Pueblo County, Colorado
The History of Pueblo City

Contributed by Karen Mitchell

The town of Pueblo was formally organized in the winter of 1859-60, the county in 1862. The latter included all the territory now embraced in its own, and the adjoining counties of Bent, Huerfano, and Las Animas, in area sufficient for an independent State. The first house in the town was erected by Mr. Jack Wright. From Stevenson's sketch we find that the first board of county commissioners consisted of O. H. P. Baxter, R. L. Wootton, and William Chapman; County Clerk, Stephen Smith; Sheriff, Henry Way. The first term of court was held by Hon. A. A. Bradford, subsequently appointed to the Supreme bench, and twice elected delegate to Congress. Prior to 1862 Pueblo occupied a rather lonely position. Its population was small, there was no regular communication by mail or otherwise with other settlements, and the original settlers had much difficulty in maintaining the position they had taken. In 1862 matters began to improve. A weekly mail was established, and J . A. Thatcher, a resident of Denver, went down there with a considerable stock of assorted merchandise adapted to the wants of the people, where, the venture proving quite profitable, his brother, M. D. Thatcher, joined him. Through close attention to business, both in process of years became very wealthy.

The "Colorado Chieftain " was established in 1868 by Dr. M. Beshoar (now of Trinidad), Wilbur F. Stone (afterward associate justice of the Supreme Court of the State, at this writing judge of the Criminal Court of Arapahoe County), and George A. Hinsdale, two of the ablest writers in the Territory, being its editors.

The first church in Pueblo was built in 1868 by the Episcopalians, and dedicated as St. Peter's church. They were followed by the Methodists, Presbyterians and Catholics in the order named.

In 1869 Thatcher Bros., Rettberg & Bartels, Berry Brothers, James Rice (now in his second term as Secretary of State), D. G. Peabody, and the Cooper Brothers were the principal merchants. Judge Moses Hallett (now U. S. District Judge) presided over the territorial court. The bar comprised A. A. Bradford, George A. Hinsdale, Wilbur F. Stone, H. C. Thatcher (afterward Chief-Justice of the State Supreme Court), James McDonald, J. W. Henry, and George Q. Richmond. Pueblo became an incorporated town in 1870. Its development into a large and flourishing city dates from the advent of the Denver & Rio Grande railway in 1872, of which a full account will be given hereafter.

In 1860, after severing his connection with Denver, Colonel Albert G. Boone went to Pueblo and erected an unpretentious tenement at the lower end of Santa Fe avenue, where was opened the first "general store,' the stock consisting of Taos flour, Missouri bacon, condemned government coffee, plug tobacco, Mexican beans, pinon nuts, hickory shirts, chili-colorow and other costly but indispensable supplies. This stock was trans- ported across the Sangre de Cristo Range from Fort Garland, by Colonel John M. Francisco, then the sutler at that post.

The first family to be located in the new town was that of Aaron Sims. In 1859 Josiah Smith returned to the States, married, came back, abandoned Fountain City to its fate and with his bride, settled in Pueblo, constituting the second family in the place. Emory Young, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H. Young, was the first white child born south of the Divide in Colorado. Numerous desertions from the original town site of Fountain finally brought collapse and ruin, the remains worth having being merged in the strength of its more fortunate competitor. The new site situated along the bank of the river, boasted some five or six log cabins, covered with dirt and fitted up with loopholes from which bullets could be fired at marauding Utes or "Greasers."

About this time Wm. R. Fowler came to the settlement, "a man of fine address, Christian practices and orderly walk and conversation." He was soon selected as the "Judge," and for some time thereafter he was the law and court of the neighborhood. During his administration he married a couple, though without orders or authority, except that of public sanction.

The first grocery (and this term on the frontier always meant a saloon and eating house) was opened in April, 1861, by Jack Allen and it soon became a place of famous resort. Dick Norton opened a second public house very soon afterward, and Dr. W. A. Catterson followed their example in the month following.

The settlement became noted for its fast horses, and every Sunday at ten o'clock in the morning a race took place. " Judge " Fowler conceived the idea of organizing a church and Sabbath School; Jack Allen seconded the proposition "for the 'Judge' must have been right," and postponed the races from ten o'clock to two, thus accommodating the expected church-goers. Dr. Catterson tendered the use of his grocery for religious services, and the initial service was a novel affair. "Judge" Fowler read and discoursed and prayed with the fifteen or twenty who gathered together, and Jack Allen emphatically asserted that "he would stand by the new enterprise." Dr. Catterson said it would live to the honor of all present, but a few weeks after the inauguration saw its demission as Jack Allen said, "it didn't pay as well as the races." When organized by the Territorial legislature in 1861-'62, the county of Pueblo included the immense tract subsequently organized as Bent County, and all of the later Huerfano and Las Animas Counties.

For a temporary government, to endure until the next ensuing general election, Governor Gilpin appointed as county commissioners, O. H. P. Baxter, Richard L. Wootten, and William Chapman; sheriff, Henry Way; county clerk, Stephen Smith. At the election following Smith was retained in his position, Chapman chosen probate judge and John H. Rice, sheriff. The first district judge was Hon. Allen A. Bradford, (subsequently twice elected Territorial delegate in Congress, in 1861 and re-elected 1868) who held the initial term in the old Boone house, in December, 1862.

The earliest recorded proceeding of the county commissioners is dated February 17th, 1862. R. L. Wootten was chosen chairman and it was resolved to proceed to stake out and locate the county seat of Pueblo County. A location was chosen, beginning on the Arkansas River "140 paces from the bridge owned by A. F. Bercaw," this being the southeast corner, then "running due north 200 rods, thence west one half mile, thence south to the Arkansas, thence down said river to J. D. Jenks' claim, thence east to the Arkansas, at or near the old Pueblo fort, thence down said river to place of beginning." They also staked out a location for a courthouse "near Eastman's ditch." The clerk was directed to issue three notices for proposals for building the courthouse of "hewd logs, twenty-four feet long by eighteen feet wide; "one window was to be put in each side of this house, and "one door in one end." "Said house should be ten feet high between floor and ceiling, with good hewd joists three feet apart. Roof of split puncheons and well covered with three inches of morter and four inches of dirt; also a spout to carry off water from the roof." The commissioners gave indication of possessing aesthetic natures, for they also required "a log above the eaves of the roof, to hide the dirt on the roof." One hundred and fifty dollars was then and there appropriated to build this house of justice and record, and a survey ordered "to be made at the first opportunity." March 1st, the contract for the building was awarded to Mr. Eastman at $300, and it was further required that a desk be furnished the clerk.

All persons "retailing any kind of goods or liquors" were ordered to pay ten dollars per quarter into the county treasury, "also all persons hawking any kind of goods or wares, except vegetables, shall pay five dollars per month and further also fresh meat or anything not raised in Colorado Territory." The first Pueblo officers put themselves on record as home protectionists.

June 1st, 1862, the commissioners resolved "to straighten the public road from the river bottoms at John Gill's ranch and running out on the sand fluffs to the slough three miles from Pueblo." O. H. P. Baxter was notified "to plow one furrow through on said road "or" else pilot through from said Gill's claim, one train of wagons to where the road runs around the said slough." At this date A. G. Boone was president of the meeting, with O. H. P. Baxter and W. H. Young, commissioners. W. H. Chapman was probate judge, and John Howard became his successor in 1863. Howard was the first disciple of Blackstone to hang out a shingle in Pueblo and "was an easy going chap, whose greatest weakness was a love for undiluted whisky." P. H. Hays, the sheriff, was succeeded by J. A. Hill, and Aaron Sims was county treasurer. John M. Espey was justice of the peace in 1862.

In this year John A. Thatcher, a man of remarkable talent for the conduct of business affairs, and at the current epoch (1890) one of the wealthiest citizens of Colorado, arrived at the lower end of Santa Fe avenue, the principal thoroughfare then and now, with trousers legs in boots, dusty and somewhat shabbily appareled, sturdily endeavoring to encourage, by a vigorous display of his own nervous activity, a like spirit in the ox team he was driving. His dilapidated wagon contained a small stock of goods from Denver, with which he opened a store in a cabin of cottonwood logs with dirt floor and roof, situated near the old brewery on Second street. The consignment being quickly disposed of, he renewed it from the same source, and thus laid the foundation of a princely fortune.

Prior to this event, however, a number of prominent people had been added to the list of fixed residents, George M. Chilcott in 1859, Colonel John M. Francisco, and the following with their families: George A. Hinsdale, Captain Wetmore, John W. Shaw, Mark G. Bradford and others. The "Greasers,"half-breeds”, and adventurers from every point of the compass who largely made up the floating population of Pueblo in those early days, if we may accept the local color sketches by Tite Barnacle (General Stevenson) of the "Chieftain," would have made delightful studies for a Shakespeare delineating his Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Toby Belch. According to this veteran journalist, doctor, soldier and raconteur, who indeed, is today, chronicler par excellence of Pueblo's "Auld Lang Syne,"

At this early age the convivial propensities of the people of Pueblo began to crop out in an unmistakable manner. "One day, a returning tenderfoot, who had been to the mining regions with a load of 'groceries, stopped in the settlement on his way home to Missouri. He had a portion of a barrel of whisky left and offered to sell it to a party of the Puebloans. They purchased the liquor, and soon manufactured a washtub full of egg-nog. The scene of the revel was in Pat Maywood's blacksmith shop, down by the river bank. The male inhabitants of the town all gathered there and after several fights, many of the revelers were overcome by the bilious compound. An eye witness gives the closing scene as follows: "One man hung doubled up over the bellows; another sat sound asleep in the tub of water in which the smith cooled his hot irons; a third reposed with his face in the ashes of the forge; a dozen more slept in various positions in the dust on the earthen floor of the shop. But two showed signs of life. In one corner lay the proprietor of the shop and astride his breast sat an individual, afterward a well known citizen of Pueblo, armed with a funnel and a tin cup and engaged in pouring egg-nog down the prostrate man's throat, the victim mildly protesting that he could not drink another drop."

Tradition has it that Jack Allen's whisky was considered by the rougher pioneers of Southern Colorado as most excellent, because when drank it made them feel as if a torchlight procession was galloping down their throats. The non-arrival of freight wagons drawn by patient oxen, in those days, never induced a whisky famine at Jack Allen's, and it was thought his distillery was wherever he happened to be. His fine old hand made, copper distilled, "blue grass dew," was probably manufactured according to Stevenson, from alcohol, chili-colorow, Arkansas River water, old boots, rusty bayonets, yucca and cactus thorns. It always had the same flavor and startling effect.

A number who are prominent residents of Pueblo to-day were among those who formed Company G of the Third Regiment during the late civil war. Removed as these men were from all the gentler associations of life and from civilization's higher forms and ideals, they were warm in kindliness and hospitality, and patriotic ready to die for their country's welfare. Company G also participated in the Sand Creek battle. The officers of the company were O. H. P. Baxter captain, S. J. Graham First Lieu- tenant, and A. J. Templeton Second Lieutenant. Enrolled in the company were among others, Charles D. Peck, Joseph Holmes, John W. Rogers, James O'Neal, Abe Cronk, W.W.. McAllister, John Brunce, John C. Norton, John McCurty, William H. Davenport, Jesse W. Coleman, H. W. Cresswell, Henry B. Craig, Joseph W. Dobbins, Tom C. Dawkins, A. A. Johnson. I.. F. McAllister. H. H. McIntire, Noah Puntenny, F. Page and Eugene Weston.

The Pueblo Vigilantes were a respectable and earnest body of men who never strained the quality of mercy in dealing with thieves and desperadoes of the early days. Some of the most abandoned wretches, who terrorized the country side under the names of "Texas" and "Coe," were found one morning hanging from a tree on the Fontaine's bank.

For many years a tree which had withstood the ravages of nearly four centuries was reverenced by the old settlers as the city's most valuable and poetic landmark. Beneath this "old monarch." Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill and other noted scouts had built their camp fires, and in 1850 thirty-six persons were massacred by the Indians while camping near by (according to "Colorado Pioneers"). June 25th, 1883 the venerable tree was cut down. The circumference measured twenty-eight feet, and a section of it may still be seen near the railroad depot

During 1864 war broke out between the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians and the entire country was placed upon the defensive. The old El Progresso saloon building on the southwest corner of Third street and Santa Fe avenue was used as a temporary fortification, and the women and children placed therein. A blockhouse was built near Third and Main streets and a round tower, constructed of adobes, crowned the point of the bluff overlooking Santa Fe avenue. Armed men patroled the neighborhood day and night, but no collision with the Indians took place.

