Skip to main content

Full text of "Colorado : its agriculture, stockfeeding, scenery, and shooting"

See other formats 


^# 


I 


r^\#* 


t 


^ 


•*' 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


/li^Mi' 


'^St^^^i 


COLOEADO: 

m  AGRieULTURE,  gTOeKFEEDING, 
SGENBRY,  AND  gHOOTING. 


BY 


S.    NUGENT    TOWNSHEND,    J.P. 

("ST.  KAMES.") 


^"EW  YORK: 
ORANaE   JUDD   COMPANY,   245,   BEOADWAY. 

1879. 


Ti5 


n^(j  6" 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEB,  I. 


PAOB 


INTERNATIONAL    PRESS    PARTY — PUEBLO — GRAND     CANON 

OP       THE       ARKANSAS TEXAS       CREEK MINING      AND 

MINERS — SAN     LUIS     VALLEY — DEL     NORTE — HEIGHTS 

OP    PEAKS RETURN    TO    PUEBLO 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

DENVER "OREGON   BILL  " SPORT    IN    THE     ROCKIES — 

ESTIMATE    OP    OUTFIT RETURN    TO    DENVER        ...       23 

CHAPTER  III. 

VISIT  TO  CHEYENNE — DENVER  AT  CHRISTMAS — VISIT  TO 
MR.  G.  GRANT^S  FARM — THE  ROCKIES  IN  WINTER — 
BEAVERS ENGLISH    SETTLERS 46 

CHAPTER  IV. 

CLEAR     CREEK    VALLEY ENGLISH   MINING    SPECULATIONS 

AND    NATIVE    PECULATIONS — THE  "  COLDSTREAM     MINE 

PISH    BREEDING   AT    GREEN     LAKE — EMPIRE — IDAHO 

SPRINGS 61 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PAdE 
THE   VETA   PASS — ME.  LIVESAY^S    EANCHE  "  GOODNIGHT^' 

SUCCESSFUL       INVESTMENT       OF       CAPITAL  WET 

MOUNTAIN   VALLEY 76 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   GARDEN   OF   THE   GODS — UTE   PASS MANITOU  PARK 

— TROUT  BREEDING— COLORADO  SPRINGS — CANON  CITY 

WHO     SHOULD     AND    WHO     SHOULD   NOT    SETTLE   IN 

COLORADO CLIMATE  —  IRRIGATION GENERAL      CON- 
CLUSIONS     98 


TO 

G.  W.  E.  GRIFFITH, 

OP  DENVER  AND  LEADVILLE,  COLORADO. 

ONB  WHO  OFFEBS  THE  BEST  AND  MOST  DISINTERESTED    ADVICE  TO  HIS 
FELLOW  COUNTRYMEN  IN  "  THE  CENTENNIAL  STATE  ;'*  WHOSE  HEART 
BEATS  EVER  WARMLY  FOR,  AND  WHOSE  PURSE  HAS  OFTEN  BEEN 
OPEN   TO,  MANY   OF   BRITAIN'S    YOUNGER    SONS,  WHO   HAVE 
FOUND  TO  THEIR    COST    THAT  IN  COLORADO  LAY  NOT 
THEIR  VOCATION  ;   AND   TO  WHOM   THE  AUTHOR  IS 
INDEBTED    FOR    THE    KINDEST    HOSPITALITY, 
AND     THE     KEENEST     AND     MOST     HIGH- 
MINDED       APPRECIATION       OF       HIS 
MISSION  AS  ONE  OF  THE  PIONEERS 
OF   BRITISH   EMIGRATION. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/coloradoitsagricOOtownrich 


PREFACE. 


The  reader  will  perhaps  tave  to  make  some  little  allow- 
ance for  variation  of  dates  and  seasons  in  this ,  book,  as 
occasional  expeditions  made  in  three  successive  years 
through  Colorado,  have  been  mixed  up  to  form  one  con- 
tinuous journey  through  the  State;  the  figures,  also, 
where  needful,  have  been  revised,  so  as  to  make  them  as 
applicable  as  possible  to  the  present  day. 

With  the  exception  of  this,  and  a  good  deal  of  matter 
being  cut  out,  as  at  present  of  no  emigrational  im- 
portance, the  text  is  the  same  as  that  of  my  letters  under 
the  nom  de  jplume  of  ^*  St.  Kames  '^  in  The  Field  of 
1876,  '1  and  ^8. 

