too implicitly to the assurances given by the Denver, Utah & Pacific, voted in favor of aiding the latter. Teller, Loveland and their associates opposed this action at the polls, but were unable to defeat it. However, the movement came to naught.

The extension of the Boulder Valley road from Erie to Boulder was effected by the enterprise of some of the principal citizens of that town, who subscribed the funds to grade and tie the roadbed. This work was. begun on the 21st of March, 1871. Having executed their part of the agreement, the people naturally expected a prompt response on the part of the company, but nothing further was done until the early days of June, 1872, when the property was transferred to the Boulder Valley- Railway Company. Col. L. H. Eicholtz was then commissioned to put in the bridges and lay the iron. After many delays the road was finally- completed to Boulder September 2, 1873.

In June, 1872, Gen. T. E. Sickels, chief engineer of the Union Pacific, appeared in the Territory, evidently commissioned with the duty of reducing the affairs of the Colorado Central Company to some kind of practical order, and thereby enable his company to build the line to Black Hawk. The people of Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties becoming impatient, resolved to have a railway, and openly declared that if the

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 97

Union Pacific delayed much longer tliey would lend all their influence to any company that would pledge itself to make the connection. A pleasant and rather sagacious diplomat was Gen. Sickels. The impres- sion he made in his walks and talks with the people was highly favorable to the successful issue of his mission. In 1871 Gilpin County had voted three hundred thousand dollars in bonds to the Colorado Central Com- pany, yet very little had come of it. It had then been stipulated as a part of the contract that the road should be completed to Black Hawk by May i, 1872, and that it should be extended to Central City and Nevada. But the undertaking proved too great for the limited time, and the limited means employed in the work. Hence the bonds were forfeited. Moreover, a strong feeling of hostility had been incited by the long and perplexing inaction.

Sickels, having carefully measured the general sentiment, invited conferences with deputations of prominent citizens, and finally with the County Commissioners, with whom, after due explanations, a new treaty of alliance was perfected. This was, in effect, that a new proposition to vote two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in bonds should be sub- mitted to the electors, with the proviso that the railroad company should finish its line from Golden to a point near the junction of North and South Clear Creeks by September i, 1872, to Black Hawk by the first of January, 1873, and to Central City within one year. The extension to Nevada was relinquished on the ground of engineering difficulties, but the terminus at Central was to be at a point substantially the same as that now employed.

Sickels, in his extreme anxiety to reach a distinct and favorable understanding, made many verbal statements to the author and others concerning rates to and from the mines, which, could they have been realized, would have established much pleasanter relations between the people and the company than now exist. For example, he stated to me personally, that a maximum charge of two dollars per ton on freight from the V'alley to Black Hawk would be ample, affording the road satisfactory profits upon the tonnage as then estimated. 7 "•

98 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

The people of Gilpin County formed many radiant pictures of their destiny when the road should be secured. It was their e.xpectation that Central would develop into a large and prosperous city, the seat of a golden empire ; the center of industrial and speculative enterprise ; of vast commercial houses ; of palatial dwellings, and in the course of years would become the supreme influence in the land. It was not only to rival, but eclipse the rather nebulous splendors of Denver, and set all ■other towns wild with envy. Partly upon this assumption the Teller House was built by our senior Senator at the National Capital, wherein was irretrievably sunk a large part of his private fortune. An odd expres- sion used by Mark Twain, — " They danced blithely out to enjoy a rain- bow, and got struck by lightning," — seems to fit the case.

After two years of labor and almost continuous turmoil, the Col- orado Central narrow gauge was finished to Black Hawk, on Sunday, December 15, 1872. The depot used was a stone mill, erected some years previous by Gen. Fitz John Porter, then manager of the New York & Colorado Mining Company, but never used for the purpose intended. It soon became evident that this was to be for a long time, if not the permanent, terminus of the road, whereat the people of Central com- plained vociferously, but without effect. The engineers found it impos- sible to build the road straight up the gulch, therefore the only alternative was the " switchback," subsequently resorted to, but which at that time the company was not prepared to undertake. The County Commis- sioners therefore cut ofi fifty thousand dollars from the amount of bonds voted, as a fair compensation for the loss of the extension. The terminus remained at Black Hawk until the 21st of May, 1878, when the last rail was laid, and the last spike driven, at or near the present site of the depot in Central City.