The first noteworthy enterprise of a nature more or less public, was the erection of a flouring mill by Thatcher & Baxter in 1864, which afforded an immediate market for their grain, and supplied the inhabitants with native breadstuffs. The first hotel was operated by Aaron Sims, next by John B. Rice; then the noted log cabin situate just below the present James Rice hose house, was opened by Moody & Alexander, who were succeeded by P. K. Dotson and others.

The original postoffice was kept by Mr. Sims, and next by D. J. Hayden in his store, opened by the latter in 1863. The forms of procedure were extremely original and refreshing not to say according to regulations. There were no frills, or tedious formalities, no red tape or intricate novelties to govern its conduct, for says Wilbur F. Stone, the chronicler, "The mail bag, when it arrived, was unceremoniously emptied in the middle of the floor and the crowd invited to pitch in, such as could read, and pick out what belonged to them. What was left after this promiscuous sorting, was put in an empty candle box, and when the people came to the postoffice, they were directed to 'go and look for themselves and not bother the postmaster.' "

The first "pretentious" business house was built by James Haas, who, together with George Hall and Jacob Belts, instituted a combined grocery, liquor and billiard saloon. Its distinctive title was "El Progresso," and for some years it stood as the common resort of the people of the town and country who came to trade, discuss politics, and adjust their differences.

The first public school came to be established in 1863, when a comfortable frame building was erected as a beginning, by private subscription, on the rear of the lot later occupied by the Stockgrowers National Bank, and Miss Weston, sister of Eugene Weston, for many years a resident of Canon City, installed as teacher. It was used for school purposes until 1870 when an adobe structure displaced it, and here Professor Hamilton and Miss Jennings maintained the educational discipline. No school district was organized however, until 1866 or 1867. The first edifice devoted to mental and moral training, during summer vacations was occupied by the district court, and in the summer of 1864 the first truly religious services in Pueblo were there observed. At this time the Rev. H. B. Hitchings, then rector of St. John's church in the Wilderness (Denver), now of Trinity church, New York, came down and directed the proceedings, the responses being made by members of the bar in a strictly professional, if not wholly reverential voice. In 1868 the first church edifice, St. Peter's Episcopal, was built by the people of the town, aided by that eminent divine, Bishop George M. Randall, and the energetic efforts of its pastor.

Mr. Winslow, a young, intelligent and exceedingly popular missionary, was there in 1868. He was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Edwards, and by the Revs. Green, Brouse, Bray and others. The bell placed in its tower, that rang out the sonorous calls to worship, was the first to utter its tender appeal south of Denver, and when its metallic tones floated over the little village it brought to many a heart the memories of childhood's home, long silenced by years of rude experiences upon the Sabbathless border. The Methodists had organized in August, 1866, and in April, 1870, they were incorporated as the First M. E. Church, erecting a building at a cost of nearly $4,000. Reverend O. P. McMains, then the pastor, was succeeded by the Reverends Merrill, Wallace, Edmondson and others.

Almost immediately following the institution of commerce, schools and churches, came the founding of newspapers for the circulation of current intelligence and the wider advertisement of the embryonic metropolis among the benighted of mankind, a medium whereby the glories, resources and other advantages of Southern Colorado might be elaborately measured and set forth in appropriate terms, and a wholesale invitation extended to come and settle, toil and prosper. June 1st, 1868, appeared tinissue of the Pueblo "Chieftain" (containing a notice of the death of the famous Kit Carson), printed by Dr. M. Beshoar and Samuel McBride, edited by George Hinsdale and Wilbur F. Stone, two of the most accomplished writers in the Ten who soon made their impression upon the public mind here and elsewhere. It is the only paper in that division of the State that has survived the tempests of time, continuously rendered itself a power for good throughout all that vast region of country. The winter following, McBride sold his interest to Dr. Beshoar. In due course the control passed to Capt. J. J. Lambert, who has held it to the present time, and by his skillful direction has given it the great prestige it has constantly enjoyed.

Previous to 1869, brick buildings were unknown. Adobes, logs and boards were the materials used. In the year named, Messrs. Morgan, Barndollar, Mullaly and Anker, established brick yards, and the old county jail was the first orthodox burned brick structure in the town. During this period the Thatcher Brothers, Rettberg & Bartels. Berry Brothers, James Rice, D. G. Peabody and the Cooper Brothers, the leading merchants. Judge Moses Hallett presided over the District Court.

The bar consisted of A. A. Bradford, George A. Hinsdale, Wilbur F. Stone, Henry C. Thatcher, James McDonald, J. W. Henry and George Q. Richmond. Drs. P. R. Thombs and J. W. O. Snyder represented the medical profession, and Lewis Conley Klynn & Beach and Gus Bartel were contractors and builders.

In 1869, the first association in the nature of a board of trade, was organized at Pueblo, with the title of "The Board of Trade of Southern Colorado." Its officers were M. I. Thatcher, president; George A. Hinsdale, vice-president; B. F. Rockafellow, secretary, and W. F. Stone treasurer and corresponding secretary. Its directors were ?nker, Pueblo County; Henry Daigre, Huerfano County; S. M. Baird, Las Animas County; John Christian, Summit County; J. M. Paul, Park County; W. K. Shaw, Lake County; Thomas Macon, Fremont County; George A. Bute of El Paso; Ferdinand Meyer of Costilla ; Lafayette Head of Conejos, and John Lawrence of Saguache.

Though organized at Pueblo, its general purpose appears to have been to collect statistics giving information to possible immigrants concerning the advantages of all the southern counties. This board issued an attractive and ably written pamphlet in 1869, published at the “Chieftain " office, a copy of which is sacredly guarded by Charles W. Bowman, the courteous secretary of the present Pueblo Board of Trade.

With the establishment of schools and churches the tone of society was improving, and Pueblo was not only the county seat, but also the commercial metropolis of Southern Colorado. Her population, which in 1867 amounted to less than fifty, now counted over four hundred souls.

Her location at the crossing of the great routes from the East, and the situation (between Colorado and New Mexico) brought a throng of strangers to her public houses, and the new substantial business structures and neat homes constantly being erected, indicated that the population had come to stay. Building stone of excellent quality was found in large quantities near the town, and trees, flowers and shrubbery were planted near and about the houses. The District Court for the county, to which Huerfano and Las Animas were attached for judicial purposes, was held in the town in April and October of each year, and two terms of the United States Court for the Third Judicial District were held each year. The judge of this district, the Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory, the United States Attorney for the Territory, and also the Delegate to Congress, all lived here.

The Arkansas River was spanned by a substantial bridge, and the water power for milling and manufacturing purposes was excellent. The Colorado "Chieftain," an eight column newspaper of four pages was published and conducted with signal ability and energy. In 1868 the business of Pueblo may be comprehended by the following table (prepared by B. F. Rockafellow, the secretary of the Board of Trade).

Value of merchandise sold, $390,980; bushels of grain sold, 100,000; sacks of flour sold, 10,000; feet of lumber, 800,000; value of goods manufactured tinware, harness and saddlery, boots and shoes, furniture and agricultural implements, $35,600; number of pounds of freight received 1,078,350; amount paid for freight, $61,136; cash receipts of hotels $42,657; cash receipts of stage (for passengers and express fares), $50,200; value of all kinds of improvements on farms, $319,000; value of all farming implements, $43,295; value of all lumber made and sold, $59,500; gross sales of merchandise, $1,064,033.

At this time the Kansas Pacific Railway was completed to Sheridan, 210 miles from Pueblo, and by 1870 the railroad's distance was lessened to seventy-five miles. The county then included within its lines two military posts; Fort Lyon, situated near the mouth of the Las Animas, and Fort Reynolds, at the mouth of the Huerfano.

From the settlement of forty souls in 1867, it has been computed that Pueblo had in 1868 achieved a population of 150; in 1869 though twice the number was claimed, it is probable that the population numbered about 400; in 1870 it had grown to 666; in 1872 to 1,500; in 1873 to over 2,000; and in 1874 to about 3.000. A new epoch now began. From the thus of the overland ox team, we saw the region grow to the dignity of a daily stage coach, and now the railroad has come over the trail earlier marked out by Indian and buffalo.

March 22, 1870, the town of Pueblo was incorporated, and George A. Hinsdale, M ? Bradford, H. C. Thatcher and H. H. Cooper were appointed trustees. The first town election was held in April. A city organization was effected in May 1873 and at the first city election in the following month, James Rice was elected mayor, and O. H. P. Baxter and Weldon Keeling, aldermen. Mayor Rice's immediate successors were John R. Lowther. M. D. Thatcher, W. H. Hyde and George Q. Richmond.

The only communication with the world of civilization up to this time had been by stage twice a week (later daily) to Denver, and the same to Bent's Fort. At this latter point connection was made with Barlow and Sanderson's coaches on the main line, from the end of the Kansas Pacific Railroad (seventy-five miles distant) to Santa Fe, New Mexico. These coaches were thought lightning conductors, and were drawn by three mules in front and two at the pole, a "three cornered team."

The drivers on this line sometimes met rough handling from Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indians, and indeed in 1864 for thirty days mails could not be brought overland from the South or East, and were sent by water via San Francisco. A cheaper method of travel, but much slower was via the bull teams "which, however, afforded plenty of opportunity for enjoying the scenery and for the cultivation of patience." In those days Santa Fe avenue was the only important street in Pueblo between First and Fourth streets, and here at the "O. K. Restaurant," all the gossip of the community was exchanged. Here the overland stage brought the incoming "tenderfoot" stranger, and everybody gathered about him to hear the latest news from the "States;" and the coming and going of the stage coach stirred the town to its very foundations.

Twenty miles distant toward the east, was Fort Reynolds, now known as Booneville, and it was the custom of the citizens to tender a grand ovation to its officers or soldiers after their periodical visits to town.

The Denver & Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Railroad was completed from Colorado Springs and Denver to Pueblo June 28th, 1872, the county subscribing $100,000 in bonds to the stock of the road. The completion of the road was celebrated by a public banquet at the recently erected courthouse, at which addresses of congratulation and prophecy were made by Grace Greenwood, and by prominent men from various parts of the Territory. The Arkansas Valley branch of the road up the river to the coal mines in Fremont County was built in November of the same year. From this time the destiny of the town was no longer problematical, but a brilliant future assured. The people fully appreciated the benefits to accrue from the birth of modern means of transportation, for freights had not proven of rapid process. An instance may be cited of one trainload of merchandise which was over seventy days coming seventy-five miles, from Sheridan to Pueblo (which is hardly suggestive of Buchanan Read's poem, "Sheridan's Ride"), and the rates were very high.

The United States Land Office Judge Wheeler, register, and Mark G. Bradford, receiver was opened in 1871, and in 1873 lands were entered by the homestead act to the extent of 34,227 acres, and 59,730 acres were pre-empted by private entry.

A new jail was erected, Judge Lynch fell into disrepute, and law and order took precedence in the community. A creditable county courthouse, costing $35,000, was completed in 1872, costing taxpayers nothing, as it was erected from the sale of lots in a quarter section of land which had been pre-empted by the county officers, and filed as a city addition. Handsome churches were built by the Methodists, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians. The Catholic Church, the last to organize, erected a brick church in 1873, and in the following year built a school under charge of the sisters. Public reading rooms were opened in May, 1873, by a public library association, with an organization corporate under the laws of Colorado, and capital stock of $10,000. A scholarly opening address was read by the Hon. George A. Hinsdale. Odd Fellows and Masons, and Good Templars organized societies at about this time, and the Pueblo Social Club gave regular hops. It was said that though at one time Pueblo was honored by the presence of but two married women, a brilliant dance could be started within a quarter of an hour almost any day in the year. And although one has read the Jewish record of David dancing before the ark; of Herodias' daughters dancing in joy and festivity; of Moses and Miriam dancing to songs of triumph; yet imagination will not permit the chronicler to say that the enjoyment of these surpassed that of the Puebloans dancing on the borders of the Muddy at the residences of George Howard and Dr. R. M. Stevenson. Every week a concert, exhibition, show or circus entertained or amused the little city. The people, too, took on a literary turn of mind, it would seem, for the postoffice then distributed 800 magazines or papers daily.