Only  one  important  change  has  taken  place  in  Colorado 
since  I  wrote  these  letters,  and  that  is  the  springing  up 
of  the  town  of  Leadville,  about  eighty  miles  N.W.  of 
Canon  City,  and  S.W.  of  Denver.  Leadville  has  now  a 
population  of  10,000,  yet  over  the  site  of  it — a  grassless 
mountain  desert,  with  not  a  human  habitation  in  sight — 
I  walked  in  1876.  The  wonderful  progress  in  this 
portion  of  the  country  is  altogether  owing  to  rich  silver 
veins  being  found  there ;  but  as  I  have  only  sufficient 


PREFACE. 


teclmical  knowledge  of  mines  to  be  "a  dangerous 
authority  on  them,  I  do  not  include  any  account  of 
Leadville  here. 

Should  the  success  of  this  volume  with  the  public  give 
suflficient  encouragement,  similar  publications  will 
appear;  1,  on  Nebraska,  Wyoming,  and  Utah;  2,  on 
Kansas;  3,  on  Texas,  that  great  empire  State  of  the 
south-west;  and  perhaps,  4,  sketches  of  Arkansas,  Illi- 
nois, Missouri,  and  Indiana. 

In  all  of  these  States,  young  fellows  vdth  some  brains, 
muscle,  and  determination,  with  principle,  moral 
courage,  and  courtesy,  and  without  any  extra  amount 
of  nonsense,  affectation,  political  bigotry,  or  even  capital, 
have  succeeded  very  well  and  can  do  so  now  as  well 
as  ever. 

Colorado,  only  because  it  was  the  first  State  I  visited, 
forms  the  subject  of  the  first  of  my  books  of  explorations 
for  emigrants,  and  I  in  no  way  wish  to  have  it  implied 
that  I  think  its  emigrational  advantages  are  equal  to 
those  of  Kansas,  or  Nebraska,  or  for  the  pastoral  settler, 
of  Texas ;  but  the  Colorado  climate  and  its  scenery  are 
so  infinitely  better  than  those  of  any  of  these,  that  life 
there  offers  greater  inducements  to  many. 


S.  Nugent  Townshend. 


St.  Kames  Island, 

Church  Cross, 

Co.  Cork. 

May  12,  1879. 


COLOEADO: 

ITS    AGRICULTURE,  STOCKFEEDING, 
SCENERY.  AND  SHOOTING. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTERNATIOKAL  PRESS  PARTY — PUEBLO — GRAND  CANON  OF  THE  ARKANSAS 
— TEXAS  CREEK — MINING  AND  MINERS — SAN  LUIS  VALLEY — DEL 
NORTE — HEIGHTS   OF   PEAKS — RETURN   TO    PUEBLO. 

>Y  Introduction  to  Colorado  was  in  this  wise. 
Having  spent  the  summer  of  1876  at  the  Cen- 
tennial Exhibition,  Philadelphia,  I  accepted  an 
official  invitation  to  become  a  member  of  an  in- 
ternational press  party  to  visit  the  Western 
States  of  North  America,  dipping  far  out  of  the  regular  route 
into  the  Ex-Confederate  States,  so  as  to  see  the  best  parts 
of  the  reclaimed,  but  only  partially  settled,  lands  of  that 
region.  Our  leader  was  the  Chevalier  Ernst  von  Hesse 
Wartegg,  special  correspondent  of  the  Ulustrirte  Zeitungy 
Vienna ;  Belgium  sent  Leo  von  Elliot,  special  artist  of  the 
Brussels  Monde  Ulustre ;  Russia  was  represented  by  Count 
Adam  Steenbock,  a  lieutenant  in  the  Imperial  Horse  Guards ; 
Henri  De  La  Mothe  was  special  correspondent  of  Le  Temps, 
Paris ;  Professor  Paul  Oeker,  of  the  Vossische  Zeitung,  Berlin ; 
and  F.  Bomemann,  an  American  citizen ;  the  writer  being 
the  least  known  to  journalistic  fame  of  the  party.  We  all 
pursued  slightly  different  objects,  mine  being  agriculture, 
stock-feeding,  scenery,  and  shooting. 


COLORADO. 