The first locomotives used on the road between Golden and Black Hawk were, if I remember rightly, second hand machines, suited to the ordinary purposes of construction trains, but wholly unsuited to so large and various a trafiic as that which sprung up when the road was com-

HISTORY OF COLORADO. 99

pleted. They were equal to hauling only two or three loaded freight cars over the tremendous grades and innumerable curvatures.

In July, 1872, Boulder County voted two hundred thousand dollars in bonds to the Golden and Julesburg railroad, and a week later Weld County voted one hundred and fifty thousand to the same project. The line as now proposed was from Julesburg to Greeley, thence up the Platte to the St. Vrain, up that stream to Longmont, thence via Boulder and the Marshall Coal banks to Golden City.

About the middle of September, 1872, Gen. Carr, President, and Superintendent Bowen of the Kansas Pacific, arrived in Pueblo, where they were joined by Col. Lamborn of the Denver & Rio Grande. They met and conferred with a committee of citizens at the office of Wilbur F. Stone, attorney for the Rio Grande, with a view to devising ways and means for the extension of the Kansas road to Pueblo. Carr was extremely anxious to make the connection, and the people were by no means averse to having a second outlet, provided the terms could be made mutually agreeable. Carr offered to build if the county would subscribe three hundred thousand dollars to the stock, and upon this basis would sign a contract to have the road in operation within eighteen months from the date of the ratification of the agreement by the people. The Committee informed him that his terms were too high, that no such proposition would be accepted if submitted, and flatly refused to be the bearers of it to the Board of Commissioners. While the people were friendly to the Kansas Pacific, and would probably respond to a reasonable call for aid, they could not be induced to add three hundred thousand dollars to the obligations already incurred. It was finally arranged that the Commissioners should be petitioned to submit a sub- scription of two hundred thousand dollars, with the stipulation that the terminus should be located on the north side of the Arkansas River, and the depot buildings within a mile of the court house.

While these negotiations were pending, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, which had been rapidly pushed westward, began to inves- tigate the opportunities for a branch from its main trunk to Pueblo. At

100 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

this time its roadbed had been graded to a point about forty miles below Fort Lyon. Regular passenger trains were running to Fort Dodge. The Kit Carson branch of the Kansas Pacific had been graded to within ten miles of Fort Lyon.

On the 20th of November, 1872, articles of incorporation of the Kansas & Colorado Railway Company, afterward changed to the Pueblo & Arkansas Valley, were prepared and filed. The object, as set forth in the charter, was to construct a road from the eastern line of Colorado Territory up the Valley of the Arkansas via Pueblo into Lake County. The capital stock was placed at one million dollars. The trustees for the first year were Thomas and Joseph Nickerson, Isaac T. Burr, F. H. Peabody, Alden Speer, C. W. Pierce, C. K. Holliday, D. L. Lakin and T. J. Peter. This company proposed to form a con- nection with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road, and it was under- stood to be a branch of the same.

The introduction of this new and aggressive factor was by no means palatable to the Kansas Pacific directors. It provoked also all manner of contentions among the people. Carr had been slow and deliberate in his movements. On the other hand, the manager of the Atchison was energetic and rapid. Pending the expiration of the call for an election to vote on the Kansas Pacific subsidy, he adroitly slipped in and laid before the commission a more attractive proposal. This opened a general war ; the people split in factions, each contending with its best ability for its particular view of the questions involved. With each day the battle grew more and more animated ; it was the paramount and all absorbing topic on the streets, in the stores, shops, hotels, every- where. The excitement fattened upon various reports and rumors set afloat from day to day. The Atchison people plunged into the conflict with their sleeves rolled up. W. B. Strong, until recently (August, 18S9) the President of the company, while acting as its Vice-President and General Manager in 1878-79, personally related to me that he had conceived the idea of building to Pueblo, and by the various influences he could bring to bear, to create a powerful trade center at that point,

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ttiat would sap and possibly undermine the commercial prestige of Denver. He had in view a number of extensions, notably to Canon City, and thence into the mountains via the Grand Canon of the Ar- kansas, with perhaps a line into the San Juan country. It was his pur- pose to so concentrate the traffic of Southern and Southwestern Colo- rado at Pueblo as to entirely cut Denver out of any participation in the trade of that part of the country. Large wholesale houses in dry goods, groceries, hardware, clothing and other lines were to be established, and supplied from Kansas City over his road. This is, in brief, a fair outline of his plan. We shall see as this history develops, how and why it failed.