C. E. Gray of Lawrence, Kansas, in 1873 proposed to put in a gas plant provided he could be guaranteed 150 private consumers, and he received patronage from the but although his proposition was recommended by the city council, a gas plant was not erected until several years later.

In early days Pueblo's waterworks were of primitive design an ex whisky barrel (of which there was no scarcity) filled with the muddy river water, was drawn about from house to house, by burro or mule, and each settler received his quota in a barrel at his front door. This was the origin of the water system. It next developed into a large wooden tank mounted on a wagon whose driver, facetiously dubbed the "Worthy Chief Templar," was abused whenever a tardy appearance was made of a Monday morning.

June 24th, 1874, was a red letter day in the history of the city of Pueblo, as it witnessed the inauguration of her greatest public enterprise the Holly waterworks for which the people had voted $130,000. At one o'clock of that day all business houses were closed and under Masonic ceremonies the corner stone of the waterworks building was laid, amid rejoicing of the people en masse. The Deputy Grand Master presented the corn of nourishment after the Grand Master had pronounced the corner stone "plumb, square and level, well formed, true and trusty" which was sprinkled on the stone by the Grand Master; the Senior Grand Warden presented the vessel containing the wine of refreshment, and the Junior Grand Warden handed the vessel with the oil of joy, both of which were poured over the stone. The Grand Master then extended his hands and made the invocation: "May the Author of all good bless the inhabitants of this place with all necessary conveniences and comforts of life, assist in the erection and completion of this building, protect the workmen from every accident, long preserve this building from decay, and grant unto us all a bountiful supply of corn of nourishment, the wine of refreshment, and the oil of joy." The entire system was erected by the National Building Company of St. Louis, and its success played an important part in the development of the city. The organization of an efficient fire department ensued as a matter of course, for the general protection. It consisted of two hose companies and a hook and ladder company, with W. R. Macomb as chief.

South Pueblo was laid out in November, 1872. It is essentially a city of wage- workers, and was founded by the Central Colorado Improvement Company, whose officers were prominently connected with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, and which was subsequently merged into the Colorado Coal & Iron Company. According to M. Sheldon of South Pueblo, the railroad company agreed to build a station on the north side of the river should the county vote the required amount of bonds to help construct the road. But having an opportunity in 1872 to purchase 48,000 acres of the Nolan grant, they took the name of the Central Colorado Improvement Company, founded a town on the south side, and removed the terminus of the railroad to that side. Heretofore the south side contained but one building in this locality, a small log house on the ranch of Wildeboor Brothers, somewhere in the neighborhood of Clark's Mineral Spring. Cattle were herded and crops grown where South Pueblo now stands, and there was an attractive piece of woodland there where picnics were occasionally held in the summer. The coal mines near Carton City had been opened by the land company in conjunction with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, and a branch railway was constructed from Pueblo to these mines, forty miles westward. Seventy-five thousand dollars was expended in the construction of a canal to water South Pueblo and to irrigate some 20,000 acres of surrounding lands. Ten thousand ornamental and shade trees on its streets were irrigated by tiny ditches, and during 1873, the first year of the new town, $50,000 worth of lots were sold, and buildings erected in the bottoms aggregating nearly $200,000. The first structures erected in South Pueblo were the Grand Central Hotel and the building adjoining it on Union avenue. In 1880 about 1,000 acres had been laid out in town lots, with wide streets, well bordered with trees, and the town had a mayor, a board of aldermen, and a postoffice of its own. The only thing shared in common by the two cities was the new town illuminating from the gas works of North Pueblo, which was organized in 1880.

The People's Bank of Pueblo, the first National bank established in Southern Colorado, began business in April, 1873. Its capital was $100,000, and first president E. W. Railey; J. L. Lowther, cashier. The original directors were, besides the officers mentioned, Charles H. Blake, Lewis Conley, J. W. O. Snyder, Mark A. Blunt, and Judge Wilbur F. Stone.

In the fall of this year the Stock Growers' Bank was organized. Business for this year may be estimated from the exchange sold by these banks, amounting to $2,300,000.

Pueblo's advance was seriously interrupted by the panic of 1873, but this crisis passed, its growth was renewed with redoubled vigor. Its growth up to this time had been sure and steady, but compared with the progress of succeeding years it seems slow indeed. The health giving climate, mild winters, and the prodigal possibility its soil were unknown in the East as indeed they were surprises to the settlers themselves.

Immense clay beds were utilized in and about the city, at this period, which made the bricks used in the majority of new buildings. 5,000,000 bricks were thus produced in 1873. Of lumber from the Divide and the Muddy, and better qualities brought from Chicago, over 3,000,000 feet were sold in this year. The county assessment of real estate of 1873 Pueblo City was $936,000, and out of the city $228,000; while personal property was assessed at $420,448. During this year 206,000 letters and 300,000 papers were received at the postoffice and at the four leading hotels, the Lindell, Drover's, National and Burt's 13,700 people had registered.

Two excellent private schools were well patronized; the Pueblo Academy, under the direction of A. B. Patton, and the Colorado Seminary established in 1872 by Miss Ellen J. Merritt, a boarding and day school principally for young women, where in addition to the usual curriculum, music, painting and the languages were taught. In 1876 a public school building was erected which at that time had no superior in the Territory. The district had voted $14,000 for this building which money after being collected by the trustee, Sam McBride, was embezzled by him, and Sam left the country and was never heard of again.

The Pueblo ''People," first issued in September, 1871, by George A. Hinsdale (corner of Fourth and Summit streets), was sold in 1874 to the "Chieftain,"' with which paper it was incorporated. Probably the fact that the "Chieftain" became a daily in 1872 most forcibly illustrates the period of progression upon which the busy city had now entered.

In 1870 the "Chieftain" was the only paper published in Colorado south of Denver. The office in which it was first published was originally constructed as an appendix to a lumber yard. It contained two small rooms with bunks around its sides in which editors, owners and printers rested from the difficult work of running a pioneer journal. Supplies had to be brought out by ox teams from St. Louis, and more than once was the stock of white paper exhausted, and the "Chieftain" compelled to come out on brown manilla wrapping paper, while single copies were sold at fifteen cents.

As stated by the "Chieftain:" "The first room used for amusements and public gatherings in Pueblo was located in the second story of Thatcher Brothers' building, on the southeast corner of Santa Fe avenue and Fourth street, on the ground now occupied by the Bank of Pueblo. The house was constructed of adobes, and the lower floor was occupied by the above named firms as a storeroom. The upper room, which covered the whole of the second floor, was at that time empty, and that was where balls were held and other home amusements took place, and an occasional traveling fakir of some kind furnished an evening's amusement for a number of people who seldom were favored with an opportunity to attend a show. The floor of the room was not very solid, and when a dance was to be held it was propped from below with two by four scantling in order to render it firmer. The ceiling of the floor below was not plastered, and was thickly hung with tin and sheet iron ware, the merry jingle of which kept time to the feet of the dancers above.

"The first entertainment of any moment given in this room during the recollection of the writer was the Masonic ball on St. John's Day, December 24th, 1868. A masquerade ball was given during the same winter, which was quite a society event in Pueblo. Among the participants were Messrs. Ferd Barndollar, as a wharf rat; M. Anker, as a colored belle; Dr. Beshoar, as a ' What is it;' Scott Kelly, as an Irishman; George W. Morgan, as 'Nigger Jones;' R. N. Daniels, as a German peasant; C. J. Hart, as Don Juan; Dr. P. R. Thombs, as an Austrian officer; Lou Pegg, as a major general, and a variety of others."

Lewis Conley built the first legitimate amusement edifice in the city in 1869, on the north side of Seventh street, between Santa Fe avenue and Main street. Conley Hall was constructed of adobes, and was two stories in height. Afterward it was known as the Thespian Theater, and still later as Montgomery's Opera House. The Auditorium was first opened to the public December 27th, by Pueblo Lodge A. F. & A M. The old Pueblo cornet band, of which Secretary of State Rice was leader (while Judge Hart, General R. M. Stevenson, Henry Cooper, Eugene Weston and J. D. Miller tooted horns and clashed cymbals), furnished the music. George M. Chilcott several years later erected a building containing a public hall, on the corner of Sixth street and Santa F avenue.

Hon. Bela M. Hughes, who was nominated for governor by the Democracy at their first State convention, addressed the electors of Pueblo in this hall. When the amendment to the constitution granting the right of suffrage to females was submitted to the people, and the State was overrun by a swarm of female suffragists from New England and elsewhere, addresses were delivered in the hall by Lucy Stone Blackwell, Susan B. Anthony, and others. These meetings were well attended, not because the people of Pueblo favored female suffrage (they voted it down by a large majority), but because of their curiosity to see the speakers, and hear a real live woman make a speech.

Emily Faithful held forth upon one occasion in Chilcott's Hall, and was received with a salute of fire crackers and other evidences of delight on the part of a large and highly appreciative audience. Miss Faithful, if living, must still remember her flattering reception on the lecture stage in Pueblo, and some of those who formed part and parcel of her audience will never forget the fun of that evening as long as they live.

In 1876 an amateur local theatrical company was organized which presented "Among the Breakers" at the Thespian Theater, which then boasted a gallery and new stage fittings. J. M. Murphy, T. A. Bradford, H. K. Pinckney, and Att. O'Neill were prominent members of the cast.

The first public sale of town lots occurred in 1869 of what is known as the county addition. Lots were sold at $125, which twenty years later were worth $15,000. Among the fortunate first investors were H. C. Thatcher, Ferd. Barndollar, M. D. Thatcher, G. A. Hinsdale, Hon. Wilbur F. Stone, G. Bartels, O. H. P. Baxter, Lewis Conley and others. The sale of their lots April 24th, 1869, brought a little over $4,000, and the same property in 1890, is estimated as worth over half a million.

The first survey of main Pueblo was of what is now known as "old town," and to this was joined from time to time various additions as follows: County, Craigs, Blake's, Bartlett's & Miller's, Thomas & Thatcher's, Barndollar & Lowther's and Shaw's addi- tions. In the spring of 1874 Hon. G. M. Chilcott laid out an addition.

In 1875-'76 the Pueblo & Arkansas Valley branch of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad was completed, giving Pueblo a route to the east, and on the 1st of March, 1876, was opened for general traffic. Pueblo County subscribed $350,000 to this road, and its completion was the signal for two days of public rejoicings, and a monster excursion from Kansas and all points of Colorado.

The "Republican," a daily and weekly paper, appeared in 1874-'75, under direction of J. M. Murphy. It did not prove over successful, and after a short life, it was purchased by Dr. A. Y. Hull and brother of Missouri, in 1876, who changed its name to fit its new principles, to the "Democrat." This in time passed into the hands of Judge Royal, and it later became the "Daily News."

The year 1876 was one of national glory and State pride. The centennial celebration of the independence of the Union was observed in Pueblo with pompous display and processions. Reverend Brouse delivered an appropriate oration, and Judge Wilbur F. Stone had an historical sketch of the city which was later embalmed in printer's ink. Pueblo felt the encouragement of Colorado's admission into the Union of States in this year, and in 1877, aroused by the gold excitement at Leadville, began anew to assert herself, and during the next seven years trebled her population.

The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad was the first rejuvenating force, and the next event of incalculable importance to the city was the development of mineral camps throughout the mountain regions which stimulated general trade and commercial industries. Pueblo made great strides in these days, brick blocks were erected on both sides of the river, new industries began, and many more firms engaged in selling and forwarding supplies to Leadville and other camps. Eastern capitalists set the seal of success, and prophesied a grand manufacturing future for the city when Mather and Geist erected the first smelting works here on the northern bank of the river at the crossing of the Denver & Rio Grande, and the Arkansas Valley Railroads. Ninety days from the breaking of ground the furnace was in operation. The one furnace of that day soon proved a success, and in seven years' time fourteen were in operation. And the modest plant grew into the immense Pueblo Smelting and Refining Company. By its success it demonstrated the excellence of this location and the profit to be derived from the smelting industry when the various materials necessary can be brought together from surrounding counties so readily and cheaply as at Pueblo. Pueblo became a center for ores, fuel and limestone; while at this plant but a dozen men were employed originally, seven years later four hundred were at work. The "boom" now had begun, and a thousand business men and capitalists realized that Pueblo had become, in a moment, the Rocky Mountain Pittsburg.