Passing  over  our  limited  experiences  in  Ohio,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Missouri,  and  New  Mexico,  and  leaving  the  more 
extended  observations  on  Kansas  and  Texas  for  future  sepa- 
rate chronicle,  I  may  commence  the  present  narrative  with  my 
journey  by  rail  from  Peabody,  in  Kansas,  in  the  early  autumn 
of  the  same  year.  The  last  250-miles  run  in  that  State  was 
through  a  country  almost  utterly  barren  and  devoid  of  interest, 
save  what  it  borrowed  from  old  Spanish  and  Mexican  legends. 
We  followed  the  Arkansas  River  all  the  way ;  the  air  was 
thick  with  grasshoppers  flying  low,  and  antelopes  in  numerous 
herds  often  ran  within  six  or  seven  hundred  yards  of  the  train. 
Thousands  of  fairly  fat  cattle  dotted  the  apparently  grassless 
plains.  One  of  these  herds  numbered  8000 ;  yet  that  was  a 
good  year  in  prices,  and  all  herds  were  much  thinned  by  sales. 
Two  cattle  proprietors  sold  50,000  horned  cattle  this  year, 
their  chief  range  being,  however,  not  here,  but  in  New  Mexico. 
Passing  Syracuse,  we  saw  a  large  post  labelled  "  Kansas."  In 
a  moment  the  other  side  became  visible,  bearing  the  name 
Colorado.  "  What  about  the  Switzerland  of  America? 
This  is  a  horrible  desert,"  we  exclaim.  "  Wait  and  see,"  said 
a  fellow  traveller ;  "  do  you  notice  that  little  blue  cloud  west- 
ward ?  That  lies  on  Pike's  Peak.  G-et  there  to-morrow,  and 
then  talk  of  Switzerland  as  you  will."  At  Granada,  a  little 
farther  on,  grass  appeared ;  but  in  this  extraordinary  district 
the  cattle  appear  as  fat  where  grass  is  not  found  as  where  it 
is.  We  here  crossed  the  Arkansas  on  a  long  timber  bridge, 
and  saw  a  long  train  of  hay-laden  waggons  drawn  by  eight 
oxen,  each  plodding  southwards  to  the  drier  plains.  Beyond, 
was  a  fair  lot  of  timber,  but  so  valuable  for  shelter,  that  the 
settlers'  little  cots  are  all  built  of  stone.  Eabbits  with  long 
white  ears  flitted  about ;  a  fat  lazy  cow  stood  gazing  at  us 
from  the  centre  of  the  line,  and  I  rang  the  bell,  while  the 
stoker  whistled,  and  the  engineer  put  on  his  Westinghouse 
break  hard,  jerking  us  all  pretty  well  about,  and  the  in- 
quisitive cow  whisked  her  tail  at  the  last  moment,  and  moved 


LAS  ANIMAS— PUEBLO. 


off  just  as  her  impending  destruction  was  inevitable.  We 
met  with  these  exciting  incidents  at  least  a  dozen  times  in 
our  600-mile  run  on  the  Santa  Fe  line. 

A  herd  of  pretty  horses  race  us  as  we  get  near  the  historic 
town  of  Las  Animas,  with  its  "  doby  "  or  adobe  built  houses. 
It  would  be  rude  to  say  that  Las  Animas  is  built  of  mud,  so 
I  will  not  make  that  remark,  especially  as  we  had  a  remark- 
ably good  dinner  at  its  chief  hotel,  Vandiver  House.  The 
Kansas  Pacific  Railway  also  ran  here,  on  a  now  abandoned 
line,  alongside  of  us  for  eighteen  miles  to  La  Junta.  None 
of  the  rails  are  "  chaired,"  merely  spiked  down  to  the  sleepers, 
on  these  western  lines ;  but  the  sleepers  are  hard  wood,  and 
only  a  few  inches  interval  between  them,  the  reason  being  that 
iron  is  dear  and  timber  cheap.  At  La  Junta  we  went  to 
see  a  ship  of  the  plains,  or  prairie  waggon,  being  loaded  at 
Ohick,  Brown,  and  Co.'s  large  store.  Nine  of  these  craft 
were  being  filled  with  flour  and  almost  every  conceivable  com- 
modity for  Santa  Fe :  in  one  waggon  alone  were  50001b.  of 
flour.  Here  one  sees  for  the  first  time  the  wretched  Mexican 
in  full  costume,  and  almost  at  home,  for  not  long  ago  all  this 
country  was  Mexican,  passing  as  an  outside  territory  to  the 
United  States  by  the  Spanish  treaty  of  1819.  The  next 
eleven  miles  to  Rockyford  is  an  absolute  desert.  At  this 
place  an  attempt  at  irrigation  is  made,  but  the  agriculture 
does  not  nearly  supply  the  place  with  grain  or  vegetables. 
Pike's  and  Spanish  Peaks  now  look  about  1000  feet  high,  and 
herds  of  horses  are  round  us  everywhere.  An  occasional  herd 
of  fat  cattle  is  seen  at  intervals  to  Lico,  and,  crossing  the 
Denver  and  Rio  G-rande  narrow-gauge  branch  line,  we  are  at 
the  foot  of  the  long-wished-for  Rocky  Mountains  at  Pueblo. 