The infusion of this new element, the predetermined sweeping rev- olution in the carrying trade of the South ; the sudden and amazing transition from wagon transportation and slow coaches to which the people had been so long accustomed, and to which their intercourse with other communities had become attuned, produced much unwar- ranted local disturbance. Here was the promise of two more roads that when built would transfer all desirable prestige from Denver to Pueblo. Those who had little to lose were for both, but the more con- servative who had to foot the bills studied the question from all sides, turning their faces toward the one that promised most for the imme- diate future. Each asked for two hundred thousand in bonds, but one must be sacrificed. They had already issued that amount to the Rio Grande, and could ill afford to treble the burden. The Kansas Pacific being first in the field, the County Commissioners submitted its proposal to be voted on December 3, 1872. A few days prior to that date the Atchison people secured the ears of the commissioners and persuaded them to order a postponement of the election to the 21st of January fol- lowing, and at the same time to call an election for a vote on their prop- osition a week earlier, otherwise on the 14th of January. This action, while it delighted the Atchison faction, excited a storm of indignation from its opponents, who boldly charged the commissioners with having been corrupted. They denounced the Atchison as a bankrupt corpo-

102 HISTORY OF COLORADO.

ration that was simply playing a game of bluff without serious intentioji of carrying out its pledges. Nevertheless, the bonds were voted in its favor, and the building of the Pueblo & Arkansas Valley road was the result.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway crossed the State line of Colorado, en route to New Mexico, January i, 1873, and was extended to Granada, twelve miles beyond, a town of its own creation, on July 4 of that year, where it rested for a time. In December, 1875, it was advanced to La Junta. The branch to Pueblo was completed February 26, 1S76.

The first annual fair of the Southern Colorado Agricultural and Industrial Association was opened October 9, 1S72, and continued four days. Its President was George M. Chilcott ; Vice-President, Richard Gaines ; Secretary, Frank S. Pinckney ; Treasurer, Wilbur F. Stone. It was a very creditable exhibit of the resources of the region, was well attended, widely advertised, and attracted some immigrants, which was the principal design.

September 30, 1872, articles of incorporation for the Denver & South Park Railway were signed by Bela M. Hughes, Joseph E. Bates, Charles B. Kountze, D. H. Moffat, Jr., Frederick A. Clark, Fred. Z. Salomon, Henry Crow, W. S. Cheesman, and John Evans, and filed with the County Recorder October i. The route defined was from Denver to a point in the South Park, to be fixed at a subsequent date. Like all local projects except the proposed High line to Central and Georgetown, that was built only on paper, it was to be a narrow or three foot gauge. The capital stock was placed at two millions and a half, and the term of its existence at fifty years.

Nine trustees were chosen, comprising the corporators named above, with Leonard H. Eicholtz and J. C. Rieff. This enterprise, like that of the Rio Grande at the outset, seemed to the superficial observer wholly chimerical. There was no visible prospect of securing traffic enough in that direction to pay the running expenses. Excepting Littleton, there was no settlement whatever on or near its route. It was by far the most

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expensive line thus far projected. There was scarcely an acre of ground under cultivation between Denver and Fairplay, along the projected line. It is true that in the Platte Canon there were extensive belts of pine timber, and along the base of the mountains immense quantities of building stone, lime and gypsum, but none were opened, nor was there any considerable demand for such products. The best the public jour- nals could say in commendation of the enterprise was, that the South Park was an unsurpassed dairy section, while some of the intermediate valleys were susceptible of cultivation, and combined all the essential prerequisites for the production of butter and cheese. There were some mines, but they were comparatively undeveloped. It was a fine grazing region, — had been so from time immemorial. For centuries anterior to the " Pike's Peak immigration " it had been the favorite resort of every species of quadruped game, and the classic ground of the old hunters and trappers. California Gulch had been worked out, and Leadville was unknown, undreampt of.