Another great factor in Pueblo's activity was the consolidation in 1879 of the Colorado Improvement Company and other companies having similar aims, and the formation of the Colorado Coal and Iron Company, with general offices in South Pueblo. This company in 1881 erected immense iron and steel works at Bessemer, which since has become a thriving town, and practically a part of the Pueblos. It is situated on a large tract of mesa land about a mile south of the Union depot. A town site was laid out here on the Rio Grande track, and numerous side tracks were put in. A large number of cottages were built as homes for workmen, and tall blast chimneys signaled the converting of rails and of nails. The history of this company, the richest in Colorado, is given in following pages.

In 1880 the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad had linked Leadville with Pueblo, Colorado's greatest railroad war was ended, and the prizes of the mountains could be brought direct to Pueblo for treatment all the way down grade where coal could be had as low as fifty cents per ton, and cheaper than at any known place in the world.

The Pueblo Street Railroad, with William Moore president, was constructed in this year, connecting the three towns, and prepared to extend its lines in all directions, as required by the now growing necessities for quicker transit. The Union Gas Company began a plant which should illuminate both Pueblo and South Pueblo, and this latter city had already become the foremost manufacturing city of Colorado and of the Rocky Mountain region.

The general assembly of 1879-'8o authorized the founding of an asylum for the insane at Pueblo, and made an appropriation for the purchase of land, and for a suitable building. Under this act, James McDonald, Theodore F. Braun and J. B. Romero were appointed commissioners by the governor. They purchased the residence of Hon. George M. Chilcott, a short distance west of town, and remodeled it. McDonald resigned from the board soon afterward, and was succeeded by R. M. Stevenson, of the "Chieftain," who in turn resigned and O. H. P. Baxter was appointed. The asylum was completed and opened for the reception of patients in October, 1879, with accommodations for forty. It was soon literally crowded with unfortunates, bereft of reasoning. In 188o-'81 another appropriation of $60,000 was made for enlargement by the erection of another building. Waterworks were built on the south side, and the city was supplied with telephone connections.

In the spring of 1882 the Denver & New Orleans Railroad was completed to Pueblo and its line in operation, and a little later the Denver & Rio Grande Western had extended its track to Salt Lake City, giving Pueblo a through route to the Pacific. The Ladies Benevolent Union and the Sisters of Charity each had well arranged hospitals, and another similar establishment was conducted under the direction of the Bessemer Steel Works.

The Grand Hotel, four stories in height, and with a frontage of 130 feet on Santa Fe avenue, and a depth of 120 feet on Eighth street, costing $175,000, was erected in 1882-'83. Within its well arranged interior are to be found extensive halls and refectory, large rotunda with fountain in play, and over a hundred handsomely furnished apartments. At this time two large flouring mills were in constant operation, and Pueblo possessed one daily and four weekly newspapers; foundries and machine shops; six printing offices; sixteen real estate offices; six banks; six dry goods stores; thirty-five retail and three wholesale grocers; a cracker factory; seven wholesale liquor dealers; four lumber yards; a soap factory; six blacksmith shops; two agricultural implement factories; four commission houses; thirty-five law firms; twenty-six physicians, etc. The assessed valuation of Pueblo County in 1882 gives a fair idea as to the extent and resources of business in this year: Improvements of land, railroad property, $1,100,000; city real estate, $1,818,301; amount of capital in merchandise, $785,000; valuation of farming land, $441,977. Total value of all property in the county, $7,066,720, of which nearly two-thirds is in the Pueblos. The directors of the board of trade of the Pueblos have, however, estimated property for the year 1883, in the county at actual valuation, as follows: Improvements of land, railroad property, $5,500,000; improvements of land, city real estate, $5,000,000; number of cattle, 39,000; valuation of cattle, $500,000; amount of money and credits, $650,000; amount of capital in manufactures, $2,000,000; amount of capital in merchandise, $2,000,000; valuation of household goods, $500,000; total value of all property in the county, $20,000,000; property in Pueblo, $6,000,000; property in South Pueblo, $4,500,000; county outside, $9,500,000.

Hon. Wm. D. Kelly of Pennsylvania, whose views on pig iron and its products received throughout America the most respectful consideration, delivered an address in Pueblo August 16th, 1882, full of prophecy which later years have vindicated. From this address we make the following extracts:

"It was the discovery of the precious metals which first attracted settlers across the desert places to Cherry Creek; but it was the useful metals that summoned to Pueblo the brawny men who did me the honor to escort me to this hall, and who constructed yonder admirably equipped steel works, which will in a little while be pointed to as the initial institution in Colorado's great industrial center. The plains, now intersected by a number of railroads, are no longer sterile, and Colorado's agricultural resources will bring the plow, the loom and the anvil into operation in closest proximity.

"There are three causes which create great and enduring States. First, the possession of immense masses of the precious metals. This it was that called together, as if by magic, the people of California and Australia, and of Colorado, when it was announced that there was gold at the foot of Pike's Peak. Another, that part of the State and some of the cities shall lie on a great line of inter-State travel, and furnish points for the exchange of commodities; or, in plain language, have facilities for the establishment of commercial centers. Your State has the precious metals, and is already traversed by great through lines of travel.

"My third proposition was that the possession of materials for iron and steel, and adequate fuel and fluxes for working them, would give prominence and prosperity to a State. These elements of greatness and wealth I declare unhesitatingly to exist in a greater degree and in closer proximity in Colorado than I have found them at any point I have visited in this country or Great Britain."

And two days later at Leadville, Mr. Kelly publicly stated: "The production of iron and steel, and the establishment of every branch of industry dependent upon the production of these metals, may be established more advantageously at Pueblo than at any other place I know of on the face of the globe."

August 28th, 1883, the Colorado Smelting Company began active operations in its works, situated about a mile south of the city, at Bessemer, and have since been in con- tinuous operation night and day. General N. H. Davis was president of this company; Dr. R. W. Raymond, vice-president; H. C. Cooper, secretary, and Walter S. Gurner, treasurer. At the beginning the pay roll numbered over one hundred men, and its salaries exceeded $100,000.

The position of the Pueblos in their relations to mines and metals and coal and markets was now becoming understood. The formations in which the Arkansas had furrowed its bed belong to the cretaceous epoch and are divided into several strata of sedimentary deposits, such as limestones, sandstones, clays, slates, coal, iron, etc. The limestones and the fine grained sandstones already were being shipped to the south and east, and the Leadville smelters were using the limestones and fluxes of Pueblo County. One mile below Pueblo, gypsum was found intermixed with clay, making a good fertilizer, and in the foothills a purer gypsum was found suitable for building purposes. Numerous mineral springs, some saline, some chalybeate and others sulphurous, have been developed. Along the valley, at Carlisle and at Rockvale and Coal Creek, thick beds of coal were mined and mineral oil wells yield enormously. Toward the south and southwest the Greenhorn Mountains are found to be formed of azoic rocks, granite, gneiss, full of porphyritic dykes, accompanied by mineral veins rich in copper ores. Near to the head of the St. Charles, and between the Greenhorn and Red Creek, a conglomerate is found which consists of pebbles of quartz and obliterated crystals of feldspar, cemented together by red clay; this formation has a great thickness, and dips at an angle of twenty-two degrees. Intermixed with it are found dykes of trap, accompanied by small mineral veins carrying galena, with a few disseminated crystals of copper and nickel sulphurets. Ten miles west of Red Creek we encounter an entirely different formation, of which the origin is due to glacial action, and there we find huge masses of rocks, polished, rounded, striated, some formed of mineral vein matter, some of porphyry, gneiss, granite, etc., showing the different formations that have been disintegrated and carried away by the powerful action of ice.

Hardscrabble Creek springs out of this formation, and farther down flows through a canyon showing on both sides sandstone strata dipping at an angle of sixty to seventy degrees. The sand deposits along the creek contain some gold colors. Passing over the crest of the range, and descending the western slope, we reach the towns of Rosita and Silver Cliff. These two localities present the most extraordinary mineral formations. In Rosita, true fissure veins of galeniferous quartzite, inclosed in trachytic porphyry, while on the northwest they are located in sedimentary rocks. Strata and beds of clay impregnated with chloride of silver are another striking feature, and belong to a sedimentary deposit, of which the dip varies from thirty to forty-five degrees.

One mile from Rosita, and on the southern slope of a hill covered with quartzite debris, are masses of round silicious concretions, from the size of a nut to that of a human head, scattered about with profusion. It is easy to recognize the results of the action of silicious waters, formerly existing here, results analogous to the deposits and incrustations observed in the silicious geysers of Montana and Idaho.

A little farther south is found the head of the Muddy, springing out of broken and disjointed sandstones, showing in some places well defined dykes of volcanic trachytic matter, and also some porphyry veins. At the head of the Muddy, and going toward the Cuerno Verde peak, we meet a syenitic granite that covers all the foothills. This formation incloses several dykes of porphyry and iron ore.

The Cuerno Verde peak itself presents a series of curious geological formations, beginning at the base with sandstone, followed by metamorphic granite, the upper part of the peak being capped by volcanic masses. The whole mountain is a network of veins of quartz carrying mineral, shown by well defined outcroppings. Fifteen miles south, and after crossing the Huerfano River, the sandstones and conglomerates are again met with, and the hills are covered with boulders of granite, trachyte and basalt, until Gardner is reached. There, taking a western course, at a distance of four miles we find several steep and denuded peaks, known as Sheep Mountains, formed by a rhyolite rich in quartz. Half a mile south of Gardner stands a butte of trachyte, finely grained, embedding crystals of hornblende. In all the creeks running from these gulches and feeding the Huerfano River, gold has been found, and it is a surprise to all today to see our miners and prospectors going far away seeking for new fields of exploration, when they have so near immense treasures lying dormant.

The Spanish Peaks, seen in the southern horizon, are located nine miles southeast of the thriving town of La Veta, and promise to become one of the most important mining camps south of the Divide.

The main body of these peaks is a porphyritic trachyte emerging from the upper carboniferous formation, and cut by dykes radiating from the center of eruption toward the plains, and accompanied by a contact matter carrying galena, sulphurets and the precious metals.

As can be seen by this short description of the natural basin in the middle of which the Pueblos are located, at its very doors are mines of gold, silver, lead, iron and copper; beds of coal, limestones, sandstones, clays, gypsum, springs of mineral waters, artesian wells, petroleum, without saying anything of the surface formation of the plain, which is but a vast placer.

The products of all these mines come down from the mountains and the railroad hauling charges are therefore not excessive. Summit, Lake, Pitkin, Gunnison, Chaffee and Saguache Counties send their carbonated and sulphuretted ores, both carrying gold and silver, to Pueblo through the Grand Canon of the Arkansas; and in return cars receive coal and fluxes to work their low grade minerals. Ores, too, are brought from the eastern districts of Utah for treatment and sale. And all the southwestern counties rich in precious metals are closely linked by the Rio Grande tracks to this city of smelters and samplers.

In 1883 the metallurgical works of the Pueblos, included the Pueblo Smelting and Refining Company of Mather & Geist, the Eilers Smelter, the Rose & Reed Sampling Works, and the Colorado Coal & Iron Company institutions second to none in the country, models of order, method, and of the most improved working facilities. And to quote again from the Board of Trade pamphlet:

''The copper strikes in Southern Colorado, along the foothills and in the Sangre de Cristo, will soon compel us to add to our list of metallurgical establishments large copper works. In fact, here in Pueblo we receive more copper ores than lead ores, and in a few months our supply will be such that we will leave Lake Superior far behind, as we have already beaten Nevada, California, and are forging ahead of Old Mexico, in the race for the silver leadership."

Pueblo is situated in the midst of the largest and best coal region west of the Missouri River. Anthracite in abundance is found at Crested Butte, 160 miles West; while the bituminous coals, for coking fuel and steam purposes, are within from thirty to eighty miles in all directions except to the eastward, and coal for steam purposes is delivered in Pueblo for from fifty cents to a dollar and a quarter per ton, and the counties adjoining Pueblo are the largest producers of coal in Colorado. The lime for flux is procured three miles from town, and costs only one dollar per ton. In addition to the Pueblo Smelting and Refining Works, established in 1880, and the Colorado Smelting Works established in 1883, a third smelter of the precious metals, the Philadelphia Works, were erected in 1888 through the influence of Mr. E. R. Holden of Pueblo, and M. Guggenheim of Philadelphia. These in the aggregate have (in 1890) twenty-four blast furnaces and a capacity for treating 1,050 tons daily.