Pueblo  is  nearly  5000  feet  above  the  sea  level ;  but  it  was 
as  h«t  as  any  place  we  had  previously  been  in.  Vivid  light- 
ning played  all  night  round  Pike's  Peak,  and  it  was  long  ere 
we  could  bring  ourselves  to  retire  from  viewing  so  grand  a 
sight.      We  were,  however,  informed  that  General  Palmer 

b2 


COLORADO. 


would  next  day  send  very  early  a  special  train  to  take  us  to» 
Denver  over  the  line  of  wluch  he  was  chairman,  the  Denver 
and  Eio  Grrande,  which  since  has  become  a  leased  branch  of 
the  Atchison,  Topeka,  and  Santa  Fe.  We  slept  the  sleep  of 
the  weary,  and  at  8.30  next  morning  were  careering  along  the- 
enterprising  little  narrow-guage  line  of  which  the  Coloradians 
are  so  justly  proud,  which  runs  along  the  base  of  the  "  Old 
Eockies"  for  nearly  300  miles,  and  pushes  an  occasional 
branch  right  into  their  mineral  heart,  apparently  regardless 
of  time,  trouble,  expense,  or  gradients.  I  travelled  1450 
miles  back  round  Kansas  before  I  returned  to  Pueblo ;  but 
as  the  present  narrative  is  confined  to  Colorado,  I  will  ask  the 
reader  to  take  leave  of  the  international  press  party  for  the 
present,  and  pursue  with  me  a  western  excursion  from  Pueblo 
to  the  G-rand  Canon  of  the  Arkansas,  and  by  Barlow  and 
Sanderson's  fine  stage  coaches  through  the  great  San  Luis 
Valley,  to  the  San  Juan  silver-mining  district ;  then  we  will 
come  back  and  rejoin  the  internationals,  thus  finishing  our 
travels  in  Colorado. 

I  started  by  a  branch  of  the  Denver  and  Rio  G-rande  Rail- 
road for  a  run  of  twenty  miles  to  Canon  City  just  at  the  base 
of  the  foot  hills,  and  only  ten  miles  from  the  Grand  Canon  of 
the  "  Arkansaw,"  as  it  is  here  called — indeed,  once  westward 
of  Kansas,  the  Arkansas  is  always  called  the  Arkansaw.  The 
G-rand  Canon,  or  Canyon,  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world, 
and  has  been  so  often  described,  that  describing  it  again  is 
like  writing  on  Niagara.  It  is  a  mile  wide,  and  2000  feet 
perpendicularly  deep.  You  must  see  it  from  the  top,  because 
you  cannot  very  well  get  at  the  bottom  of  it.  Looking 
directly  down  2000  feet  is  a  thing  that  no  one  ever  did  before 
he  or  she  got  here,  and  it  is  impossible  to  describe  the 
sensation.  There  are  numerous  jutting  rocks  on  which  it 
is  safe  to  go  out  and  look  over,  seeing  the  granite  walls  all 
the  way  down.  The  Arkansas  is  only  a  broad  white  band  at 
the  bottom.     G-uides  bring  crowbars  and  dislodge  boulders,. 


GRAND   CANON— COACHING. 


for  you  to  mark  the, great  height  by  the  time  these  take  to 
descend.  How  small  they  look  before  they  reach  the  river, 
and  how  little  noise  is  made  by  the  fearful  impact  they  make 
on  some  river-bed  brother  boulder  !  Just  before  I  was  here 
this  time,  "  Nym  Crinkle  "  stated  that  the  Atchison,  Topeka, 
and  Santa  Fe  Eailway  had  a  hundred  men  in  the  canon 
cutting  sleepers  and  floating  them  down  the  Arkansas,  and 
that  it  was  found  necessary  to  post  a  polite  notice  to  visitors 
requesting  them  "  not  to  throw  stones  or  play  at  avalanches." 