Notwithstanding, these railway trail blazers who were given to building the roads first and developing the country afterward, persevered in their apparently unpromising work. By the time the road had been finished to Morrison, the panic of 1873 struck and overwhelmed them. It seems to have been the fate of every railway scheme undertaken by John Evans to meet with about all the trials and obstructions in the calendar.

The trustees elected as officers of the company John Evans, Pres- ident; D. H. Moffat, Jr., Vice-President; George W. Kassler, Secre- tary, and Charles B. Kountze, Treasurer.

In October, 1872, articles of incorporation of the Morrison Stone, Lime and Town Company were filed, and bore the signatures of John Evans, D. H. Moffat, Jr. and Henry Crow. Its purpose was the devel- opment of the resources in stone, lime, gypsum and other raw materials so lavishly diffused about that region. A town was laid out. The first division of the South Park railroad was built to Morrison, and there remained for some time.

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The splendid results achieved by Gen. Palmer and his skillful aids in establishing the practicability of the narrow gauge principle, attracted universal attention. It had become one of the most notable new railway enterprises of the Continent. But that it was still in the experimental stage was clearly indicated by the character of the locomotives, the lightness of the iron rails, and the rolling stock. The trains were but tiny affairs which suggested the idea that any ordinarily powerful gust of wind might lift them off the track and scatter them over the prairie.

But we started out to say that the attention given these efforts resulted in a convention of narrow gauge railway builders, in the city of St. Louis, on the 28th of June, 1872. It was a large and eminently respectable gathering, which took up and seriously considered all the questions involved. The managers of the Rio Grande, by means of their prominence, were looked to for the best light attainable.

In the course of the proceedings a committee was appointed to report upon the peculiar merits of the system, and Col. \V. H. Green- wood was made its chairman. The report submitted was lengthy, covering all the developed facts at that early stage of progression. The three feet gauge was recommended as a standard for the country at large, because it would secure uniformity, and was best adapted to the construction of through trunk lines from East to West, and from North to South. The system commended itself to the judgment of railway builders on account of its cheapness in comparison with the broad gauge, and its adaptability to rolling and mountainous regions ; because the cost of operation was twenty-five per cent, less than the broad gauge ; because the expenditure of power stands, or then stood, in the relation of about thirty-five to fifty-four in freight, and eleven to thirty in passen- ger tariffs. It was especially commended for use in the Southern States, and for the quick development of sparsely settled sections, because its smaller cost placed it within the means of such sections as could not well afford the more expensive gauge. In short, it was the deliberate opinion of these elated revolutionists that the reign of the broad gauge

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as the controlling power on this Continent would be broken by the rapid growth of the new idea.

Yet, after seventeen years of trial, while it has made more than ordinary progress, it has created no material diversion in railway affairs. The Colorado system is undoubtedly the most extensive and perfect of its class in the world, and while the same gauge has been adopted in Canada and in various parts of the United States, it has not superseded the standard in any country Avhere the latter was wholly practicable, and even here, under the recent presidency of Mr. D. H. Moffat, the main line of the Rio Grande is being gradually changed to the standard.

In 1872 there were seventy-four narrow gauge railways in the United States, and five in Canada, the latter being, however, three feet six inches instead of three feet wide. There were at that time, including those in Colorado, something over one thousand miles of such roads under construction in the United States and Canada.

The incoming of railways caused the disappearance of the ad- mirable stage lines, which from the earliest settlement had enlivened the streets of the commercial and political metropolis. Rejoice as we may that they have been eliminated from the problem, never to be restored, the memory of their old-time impressiveness is a pleasant one to the pioneer whose association with and dependence upon them for mails, express matter, and more rapid locomotion than walking, and many other conveniences, endeared them to him. None who lived in the period from 1859 to 1870 will forget the gaudily painted and rather imposing Concord coaches, drawn by six splendid horses, guided by the most expert reinsmen in all the land, as they dashed through the then uncrowded and sparsely settled streets to or from the central station, where their burdens were received or deposited. Nor will those who survive him fail to cherish among the happier recollections of their lives the winning smiles and gentle presence of the managing agent, Mr. J. H. Jones, who from 1867 to the day of his death presided over the stage and express office. He was one of the noblest types of men that ever the Almighty set his seal upon ; a great, generous, sympathetic