The smelters in Pueblo now require the services of about 1,200 men when the works are running full, and the pay rolls amount to over $85,000 monthly. During 1889 the Pueblo Company put in copper reduction works at an expense of $225,000, giving Pueblo the first plant of the kind west of the Mississippi River. These works produce refined copper equal to that of Lake Superior, and the company also manufactures lead pipe and bar lead. The value of the output at the average prices of the various metals named would be over $6,200,000.

Jay Gould once said of Pueblo "It holds the key to the railroad situation in the West," and soon afterward (December, 1887), in a practical manner he asserted the force of his saying by making Pueblo the terminal of the Missouri Pacific Railway, thus giving ? and Kansas City direct connection with Pueblo. In this year the Denver, Texas Fort Worth Railroad gave Pueblo direct access to Texas and the Gulf.

The mercantile part of the community, while admitting the vast benefits of the iron and coal, and steel and gold and silver industries of the Pueblos, also began a great progressive movement, and claimed credit in the building up of the metropolis of Southern Colorado. As railroads extended branches into the surrounding camps and wholesale houses began to multiply here which were able to compete with the longer established houses of Denver and Kansas City.

Pueblo, though one in practical force, really consisted of two cities divided by the Arkansas, each with its own waterworks and civic institutions. From some reclaimed land in the old river bed a new tract known as Central Pueblo was laid out about 1883, and for a number of years there were three mayors and three boards of aldermen in Pueblo. Finally the citizens realized the disadvantages of this factional situation, and by a popular majority the city of Pueblo was organized, in 1886, by the unification of the three towns of Pueblo, South Pueblo and Central Pueblo. Following this important event, a better and consolidated sentiment and vigor have induced a wonderful progress and growth. New coal fields were developed; new irrigating canals made immense valleys fertile; new manufacturing industries were established; artificial lakes built; avenues improved; and a general building up of permanent forces ensued. The municipal affairs of the city are now directed (1890) by Mayor Charles Henkel and a board of fourteen aldermen, and all the city officers are salaried. At the time of the city's consolidation the property of the former town of South Pueblo was sold, and all its debts paid. The property of the former town of Pueblo valuable real estate, city hall, hose houses and the Holly Waterworks' system is managed by its aldermen as trustees.

Fire limits are now established, and during the past four years excellent bridges have been built, substantial levees, many miles of water and sewer pipe laid, streets leveled and graded, and a fine city hall erected. A commensurate police force under direction of a marshal insures peace and order. The fire department is efficient, and owns a telephone alarm as well as the Gamewell fire alarm system. The city is lighted by gas and arc electric lights. Telephonic communication is held as far north as Denver, and also to Carton City and Leadville.

The Pueblo "Chieftain" owns the exclusive franchise of the Associated Press, and there are two evening papers, the "Press" and the "Star," the latter recently founded. The "Press" was established in 1885, and its manager and editor is Mr. W. I. Mc Kinney. The Germans publish a weekly paper, the "Frei Presse." "The Iron Hand," as its name suggests, is published at Bessemer. Of recent origin is the Colorado "Ore and Metal Review." Other papers here published are the Colorado "Workman," Pueblo "Democrat," "Sunday Opinion," and the "Live Stock Review."

The original town site of Pueblo, one hundred and twenty miles south of Denver, and at an elevation of 4,667 feet above sea level, along the north bank of the Arkansas River, was laid out with the compass, having avenues eighty feet wide, running north and south, and streets of the same width, designated by numbers, running east and west. The area between the present corporate limits is an irregular tract three miles north and south, and two and one-half miles east and west. North of the river the land rises gradually, interrupted by the Fountain, running due south. On the higher grounds on either side of this river are situated many handsome residences. Beautiful suburban additions have been laid out, extending northward, and to the east over an area of about three miles square, have been platted without the city on every side. South Pueblo on the bottom lands south of the Arkansas and on the mesa back of the river, is laid out in streets of eighty feet width, paralleled to the river and bluffs, and are designated by letters. These bottom lands are occupied by business houses, railroad yards, ware- houses and factories. A viaduct leads to the mesa, sixty feet above these bottom lands, which is a favorite residence tract of the city. Fronting on the bluffs is Corona Park, laid out in irregular blocks and with serpentine avenues. Separated from this park by a boulevard 150 feet in width shaded by double rows of trees on either side, the balance of the mesa offers handsome home sites. Back from this tableland is a second and higher plateau upon which is situated the town of Bessemer, where are located two smelters and the steel works, smaller factories, shops and the homes of the employees. The town of Bessemer, born of the Colorado Coal & Iron Company, was incorporated in April, 1885, and its first mayor was J. S. Stewart, who was succeeded by the present incumbent, Mr. James K. Dempsey. The population of Bessemer, as given by the census of 1890, is 3,681 souls.

The same enumeration gives Pueblo a population of 28,500, giving this city the second rank in the State the place occupied by the county which contains about 34,000 souls.

Union and Santa Fe are Pueblo's chief retail business avenues; the depots arc near the river, and street cars traverse the main residence and business sections of the city. Old Pueblo is handsomely laid out with an abundance of water and ornamental and shade trees.

In 1888 the first really metropolitan business blocks were erected in Pueblo, and the epoch of four and five storied structures, with passenger elevators, was inaugurated. In 1890, the magnificent Central Block and the Swift Block were built, costing respectively $200,000 and $80,000. The Wells-Chilcott Block, costing about $50,000, and several other handsome buildings costing from $20,000 to $75,000, have been erected during the past two years, giving evidence of the faith of the citizens in their bustling home.

The Arkansas River supplies Pueblo with water. That part of the city north of the river is the owner of public waterworks, the capacity of which is 10,000,000 gallons per day. That part of the city south of the river is supplied by the South Pueblo Water Company, whose works have a capacity of 4,000,000 per day. It is estimated that there are eighty miles of mains laid in Pueblo and Bessemer. The works are upon the Holly system.

The North waterworks property in 1889 was valued at $200,000, and its bonded indebtedness was $120,000, bearing interest at 7 per cent. In that year both systems were greatly improved and enlarged by the building of reservoirs and ditches, and the purchase of new pumping machinery. Three artesian wells in Pueblo, the Clark, Fariss and Mineral Park, and one Bessemer sunk about 1,100 feet each, yield copiously. From the Bessemer well, pure artesian water is delivered to citizens for drinking purposes, at a charge of about five cents per gallon. The medicinal properties of the Pueblo wells are valuable, containing iron, magnesia, potassium, bromides and chlorides. The Bessemer well flows pure water without mineral ingredients.

In addition to the beautiful parks in the city proper, and broad and long driveways, the Puebloans have charming recreation grounds at Lake Minnequa, a short drive south of the city, and prospectively at Fountain Lake in the opposite direction. Lake Minnequa, of natural origin, covers nearly three hundred acres in area, and is situated on an immense table land, and surrounded by shade trees. A driveway encircles the lake; on its bosom are row boats and a steam launch, and on its shores a dancing pavilion. The street cars reach this resort, and a thousand shade trees embower the lake and the bordering hotel, while from its surrounding driveways and walks on its shores fine mountain and valley views are obtained. Along the river the soil is alluvial, the slopes a black shale, and on the tablelands is found a fertile, gravelly and sandy soil. Ditches irrigate the long lines of trees on the residence avenues, and there is an abundance of water for irrigation purposes which makes beautiful lawns possible everywhere. The noted sanitary engineer, George E. Waring, Jr., prepared the city's plan of drainage and mains, and laterals have been placed according to his design wherever demanded. The streets are not as yet paved. A paid fire department was organized in 1889. And now the Arkansas River at Pueblo is spanned by four fine iron bridges, built by the city, as well as by one of wood, and a monstrous iron viaduct and bridge. Besides these, the river is crossed by three railroad bridges built by the Denver & Rio Grande, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Missouri Pacific Companies. Across the Fountain the city has erected two iron bridges and an iron viaduct and bridge combined. The Denver, Texas- Fort Worth crosses the Fountain with two railroad bridges, and the Santa Fe Company with one.

The State ditch which is being built by convict labor, through the efforts of Mr. C. ?mall before the Board of Trade Association, is now aided by various private county subscriptions which are returned in water rights. A survey of the ditch's proposed course has been made from Carton City to Pinon on the Fountain (twelve miles from Pueblo), thence crossing the Fountain to Burk Hill and to Chico. This new great canal will add greatly to the fertility of Pueblo's surrounding country.

The business area of the city comprises over fifty squares, and to solidify the business center the "Pueblo Board of Trade Association" in 1889 decided to erect a Chamber of Commerce building in the middle of this district. In 1869 was organized the "Board of Trade of Southern Colorado," M. D. Thatcher, president, and George A. Hinsdale, vice-president. A second board was organized in 1873, with James Rice as president, and Wilbur F. Stone vice-president, and it is probable this organization was instrumental in extending the Santa Fe Road to Pueblo. Neither of these boards was incorporated, but in 1884 "The Board of Trade of the Pueblos" was incorporated "for the general promotion of trade in said cities," and its successive presidents were: Alva Adams (two years), Charles Henkel, W. A. L. Cooper, Josiah Hughes and Irving W. Stanton. This board encouraged the location here of the Colorado Smelter and the Pueblo extension of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. In 1888 the board was reorganized as a stock company with capital of $50,000, and the name adopted "The Pueblo Board of Trade Association." Its presidents in succession have been John D. Miller and D. L. Holden, the present incumbent being Andrew McClelland. It is composed of 242 members, owns a building site valued at $50,000, and has just erected a handsome four story stone building costing nearly $100,000.

The church organizations have multiplied in proportion with the general growth, and they enliven the social as well as the moral life of the Puebloans. Harmony among the various sects is effected by a system of Protestant weekly meetings. Washington in his farewell address said, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports," and Pueblo, at least so far as public sanctuaries is concerned, presents a promising outlook, according to this sentiment.

The Pueblo Club is the leading social organization, and was founded in 1886. It has recently given up its old quarters over the Stock Growers' Bank to enjoy more spacious rooms, which have been handsomely furnished in the new Grand Opera House Block. Its membership, now about one hundred strong, embraces many of the most prominent citizens. The president is J. A. Joy; vice-president, Samuel H. Abbey, secretary, Captain J. J. Lambert; treasurer, A. J. McQuaid. In the directory we find, O. H. P. Baxter, M. D. Crow, J. A. Joy, J. D. Henry, W. B. Hamilton, R. F. Lytle; W. H. McDonald, T. T. Player, H. S. VanKewren, N. B. Wescott, W. W. Palmer, Robert Gibson and S. A. Abbey.

The society of Elks in Pueblo numbers about one hundred and twenty-five members. Dr. R. H. Dunn is "Exalted Ruler," and Frank Spratlin secretary. Within this society is the Elk Club, sixty strong, with D. L. Holden president and Franklin, secretary. The Elk Club now occupies the rooms over the Stock Growers' Bank, formerly owned by the Pueblo Club.

The G. A. R. is represented here by D L. Holden and R. H. Dunn, who are, actively, commander and assistant adjutant-general for the department of Colorado and Wyoming.

The public schools of Pueblo, including Bessemer, on the 1st of January, 1890, numbered ten, the school property was valued at $235,000, and the average attendance of pupils was 1,595, while the children of school age in the district numbered 2,901. Seven new schoolhouses were built in the county in 1889, numbering a total of forty-? nearly all of these are supplied with suitable apparatus. The county's school enrollment is 3,010, and eighty-five teachers are employed. The schools of South Pueblo are most prosperous.

In the fall of 1888 the Southern Methodist College had erected one wing of its proposed institution on the mesa. Its property is valued at $35,000, and under a corps of seven professors began its career with sixty-nine students.

The Loretto Academy established in 1876 on Tenth and Elizabeth streets, is excellently conducted by the Sisters of Loretto. It occupies a three storied brick structure. The property is valued at $50,000. One hundred and ten girls and young women are in attendance. St. Patrick's Catholic school was established in connection with St. Patrick's church built on the mesa, and under direction of the Sisters of Charity. Its property is valued at $50,000. Their four teachers instruct one hundred and ninety pupils.