The  Rockies,  when  once  you  devote  yourself  entirely  to 
seeing  them,  put  shooting  aside,  and  go  direct  from  one  point 
of  grand  scenery  to  another,  must  certainly  etheriahse  the 
most  unpoetic  mind.  I  said  farewell  to  the  Grand  Canon 
for  a  long  time,  and,  getting  on  the  box  seat  of  one  of  Barlow 
an^  Sanderson's  fine  six-horsed  mail  coaches,  went  off  at 
a  swinging  pace  from  the  Canon  City  Hotel  just  before 
sunrise.*  Only  five  passengers  and  little  luggage  made  the 
well-matched  greys'  labour  almost  one  of  love ;  no  rumbling, 
heavy,  awkward,  old  rattletrap  was  behind  them,  but  a  light, 
long,  canvas-covered  coach  ;  harness,  far  lighter  than  in 
English  style,  sat  easily  and  gracefully  on  them ;  the  centre 
pair  of  horses  had,  as  well  as  the  wheelers,  a  pole  between 
them,  which  was  hooked  on  to  the  pole  proper ;  the  whip  was 
a  matter  of  form,  and  in  no  case  would  have  reached 
beyond  the  wheelers.  The  human  whip  was  a  fine,  Saxon- 
looking,  jovial  mortal,  who  swung  his  team  to  an  inch.  Few 
of  the  places  we  traversed  had  names  ;  there  was  little  to  tell 
about  any,  but  everything  to  be  seen ;  so  I  got  out  my  pipe 
and  note  book,  and  began  practising  word-painting. 

Our  first  sight  of  interest  as  we  ascended  the  winding 
mountain  road  was  a  Mexican  camp :  a  young  Mexican 
brunette   was   lacing   her   boots,  in  total   disregard   of  the 

*  This  line  of  stages  has  now  been  abandoned,  as  the  Atchison,  Topeka, 
and  Santa  Fe  E-ailway  ran  their  narrow  gauge  trains  to  Alamosa,  via  the 
Yeta  Pass,  subsequently  described. 


COLORADO. 


admiring  glances  of  the  U.S.  mail  coach  passengers  ;  her 
male  relatives  were  frying  some  bacon  at  the  camp  fire ;  they 
had  no  tent,  and  must  all  have  slept  in  the  open  air.  Then 
we  drove  to  the  Devil's  G-ate  Pass,  only  a  little  thing  for  the 
Eocky  Mountains,  about  a  hundred  feet  high,  the  strata 
of  granite  being  all  in  stones  of  regular  string  courses.  A 
little  good  driving  was  required  here,  and  we  emerged  into^ 
"  Eight  Mile  Park,"  seeing  one  hundred  moimtain  peaks  of 
the  Sangre  de  Cristo  range  scattered  all  round  to  our  front 
and  left,  nearly  all  snow-capped.  The  park  was  soon  passed, 
and  we  drove  down  a  narrow  ravine,  so  rough  that  I  had  to 
steady  myself  by  putting  one  foot  on  the  lamp ;  the  gentle- 
man next  me  moored  himself  in  some  similar  way  by  his  feet, 
and  then  we  held  on  to  each  other.  If  we  lurched  to  port,  I 
saved  him  ;  when  we  rolled  to  starboard,  he  was  my  only 
hope  and  stay.  Now  my  knee  nearly  touched  a  boulder,  and 
my  head  a  pine  bough ;  at  the  same  moment  the  spUnt  bar 
of  the  off  leader  grazed  a  rock,  while  the  near  hind  wheel 
grazed  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  ravine  wall,  as  we  swung 
round  a  sharp  bend.  "What  a  place  for  the  Pour-in- Hand 
Club  to  practise  !  "  I  said  to  our  Jehu.  He  shook  his  head. 
"  I  once  had  one  of  them  here,"  he  replied,  "  and  he  got 
so  nervous,  that  he  would  have  given  his  best  team  to  be  off 
the  coach  when  half-way  through."  Here  he  flung  a  small 
pebble  at  one  of  the  leaders,  who  was  believed  to  intend 
to  misconduct  himself  in  some  way ;  the  evil  projects  of  the 
gallant  grey  were  supposed  to  be  frustrated  by  his  being  hit 
on  the  flank  with  this  granite  specimen.  "  I  have  plenty 
more,"  warningly  added  our  whip  to  his  off  leader,  and 
the  animal  addressed  appeared  to  see  the  force  of  the  remark, 
and  ceased  pulling.  Canon  Grulch  station  was  soon  reached, 
twelve  miles  having  been  done  in  1  hour  25  minutes;  and 
we  took  a  fresh  departure  across  Canon  Bridge,  where  the 
Arkansas  enters  the  Grand  Canon — never  but  once  traversed^ 
except  in  severe  frosts,  by  mankind. 