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heart, filled with benevolence ; with malice toward none, with charity for all, pursuing the right as God gave him to see the right, from the beginning to the end of his days ; affable, refined and affectionate, pas- sionately attached to his family and more intimate friends ; possessing in a higher degree than I have elsewhere witnessed the graces and the sum total of all that constitutes our grandest ideal of perfect manhood. His mind was as clear as a silver toned bell, quick to grasp the con- ditions presented, and as quick to give his decision and to execute the strict letter of his duty. His views of men and events were broad and catholic, his manner under all, even the most trying circumstances, cour- teous and agreeable. We cannot imagine the nature of the man who, knowing him, could feel any sort of bitterness toward him. Yet when firmness was necessary, no man could be more positive and unyielding. His deportment among his fellow men during the most perplexing and wearying cares of his office was the very essence of kindness and good will. His inflexible fidelity to his employers and to the public interests, illustrates in some degree his fine administrative abilities, while his efifi- cient mastery of the rude elements with which his lot was so frequently cast for so many years, gives further proof of his sterling qualities.

J. Harvey Jones was born in the Old Dominion of Virginia, whence, while still a young man, he removed to Missouri. In 1853 he was a freighter on the plains between the trading stations on the Missouri River and Salt Lake City. He came to Denver in 1867 as the agent of the Wells-Fargo Express Company, which then conducted a line of stages from Fort Kearney to Salt Lake City and California. For twenty-one years he was one of the most familiar and lovable figures in our city, and during all that time was seldom absent from his desk in the office.

Oh! those old staging days! While we may rejoice that they have passed "to the long roll of the forgotten," what a procession of scenes exciting and pleasant are recalled as we write of them. How delightful it was to see this genial director and his beautiful, sprightly children hovering about the coaches in the early morning, while they were being

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loaded for the East six hundred miles away, or for the mining camps among the snow-crowned mountain tops ; the hardy, sun-browned, weather-beaten faces of the incomparable, drivers beaming down upon them, their hearts softened and refined by the innocent prattle of the children, — whom each would have periled his life to save a sorrow, — as they danced gleefully about the horses, or clambered up to the lofty perch in the box and chattered to them as they sat awaiting final orders.

But there were days when these coaches and their drivers were forced to rush wildly through the red flames of Indian wars, when they came in riddled with bullets, with now and then dead and wounded pas- sengers ; when for hundreds of miles savage foes lay in ambush for them, bent upon their destruction ; when armed guards sat upon the decks and fought off the red devils while the horses ran the gauntlet of their fierce onslaughts. And there were days, too, when tornadoes, cyclones and blizzards swept over and engulphed them ; when coaches and horses and drivers, covered with snow and sleet, wandered through days and nights out upon the trackless desert in the vain search for a thoroughfare and for shelter. Few, if any, of the drivers, no matter how fierce the trials that environed them, ever deserted their posts or failed to bring their precious consignments to a harbor of safety. Surely no tribute of honor and praise is too great for the work they did and the perils they encountered in the times that tried men's souls to the uttermost.

In becoming a center of railways Denver ceased to be a center of staging. First we had the C. O. C. and P. P. express; next Ben Hol- laday, succeeded by Wells-Fargo, and they in turn by John Hughes & Co., and finally by Spottswood, Bogue & Co., with the Smoky Hill, Butterfield line sandwiched between. The Western Stage Company also established a daily line of coaches from Omaha to Denver and thence to Central City in 1859. When the Colorado Central began running trains to Golden City, six-horse coaches ran daily from that terminus to Black Hawk, Central City, Idaho and Georgetown, via Virginia Canon. A tri-weekly line plied between Denver and Fairplay,