Recently established is Pueblo's Business College, which enrolls over one hundred pupils. Public schools are now in course of erection and during the past year $191,000 in bonds were voted by the people for new buildings, and improvements.

The Young Men's Christian Association of Pueblo was formed in February, 1889, as the result of a movement instituted by the city churches, and directed by Mr. Stanley of the Denver Association. Mr. O. H. P. Baxter provided the society with temporary quarters at the corner of Fourth and Main streets. Mr. Rankin is the secretary, who, with Mr. W. I. Graham, one of the directors, directs the affairs of the association. Permanent headquarters were secured in July, 1889, in the second and third floors of the new building at the corner of D street and Union avenue. In the year and a half of existence the association has increased its membership from 150 to 375.

The State Asylum for the Insane was established in 1879, and its earlier history is given in foregoing pages. The large Chilcott edifice first occupied by this institution, became too limited for its requirements in a few years, and the State erected two hand- some additional structures. More room becoming necessary, additional accommodations were secured in 1889, and during the past year more than two hundred patients were constantly treated in the asylum, while those cured and discharged amounted to fifty per cent, of those admitted. Dr. P. R. Thombs, who has been its superintendent from the beginning, has earned an enviable reputation throughout the West for his humanitarian and successful directorate. The present board of commissioners are Dr. A. Y. Hull of Pueblo, Jose B. Romero of Conejos, and Dr. L. E. Lemen of Denver.

The State Fair Association was incorporated in November, 1886, and fifty acres of ground on the mesa near Mineral Park were purchased for $3,000, and $5,000 was expended in improvements, the first fair being held in the fall of 1887. However, a successful race meeting was held here in May of that year. In 1888 a fair was held, but proved a financial failure, but the exhibition of 1889 was in every way successful, and many improvements had been made. In January, 1890, the association sold its grounds alone at an advance of $45,000, and a little later located upon 100 acres near Lake Minnequa, south of the city, at $300 per acre, where a mile race track was made costing $8,000, and a successful race meeting was held here in May of the present year. The officers of the Pueblo Racing Association are W. W. Palmer, president; A. T. Stewart, vice-president; W. J. Barndollar, treasurer, and J. K. Shireman, secretary. The State Fair, with its exposition building and agricultural, horticultural and machinery halls, and arrangements for the care of horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry, etc., is a complete institution. The present officers are A. McClelland, president; J. A. Wayland, vice-president; W. A. Moses, treasurer, and J. K. Shireman, secretary.

At the current epoch five trunk lines run into Pueblo. We have already chronicled the coming of the Denver & Rio Grande; the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; the Denver, Texas & Fort Worth (absorbed by the Union Pacific); the Missouri Pacific. And the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific began running its trains into Pueblo in 1889. A magnificent Union depot of fine red sandstone has been erected during the past year, and cost, including changes of track, about $400,000. During 1889 forty-two passenger trains ran in and out of Pueblo daily, and 60,000 tickets were sold aggregating $400,000, while 120,000 pieces of baggage were handled; 30,000 car loads of freight were received by the various lines in Pueblo during the year past, and 4,000 carloads were exported by the manufacturers and wholesale merchants.

The Pueblo Union Stock Yards were opened for business in June, 1889. These are located south of the city, and have facilities for handling 12,000 head of live stock. All the railroad lines centering at Pueblo run tracks into the yards, and nearly 175,000 head of animals were received here during the past year.

The city has two electric light companies, the older one of which was organized in 1880 as a gas company, but in 1887 an electric light plant was put in and the company was reorganized as the Pueblo Gas & Electric Light Company. Its capital stock is $300,000, and the works are valued at about this figure. The company is at present running 1,400 sixteen-candle power incandescent lights, and 299 2,000-candle power Thomson-Houston arc lights. Improvements which will cost upward of $5,000 are now in progress at the works. The officers are: O. H. P. Baxter, president ; C. E. Gast, vice-president; J. A. Thatcher, treasurer; L. M. Hovey, secretary, and D. E. McCartney, superintendent. It now employs twenty-eight men, and has a pay roll of $1,800 a month.

The Pueblo Light, Heat & Power Company was organized in 1888, and has a paid up capital of $100,000. It runs the Schuyler system of arc lights and the Westinghouse system of incandescent lights. Its equipment consists of four 35-arc light dynamos; four 650-light incandescent dynamos; six boilers aggregating 560-horse power, and six engines aggregating horse power. This company is prepared to furnish electric power for mechanical purposes, and is now engaged in the work of doubling the capacity of its plant at an expense of twenty-five thousand dollars. Fourteen men are employed, and the running expenses are twelve hundred dollars per month. The officers are: J. D. Miller, president; J. H. Bennett, vice-president; J. O. Albert, secretary and treasurer, and Charles M. Davis, superintendent.

The Pueblo postoffice during the year 1889 received from sales of stamps, box rent, etc., over $36,000. It employed nine regular carriers who delivered over 1,600,000 letters, cards and newspapers, while the general delivery distributed over 1, 800,000 letters, circulars, packages, papers, etc. The postoffice during the year yielded a net profit to the government of nearly $20,000.

The Pueblo Street Railway Company was reorganized in 1889, and became the Pueblo City Railway Company, capitalized at half a million dollars, one-half of which paid in. James B. Orman is president, and Mr. J. F. Vail secretary. The city granted this company franchises for constructing and operating an electric railway along the principal streets, and over twenty miles of the electric line were constructed during 1890, where thirteen miles of horse cars were operated previously, which are continued where not supplanted by electric cars. The electric cars began running in the summer of 1890, and one can now go in a few minutes from Twenty-ninth street on the north to Lake Minnequa and Bessemer on the south. The added rapid transit facilities have added wonderfully to the activity and extension of the city, promoting home building, noticeably. The number of buildings erected and in course of construction in the past year was over 1,250, and their cost approximated 4,000,000. During the past two years innumerable additions and subdivisions have been filed and the country on either side is platted. During 1889 nearly sixty plats were filed by the city clerk. The real estate transfers were enormous. During this period 7,853 instruments were filed, the consideration being $11,207,438.

The Western Union Telegraph Company has two business offices at Pueblo, and for the past year its home receipts were over $18,000, and it received about 40,000 messages sending a like number in this period. The Postal Telegraph Company opened its offices in Pueblo in the summer of the current year (1890).

If the history of prominent banking institutions is the history of prosperous and progressive countries, Pueblo may proudly speak of the record of her fiduciary institutions.

January 1st, 1890, Pueblo had five National banks, the First National established in 1871, the Stockgrowers' National organized in 1873, the Western National established in 1881, the Central National organized in the same year, and the American National established in October, 1889. The Pueblo Savings' Bank began business in January, 1890. There are three private banks. The banking business of the city it will be seen, is large for the city's size. Many circumstances combine to make this so. The city is the financial center for Southern Colorado, which is rapidly settling up with a thrifty class of farmers, whose diligence creates business. Mining and ditch ventures requiring heavy capitalization and large disbursements, originate here. Sampling and ore buying, and dealings in bullion, provide field enough for one good bank themselves. The many building improvements and projects incident to a rapidly developing city and the remarkably active real estate market, the county's disbursements, the government land office, the smelters and several conspicuously large manufacturing concerns, all contribute to augment deposits, loans and banking transactions generally.

The First National Bank, perhaps the strongest, as it is the oldest of Pueblo's banks was organized under the United States banking system in 1871, with a capital of $50,000, under the same management as at the present time, and since its inception this bank has been a very important factor in the industrial and commercial progress of the city, and it now has the resources and patronage to be expected from so long a service. Its capital was increased about 1883, to $100,000, and now to $200,000, and the bank has accumulated a surplus besides of $300,000. The president is Mr. M. D. Thatcher, one of the most substantial men in Colorado, a very large real estate and land owner, a principal in many of the largest concerns in the city, smelting, irrigation, electric light, and other ventures, and a man rated, as to his possessions, in the millions. His private residence is the handsomest in Pueblo, and cost nearly $100,000. The vice-president, Mr. John A. Thatcher, is his brother, also of prominent position and enterprise. The cashier is Mr. Robert F. Lytle.

The Stockgrowers National Bank was established as a private bank in 1873 by Goodnight, Cresswell & Co., prominent stockmen of Colorado. In the following year Reynolds, Lamborn & Company became its owners. It was incorporated as a National bank in 1876, with C. ? Lamborn as president and Jefferson Reynolds, cashier. Its capital now is $100,000, and surplus $50,000, with total resources of nearly half a million. Since its nationalization $150,000 in dividends have been paid to stockholders. The officers and directors of the Stockgrowers Bank are representative men of Pueblo and the State. George H. Hobson, president, came to Colorado from Missouri in 1869, and was then engaged in the Texas cattle trade. Shortly afterward he founded a general merchandising establishment. He was county clerk and recorder in Pueblo for two terms, and prominently interested in real estate and cattle, interests in which he still retains large investments Mr. Hobson has been notably successful in mining investments at Ouray. He was vice-president of this bank for six years before becoming president Mr. J. D. Miller, for many years a prominent grocer in Pueblo, has been a resident of the city for twenty years. Mr. A. V. Bradford has spent all of his life, primarily in Colorado, and has had banking experiences in Ouray, ten years with the First National Bank of Pueblo, and has been cashier of the Stockgrowers for about eight years. The officers, together with Mr. M. A. Rhodes, make up the directory.

The Western National Bank was incorporated in August, 1881, with a capital of $50,000. W. L. Graham was elected president, and Mr. C. B. McVay, cashier. At this current epoch, its capital is $50,000, with a surplus of $115,000. Mr. Graham still remains at the head of the institution and is largely interested in important concerns in the city. George A. Newton of the Newton Lumber Company, Ex-Governor Alva Adams, Mr. J. W. Gilluly Treasurer of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, Mr. N. B. Wescott and Mr. Graham are directors. The cashier, Mr. Charles E. Saxton, has an honorable record of many years' service in banking circles.

The Central National Bank was originally organized as the South Pueblo National Bank in August, 1881, with a capital of $50,000. Its original directors were Mr. H. L. Holden, president ; Mr. D. L. Holden. cashier; James N. Carlisle, Marcellus Sheldon, James B. Orman, William Moore, Garrett Lankford and William W. Taylor. When South Pueblo became incorporated with Pueblo, the bank's name was changed, February 9th, 1889, and Mr. D. L. Holden, who had been cashier up to this time, was elected president, succeeding Marcellus Sheldon, who had held the office for three years. Mr. A. Royal is vice-president ; C. A. Hammond, cashier and N. L. Holden Jr., assistant cashier. The directory includes Mr. D. L. Holden, Mr. C. A. Hammond, George Salisbury, A. Royal and Mrs. J. K. Moore. Mr. D. L. Holden was first mayor of Pueblo after its consolidation; he is also an ex-president and director of the Pueblo Board of Trade. The vice-president was also mayor of the city. Both Mr. Holden and Mr. Royal are prominent in the G. A. R.

The American National Bank was established during the past year with capital and surplus of $250,000. O. H. P. Baxter, a resident for twenty years, and a man identified with very many of the largest business enterprises of the city, developmental, financial and mechanical, is its president. Chas. E. Gast, for eighteen years a practicing attorney here, and one of more than mere local reputation, is vice-president ; Robert Gibson, of the Downen & Gibson Investment Co., cashier, and S. F. Crawford, who resigned the position of cashier of the Commercial Bank of Wheeling, West Virginia, to come here for the purpose, has accepted the appointment of assistant cashier.

The directors are the following substantial business men of Pueblo: Chas. Henkel, J. A. Joy, T. G. McCarthy, N. W. Duke, Benj. Guggenheim, Frank Pryor, Geo. E. Bragdon, H. R. Holbrook, and Messrs. Baxter, Gast and Gibson. The aggregate wealth of these gentlemen amounts to several millions.

The new bank has for correspondents the United States National Bank, New York, the Merchants' National, Chicago, the American National of Kansas City, and the State National of Denver. Its place of business at Fourth and Main streets is handsomely and thoroughly appointed. And this bank was the first to introduce in Pueblo Safety Deposit Vaults.

The Pueblo Savings Bank, was incorporated at the close of 1889, and opened for business on the first day of the present year. The incorporators, W. W. Strait, Chris. Wilson and John F. Barkley are old and well known residents of the city, and so also are the directors, ex-Governor Alva Adams, M. D. Thatcher, W. L Graham, J. N. Carlisle, T. A. Sloane and Geo. J. Dunbaugh, associated with them. Ex-Governor Adams is president, Mr. Strait vice-president, and Mr. Wilson cashier. Of the $250,000 capital authorized for this bank in its charter, $50,000 has been paid in. A savings bank was needed in Pueblo, as has been evidenced by the many deposits already made with this institution, directed by some of Colorado's most trustworthy and prominent citizens.

The Colorado Coal & Iron Company, the largest corporation outside of the railroads in the State of Colorado, was organized the 23d day of January, 1880, by a number of Colorado, Pennsylvania and New York capitalists, at the head of whom were General William J. Palmer, Dr. Robert M. Lamborn, Dr. William A. Bell, and others who were connected with them in the pioneer work of developing and attracting attention to this great State of Colorado, coming here and building, first, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, when the whole country hereabouts was comparatively a wilderness, and then starting many auxiliary companies, among them being the Central Colorado Improvement Company, the Southern Colorado Coal & Town Company, and the Colorado Coal & Steel Works Company. These three companies were consolidated at the above date, forming the Colorado Coal & Iron Company.

General W. I. Palmer was the first president of the Colorado Coal & Iron Company, which office he held for a number of years, being succeeded in the spring of 1884 by Mr. Henry E. Sprague of New York City. Mr. Sprague remained at the head of affairs until 1888, when he, in turn, was succeeded by Edward J. Berwind of New York, the present head of the company.

The officers of the company at this date are as follows: Edward J. Berwind president; Henry S. ? vice-president; E. M. Steck general manager; Thomas L. Curtis secretary and treasurer; William L. Graham assistant secretary and cashier, C. F. Ray auditor; John M. Waldron general counsel; George S. Ramsey, general superintendent, coal and coke departments; Independence Grove, general superintendent iron and steel departments; George W. Cook, general agent, and I K. Brewster, land and tax man. The company maintains an office in New York City in the great Mills building on Broad street; it is there that the president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer are to be found. At Pueblo are the general offices of the company, and from this central point the general manager directs the operations of the company. At Denver one hundred and twenty miles north, the general agent makes his headquarters; it is there that most of the orders are taken which keep the iron and steel works at Bessemer and the many coal mines and coke works at various points in the State, busy. At Bessemer, which adjoins Pueblo on the south and but one and a half miles distant from the Union depot in Pueblo, is located the large iron and steel works of this Company. Here they have large and modern blast furnaces, foundries for the manufacture of iron castings, cast iron water pipe of all sizes, machine shops, a complete steel making plant, including converting works, bloom and rail trains, puddling mills, merchant iron mills, cut nail and spike works, all fitted with the best and latest appliances for the manufacture of iron and steel.

These works furnish employment to about nine hundred men at the present time which will be largely added to in the course of another twelve months by the addition of more blast furnaces and a general enlargement of the plant. About $40,000 a month is at present paid out in wages, which furnishes a great deal of the life and sinew of the Bessemer community; most of this money finds its way, however, to the business houses in Pueblo where the employes do their trading. The capacity of these works at Bessemer has never been tested thoroughly, for the reason that the market for its product has not yet reached its capacity to supply. In a general way, however, it might be said that they can turn out per month, seven thousand tons of pig iron from their two blast furnaces, about the same number of tons of steel rails, twenty- five hundred tons of cast-iron water pipe, one thousand tons of merchant iron, mine rail, etc., six thousand kegs of nails, one thousand kegs of spikes, or twelve times these figures annually.

In and around Pueblo and Bessemer the company own a large amount of valuable real estate including some 40,000 acres of grazing and agricultural lands, all within Pueblo County, nearly nine thousand acres of which are under the Bessemer irrigating canal. The water for this ditch or canal, is taken from the Arkansas River about seven miles north of Pueblo, and runs east, parallel with the Arkansas, and from one to four miles south thereof, merging finally into the Huerfano not far from its confluence with the Arkansas.

The Colorado Coal & Iron Company is the largest taxpayer in the county, contributing about $50,000 per annum into the tax coffers. In addition to this fact, many of its employee's are prosperous realty owners and taxpayers in the county, from which it will be seen that the Colorado Coal & Iron Company is a large factor in all that tends to the success and prosperity of Pueblo and Pueblo County.

The company owns, and mines, itself, all the raw material necessary in the manufacture of their various iron and steel products here. At Coal Creek, in Fremont County, is mined the famous Cafton City domestic coal; at Walsenburg, in Huerfano County, they operate the Walsen mine, the Cameron mine, and the Robinson mine at Santa Clara, also in Huerfano County, and but a short distance south of Walsenburg, is the Santa Clara mine; all four of these last named mines produce a good quality of steam and domestic coals. At Road Cafion, in Las Animas County, a short distance north of El Moro, a new mine is now being gotten ready in the best possible manner, to ship a rich bituminous steam and gas coal. At Englewood, between El Moro and Trinidad, is the company's great El Moro mine, one of its largest producers of coal; the coal from this mine is of the coking variety, being excellent also for steam and gas purposes; with this coal the two hundred and fifty bee-hive coke ovens at El Moro are supplied for the manufacturing of coke which is used in the blast furnaces at Bessemer, and by the various smelting companies at different points in the State in the reduction of the precious metals. At Crested Butte, in Gunnison County, two hundred miles west over the mountains, is the Crested Butte mine, a large mine in a fine bed of coal, a good coal for domestic, steam, gas and coking purposes. At this point the company have another coke plant consisting of one hundred and fifty-four ovens of Bee-hive pattern; the product of these ovens is shipped to Leadville, for the smelters at that point, and also to the smelters in Utah and Montana.

The iron ores used to make pig iron at their blast furnaces at Bessemer, are gotten from their own mines at Calumet, on the Leadville branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, and from the Hot Springs mine, on the Villa Grove extension of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in Saguache County. From the former a rich magnetic ore is obtained, and from the latter a highly valuable red hematite ore is easily worked. At San Carlos, only six miles south of the works, the company owns a large ledge of excellent limestone, sufficient for its fluxing purposes for many years to come.

The present output of coal is about 70,000 tons per month, and of coke about 10,000 tons per month.

The local manager of Dun's Commercial Agency estimates that the amount of capital invested in all business, mercantile and manufacturing interests in Pueblo, is over nine millions, and that the employment of this sum gives, as resultant, an annual business to the city of more than $35,000,000. The total assessed valuation of property in the county for 1889 was $15,997,215, on a basis of about 33 per cent, of actual valuation.

The Colorado Mineral Palace was first suggested by General Cameron of Canon City, who probably received inspiration for the thought from the Ice, Corn, Coal and Spring Palaces recently erected in other States. The abstract ideal was transformed into reality, mainly through the efforts of Wm. H. Harvey, aided by other public spirited Puebloans and Coloradoans generally. The purpose of the mineral palace is to make known to the world by means of an exposition the mineral resources, progress and prospects of Colorado. A company was formed, the business features of the exposition matured, plans prepared, contracts awarded, and the work began with vim.

State pride was enlisted. The original directory included W. H. Harvey, W. W. Palmer, George H. Hobson and C. L. Hill of Pueblo; Donald Fletcher and A. W. Chamberlin of Denver. Mr. Fletcher was elected president. After inspection of many plans for the building, that of Otto Bulow of Pueblo, was chosen. Of imposing Egyptian design, it is masterfully drawn. The entire facade, of colonnade and sculptured capitals and eight foot frieze, with decorations of frontier and mining life, will produce an impressive and novel effect. The area to be covered with the building is 244 by 134 feet. The edifice itself is of wood, with stone columns 28 feet high 5 by 7 feet at the base. The decoration at the present writing (November, 1890), under direction of New York artists, assisted by specialists from India and Europe, is being rapidly completed in a gorgeous and artistic manner. Mineral cabinets will line the walls and columns from floor to line of sight, and crusted ores and minerals will be utilized in the decorations wherever possible native gold, platinum, silver, mercury, copper and the ores of the same, specular and magnetic iron, chromic iron, pyrites, galena, nickel ore, quartz, feldspar, mica, beryl, tourmaline, garnet, malachite, hornblende, serpentine, asl wavellite, brucite, baryta, gypsum, calc spar, stalactites and stalagmites, fluor spar, sulphur, graphite, alum, borax, salt, coal in all its varieties, ochre in all its varieties, and other minerals used as pigments. Pilasters of white or colored marble, alabaster, onyx, agatized wood, obsidian, cryolite, arfvedsonite and everything of a mineral nature that may be used with artistic effect, including fossils, footprints, fish, butterflies, ferns and other petrifactions, will find a place both inside and outside this gorgeous edifice. Although the decoration will not be completed before January 1st, 1891, it already is evident that in magnificence this structure's artistic tout undoubtably will eclipse that of any public exhibition building at the recent Partition, or in the United States to-day.

An interesting historical question has received partial answer elicited by the decoration of the Mineral Palace. Mr. M. R. Levy desiring to surround the central domes with heroic sized busts of America's greatest men in the arts and sciences, wrote to prominent men, East and West, requesting lists of names from each of the country's most illustrious scientists and artists, limiting the number to be thus honored, to eight.

Judge Moses Hallett of Denver, suggested the names of Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, Samuel F. B. Morse, John Randolph, Louis Agassiz. Hiram Powers, James B. Eads, J. Marion Simms, Washington Allston.

Ex-Senator N. P. Hill of Denver, named Morse, Bell, Ericsson, Edison, Holly, Agassiz, Henry, Geo. H. Corliss, Brush, Dana, McCormick, and as representative of Colorado, Governor Grant and Professor Richard Pearce.

David Swing of Chicago, named Peale and Bierstadt (painters), Powers (sculptor), Richardson (architect), Franklin, Morse, Agassiz, Silliman.

A. R. Spofford, Librarian at Washington, suggested Whitney, Jethro Wood (inventor of the plow), Fulton, Morse, Joseph Henry, Cyrus McCormick (inventor of reapers), Edison and Alex. Graham Bell, as typical inventors and men of science.

Thomas A. Edison named Franklin, in electricity; Joseph Henry, in physics; Robert Fulton, steamboats; S. F. B. Morse, telegraph; Elias Howe, sewing machines; George Henry Corliss, automatic engines; Eli Whitney, cotton gin. Mr. Edison said he knew nothing about art.

Win. H. Barnes of California, suggested Richard M. Hoe, Fulton, Morse, Edison, Eli Whitney, Elias Howe, A. S. Hallidie (cable car), Hiram Powers.

C. C. Goodwin of Salt Lake, suggested Emerson, W. W. Story, Morse, Franklin, Fulton, Whitney, Edison, Peter Cooper and Captain Eads.

James B. Belford of Denver, named Prof. Henry, Hiram Powers, Robert Fulton, Edison, Maria Mitchell, Morse, Howe, Eli Whitney or McCormick.

Lyman Abbott, editor of the " Christian Union," New York, suggested Franklin, Morse, Fulton and Edison.

Joseph Medill, editor of the Chicago "Tribune" named Edison, Fulton, Whitney, Morse, Silliman, Hitchcock and Dana as geologists; Greenough, Powers, St. Gaudeus and L. G. Mead as sculptors; Benjamin West, Gilbert Stuart, Inness and Bierstadt as painters, Irving, Bancroft, Longfellow and Emerson.

George William Curtis, editor of "Harper's Magazine" named Franklin, Fulton, Morse, Edison, Stuart, Allston, Irving and Bryant.

Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado, named Franklin, Morse, Fulton, Professor Henry, Edison, Hawthorne, Bryant, Longfellow, Whittier.

Governor John L. Routt of Colorado, named Franklin, Morse, Agassiz, Edison, Hiram Powers, Larkin G. Mead, Wm. Cowper, F. E. Church and A. Bierstadt.

General Benjamin F. Butler suggested Fulton, Franklin, Morse, Ericsson, Henry. Agassiz and Howe.

Governor David R. Francis of Missouri, named Franklin, Fulton, Edison, Morse, Whitney, Agassiz, Eads and Maury (who discovered the principle of the ocean currents).

Hon. J. J. Ingalls, president of the United States Senate, named Edison, Silliman, Rumford, Franklin, Field, Henry, Greenough and Moran.

Charles S. Thomas of Denver, named Agassiz, Henry, Edison, Morse, Longfellow, Bancroft, Jefferson and Benton.