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making the long trip over the rugged roads and high mountains in eighteen hours, stopping over night on the way. At Hamilton, in the South Park, stages ran tri-weekly to Breckenridge. A similar line was established between Colorado Springs and Fairplay via Manitou and Ute Pass. The Colorado stage company having these lines in charge ran a coach weekly between Fairplay and Canon City. From the former point to Granite, then a productive gold mining camp, a wagon conveyed passengers, mail and express once a week. From Central City to the silver mines about Caribou and Nederland, in Boulder County, M. F. Beebee, of Black Hawk, ran a regular line of coaches or wagons. The Denver & Rio Grande railroad put an end to staging between this city and Pueblo. For some years Mr. A. Jacobs owned and operated the stage line between the two cities, and it bankrupted him for the want of patronage. From Pueblo, Barlow, Sanderson & Co. ran ■ a tri-weekly coach up the Arkansas River to Cafion City, tri-weekly down that stream to Fort Lyon, and daily southward to Trinidad, Cimarron, Fort Union, Las Vegas, Santa Fe and other towns in New Mexico. On some, indeed most parts of their lines, wild Mexican bronchos were employed, animals which, though strong and fleet and serviceable, were wholly untameable. I remember taking a trip over these lines in the early days, when several brawny men were required to get the bronchos into harness, and when hitched to the coach, to hold them from running away with it before the driver could seat himself and secure a firm grip on the reins. When he was ready he gave an Indian war whoop, the attendants let go, when the bronchos shot off like the wind, keeping up the headlong flight until well nigh exhausted. Stopping at Bent's Fort to change, it was with the greatest difficulty they were unhitched, but once loose the leaders darted off to the Arkansas bottoms, rearing, kicking and plunging as if actually insane, and as if nothing short of a rifle ball, well aimed, would ever again place them under control. At another place one of the infuriated beasts broke loose and fled up a mountain side, over rocks and through dense thickets, until stripped of his harness.

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There are some among the early settlers, but chiefly confined to the rural districts, who entertain the profoundest contempt for railroads, telegraphs and all modern improvements ; who irreconcilably bemoan our decadence from the good old staging ways as a sufficient means of rapid transit, and ox trains for the conveyance of whisky and merchan- dise. They cannot endure the later civilization, having no respect for, nor part in it. The coming of the locomotive meant to them the utter annihilation of the old order of things, destruction of sacred idols and temples, the introduction and encouragement of vandalism. Not along the highways, but in the by-ways, remote and secluded places, these old hermits are still to be found, and if the occasional traveler who meets them will but lead up to the subject, they will recount marvelous tales of by-gone days when they were young and living forces in a land now peopled by men whose ways are not their ways. But one must accept these recollections with due allowance, for however honest in relating them in old age, their memories are not to be trusted for the retention of exact details. Nevertheless, they will be interesting.

In the summer of 1872 the money market in Denver, though evincing premonitory symptoms of the approaching panic of 1873, was reported easy, with interest rates at from eighteen to twenty per cent, per annum, on first-class commercial paper. Extortionate as these rates seem to us of the present day, they were considered quite liberal when compared with those of the previous decade, when they ranged between five and twenty-five per cent, a month, on substantial collateral. It is a fact that George W. Brown, who established one of the first banking houses in Denver, and was also one of the first Collectors of Internal Revenue appointed by President Lincoln, loaned money in small sums at twenty-five per cent, per month. Most of his contemporaries did the same. Money was money in those days, and the fortunate few who possessed it were able to secure any rate they chose to demand. For years the ruling rate on commercial paper at the regular banks was three per cent, per month, and from that to five per cent. Though the charges were extortionate, the risks were proportionately great, as there

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was no fixed value to property. Under the prevailing instability of things the man or bank which loaned money had to take serious chances. The disgust of the old frontiersman, who exclaimed when he saw articles in a store marked "seven cents," for which he had been accus- tomed to paying a dime or a quarter, that the country was going to the devil now that the storekeepers were making change with copper coins, expressed the prevailing sentiment down to about 1870. It was some time, however, before nickels were introduced and decently accepted, but there we drew the line. The epoch when twenty-five cents was the smallest coin in circulation, when every one carried his little buckskin sack of gold dust ; when the lucky gulch miner after a surprising clean up could go to a saloon with a party of comrades, and after ordering the drinks scatter handfuls of gold about the barroom to show his opulence, passed away with the period of ox teaming and staging. Opportunities for fortunate strikes and sudden enrichment were not so frequent as they had been. The original prospectors who made the strikes had gathered