Senator Edward O. Wokott of Colorado, suggested Washington, Hamilton, Lincoln, Grant, Fulton, Franklin, Morse and Edison.

Charles Dudley Warner named Franklin, John Fitch (who first applied steam to the navigation of vessels), Whitney, Morse, Agassiz, Asa Gray, Henry and Edison.

No doubt the portraits selected will be those of the names receiving the majority of votes from this vast correspondence which is merely suggested by the foregoing lists, and the result will prove of more than ordinary interest to the world at large.

The extreme height of the building's center dome is 72 feet. This is to be decorated with female figures, 16 feet in length, representing the different countries of the globe, and surrounding these will be the eight great Americans with cameo effects, and in metallic framings. The general scheme of color in the interior is terra cotta and gold executed upon relief work in the East Indian style. Around the central domes are twenty smaller domes, ten feet in diameter, and these are exquisitely adorned with the flowers of Colorado and of India, in distemper, painted by D. R. Fay of New York, who has executed fan painting for Tiffany and decorated Jay Gould's mansion.

The stage built to accommodate a great orchestra will represent a grotto constructed of immense natural stalactites and stalagmites. From its center bubbles a mountain and waterfall, and out from this by mechanical arrangement, will appear and a water nymph grasping sparkling mineral nuggets. Entirely around the interior of the structure will run a frieze composed of silver dollars encircling coat-of- arms of the various States and Territories. A part of the decoration scheme is the employment of the 2,200 incandescent electric lights in the hearts of the painted procession of flowers.

The capital stock of this State institution is $150,000, and the directors are Donald ?her, George II. Hobson, W. W. Palmer, A. J. McQuaid, C. I.. Hill, A. W. Chamberlin, George H. Park. ?. Henry C. Brown, Ferd Barndollar, O. H. P. Baxter, Benjamin Guggenheim. The executive secretary is Mr. John Livezey, a mining man, favorably known throughout Colorado.

In 1884 Mr. J. R. De Reimer erected a roller skating rink building, at a cost of $20,000, which proved a good investment, while the craze for this pastime existed, but two years later the interior was changed at a cost of $6,000, into an opera house (so called), seating 1,300 persons. The new place of amusement was opened early in 1886 with the " ? " Company, and seats were at a premium, so anxious were the amusement loving Puebloans to see the new auditorium. After two years of popular success this building suffered a disastrous fire, which, however, benefited the city, for it brought about the formation of the Pueblo Grand Opera House Association, which during the present year has erected a magnificent edifice at the corner of Fourth and Main streets. A stock company was formed by local capitalists in May, 1889. Messrs. Thatcher Brothers and Baxter and Cresswell, offered to contribute $115,000, including the site, estimated at $40,000, toward the erection of the opera house, provided public spirited citizens would increase the fund to $250,000. The people favored the enterprise of these progressive and broad minded men, so the association was incorporated by. O.H.P.Baxter, Frank Pryor, John A. Thatcher, Robert Billings, L. B. Strait, T. J. Downen and Charles Henkel, and the following were elected directors: O. H. P. Baxter, T. T. Player, Charles E. Gast, A. B. Patton, A. McClelland, J. A. Thatcher, J. B. Orman, N. V. Duke, J. D. Miller, E. R. Holden, George B. Stimpson, Frank Bingham and M. D. Thatcher.

Adler & Sullivan, architects of Chicago (who built the Auditorium building of that city), were employed to make the plans of the building, and under the unremitting control and supervision of President Baxter, the imposing building was completed on the evening of September 4th, 1890, and opened by the Duff Opera Company in Gilbert & Sullivan's " lolanthe." All the beauty and wealth of the city congregated in the auditorium on that evening, assisting in creating a new epoch for Pueblo the graduation from the roller skating rink period to the full artistic dignity and triumph of the $400,000 Grand Opera House, and all the word implies ballet, fine orchestral music, gorgeous scenery and stage fittings, resplendent costumes, fashionable gossip and cigarettes between acts. Its dedication was significant of the rise of the city above a provincial station.

The structure's front is built of Colorado's red sandstone, in tones and carvings designed to suggest the peculiar thorny effects of the Colorado cacti thus the poetic feeling of the architect. The sides and back of the edifice are of red brick, and the building is girt about with arcades of Moorish arches with fenestrated walls rising to a height of fifty feet, with a frontage of 120 feet on Main street and 190 feet on Fourth street, and with its square Moorish tower rising to 131 feet from the roadway and eighty feet from the roof, a striking contrast is presented to the old 'dobe that formerly stood on the site ground which earlier still, forty years ago, was a portion of the Indian's trail to his mountain fastness.

The upper story is a "summer garden," to be supplied with seats for visitors and orchestra, and a profusion of flowering plants. The imposing edifice is not only to serve as an opera house and theater, but at the same time the First National Bank of Pueblo will occupy the handsome rooms on the ground floor, on the corner of Fourth and Main, and here the bank is building its immense safety vaults; and on upper floors is the domicile of the Pueblo Club, while some sixty offices, reached by a Crane elevator, have been arranged above. The auditorium itself is approached through three handsome stone arches and a vestibule lined with marble and tile flooring. It is eighty feet square, with a balcony running entirely around, and a gallery facing the stage. The seating capacity of the auditorium is 1,100.

The entire fittings and decoration of the theater are of the latest and most approved design and construction, and have been put in the hands of Chicago firms. The architects, Messrs. Adler & Sullivan, were also the designers of Chicago's Auditorium, and in the eyes of those who favor the modern style, Pueblo's Grand Opera House is said to rank next to the Auditorium in the list of theaters in the great West. The building is finished in hard wood, with exception of the theater, which is polished Texas pine. The theater's decoration is of salmon color with a soft opposition in the robin's egg blue of the arched ceiling relieved with a liberal use of gold leaf. The side arches are in old ivory and gold, as also are the fronts of balcony and gallery. The incandescent lights which are used as a part of the decorative scheme, give the whole a brilliantly beautiful and warm effect. The proscenium arch is a solid mass of gold on plastic ornaments, supported by pilasters, giving a suggestion of Roman architecture. These are adorned with acanthus leaves in plastic work, and the one salmon and blue and gold effect is carried out throughout the interior. The decorations are all done in oil by Healy & Millet, of Chicago.

The scenery is painted by Albert and Burridge (artists of the Chicago Grand Opera House and Auditorium) at a cost of $7,000. These artists are individual and American, and acknowledge no superiors in this country. The drop curtain is considered by Albert as his masterpiece. In it the scheme of the house's decoration is carried out. The architect, the decorator, and scene painter have labored in unison. The subject is taken from Tennyson's "Brook”

"I chatter, chatter as I flow
To join the brimming river.
For men may come and men may go, br>But I go on forever. "

The entire set of scenery has been artistically and conscientiously painted, the greater part of the work having been done by Walter Burridge, well known among American artists everywhere.

In the theater are 1,200 incandescent electric lights, and on the immense stage are rows of red, white and green electric lights, turned on or off by rheostats, which thus do away with the necessity of calcium lights. The opera chairs throughout the lower house are of terra cotta velvet and cost over $6,000; and a second drop curtain, made of tin and cloth of gold adorned with rhine stones, cost over $2000 alone. A feature of the opening was the presentation of a huge basket of Colorado wild flowers. Speeches were given by H. P. Baxter (who has been the prominent prime cause of this temple's being) and General E. K. Stimson (remembered by old Puebloans as the Governor of the Silver San Juan). General Stimson in an appropriate oratorical effort, after complimenting Pueblo upon her push and progress and prosperity, said that children of a future generation would rise from their seats in that opera house to call Mr. Baxter blessed. Mr. Baxter, in expressing thanks was greeted with a storm of applause, which he may never forget, and which proved that he had won a permanent place in Pueblo's esteem and gratitude.

As we have seen, in sketching this history the people of Pueblo were, in early days, without fear, honest and industrious. Though rough and uncultivated in the main, they strove, constructing canals and building bridges, schools and churches and rail- roads and smelters, to create an orderly, moral and independent community, which should use and improve the talents given by Nature's God. They have manifested a foresight and public spirit in late years, not alone by ready contributions toward the building of railroads, but by the presentation of lands for securing the location of smelters. And if in primitive days, the rough road of the pioneers allowed no time to the cultivation of the arts and of aestheticism, this spirit is now manifested by the public building of their truly Grand Opera House. And lastly, this people that encouraged the Denver & Rio Grande in coming to their gates are as willing today, to contribute generously toward the location of the new manufactories or any institutions which are destined to promote Pueblo's progress or any humanitarian end. The city now counts one hundred and fifty manufacturing concerns, prominent among which, in addition to those already mentioned, are large foundries and machine shops, barbed wire works, fire clay works, brick yards, tile works, planing mills, cracker factory, brewery, packing houses, carriage shops, etc., etc.

Excepting Pueblo and Bessemer, the county contains no important towns. Beulah Springs is a summer resort with mineral springs, situated twenty-eight miles southwest of Pueblo, and was first settled by cattle men, in the sixties. Mace's Hole, as the site was called, is about nine by two miles in area, and the town proper is located at the opening of a beautiful canon and on the north, St. Charles Creek, a pure and cold mountain stream. The mountains west of the little town (which with the outlying population numbers over two hundred) are covered with pine and spruce timber. Mace's Hole was first settled by J. J. Dase, who cultivated the soil. Questions of litigation retarded settlement until the spring of 1880, when W. F. Townsend and Judge N. P. Richards bought twenty acres, including the Mineral Springs, and erected cottages for summer visitors from Pueblo. In 1881 Robert Patton built a boarding-house and in the summer of the next year, the town was platted and several houses built. In 1885, as a local historian informs us, "Robert Patton was appointed postmaster, and moved the postoffice (which had been kept out of town) into the town, he putting in the first store." Beulah now contains six stores, two hotels, etc., and some forty homes. Beds of iron ore surround the town and there is an abundance of marble, lime rock, red clouded marble, gray and red granite. Three miles from town is a copper mine, while indications of the precious metals are not wanting. Lead ore has been discovered, but none of these natural riches have been developed, for lack of railroad facilities.

Rye is perhaps the thickest settled of the agricultural towns of Pueblo County, and all around Rye, the grain from which the settlement took its name, corn, wheat, oats and the best of red clover and alfalfa, are grown. Vegetables thrive, and the melons and small fruits.

In 1888 there were 50,000 cattle on the ranges in the county and 10,000 horses. There were 40,000 sheep, also, that year, 20,000 of which were clipped for wool and 20,000 sold for mutton. Horticulture proves profitable, and many orchards have been set out lately. Dairying grows steadily in importance, 70,000 pounds of butter were made last year in the county. Attention has been paid to the making of roads and to the bridging of streams. There are no toll roads. Surrounding the city of Pueblo are surface deposits of " kidney " iron, and there are undeveloped coal beds at Rock Creek and other places. Some twenty limestone quarries are opened within a radius of as many miles of Pueblo City. Near the city is a site for water powers of great prospective value.

Other small towns and settlements, not previously mentioned, in Pueblo County are, Agate, Anderson Ranch, Andersonville, Barry Ranch, Baxter, Beulah Springs, Boone- ville, Cactus, Chico, Cody Ranch, Cook Ranch, Dog's Ranch, Doyle's Mill, Dry Ranch, Fosdick's Ranch, Four Mile Ranch, Goodnight, Graneros, Greenhorn, Holliday Ranch, Horn Ranch, Huerfano, Jackson, Jones' Ranch, Juniata, Langley's Ranch, McClellan's Ranch, Mcllhaney's Ranch, Meadows, Merrie's Ranch, Mexican Plaza, Muddy Creek, Nada, Nepesta, Old Fort Reynolds, Osage Avenue, Parnassus Springs, Peck's Ranch, Pifion, Pond, Robniett Ranch, San Carlos, Skeeter Ranch, Spring Lake Ranch. St. Charles, Sulphur Springs, Swallows, Table Mountain, Taylorville, Undercliff, Walker Ranch, Wilson's Ranch, Wood Valley.

Excerpted from "History Of The State Of Colorado For The Rocky Mountain Historical Company"
Frank Hall, Chicago: The Blakely Printing Company. 1889.

to the Pueblo County Index Page.


Please e-mail comments and suggestions to Karen Mitchell© Karen Mitchell