COPPER   GULCH  PARK. 


Here  we  exchanged  our  six  for  four  other  dark  grejs, 
as  the  thirteen  miles  to  the  next  station,  Texas  Creek,  ran 
level  or  down  hill  through  Copper  Grulch,  a  long  winding 
ravine,  full  of  yellow-flowered  cactus,  some  four  feet  high, 
colossal  Cottonwood  trees,  and  stunted  oak,  covered  with  a 
woolly-flowered  creeper.  The  hills  on  each  side  varied  in 
height  from  90  feet  to  1000  feet.  The  head  of  this  gulch 
opens  into  a  beautiful  sweeping  valley,  from  the  head  of 
which  the  Sangre  de  Cristo  range  shows  very  imposingly. 
What  a  spot  for  residences  this  fine  natural  park  would  make ! 
Fifteen  peaks,  10,000  feet  to  13,000  feet  high,  tower  above  it; 
glades,  dells,  smooth  sloping  lawns,  thickets,  clumps,  and 
single  trees  are  scattered  about,  now  thickly,  now  thinly,  here 
inclosing  20  acres,  there  1000.  If  any  man  wants  to  plant 
with  taste,  let  him  study  nature  here ;  not  one  foot  of  this 
land  is  taken  up,  it  is  all  to  be  had  for  the  asking  by 
naturalised  citizens.  The  society  offered  by  the  district  is  at 
present  but  deer,  bear,  and  grouse  ;  but  "  the  Switzerland  of 
America  "  spreads  all  her  natural  charms  to  entice  the 
stranger  hither,  and  retain  him  when  caught  ;  and  the 
wonder  is  that  only  Lord  Diuiraven  has,  from  the  eastern 
world,  picked  up  "  for  a  song  "  a  park  in  the  western  hemi- 
sphere which  laughs  to  scorn  the  beauties  of  home  ones.  True, 
these  parks  are  very  useless  save  for  sport  and  health;  ten 
thousand  acres  of  them  will  not  feed  as  many  cattle  as  five 
hundred  Kansan  acres.  If  I  had  not  known  of  the  mining 
wealth  here,  I  would  have  said  Colorado  is  handsome  and 
good  for  nothing,  Kansas  ugly  and  good — the  old  balance  so 
often  urged  against  female  beauty  all  the  world  over.  Water 
is  often  scarce,  in  elevated  plateaus  here  grass  is  bad  and 
sparse,  and  the  air,  easily  heated  to  a  very  high  temperature 
by  the  mid-day  and  afternoon  sun,  is  too  rarefied  to  retain  a 
particle  of  it  directly  "  Sol "  turns  in  for  the  night,  and 
forthwith  a  frost  sets  up  and  makes  your  cattle  look  very 
seedy  unless  furnished  with  shelter — an  expense  and  trouble 


8  COLORADO. 


quite  uncalled  for  in  Kansas  for  eleven  months  out  of  the 
twelve.  A  large  range  is  required  here  for  few  cattle,  but 
even  on  this  soil  of  mixed  sand  and  gravel,  the  animals  look 
very  well.  Just  beyond  here,  in  Wet  Mountain  Valley,  quite 
a  number  of  English  gentlemen  are  permanently  settled — 
great  pets  in  the  district,  good  sportsmen,  and  good  stock 
breeders ;  but  of  these  more  anon. 

Texas  Creek  was  soon  reached,  and  a  picture  of  our  dining 
room  here  may  be  interesting.  A  well-laid  table  in  the 
centre,  with  scrupulously  clean  cloth  and  napkins ;  a  bed, 
snowy  in  whiteness  as  the  summit  of  Pike's  Peak,  in  one 
<5omer ;  in  the  other  a  washstand,  at  which,  with  what  I 
think  was  rather  a  false  sense  of  politeness,  we  insisted  upon 
our  two  lady  passengers  making  their  toilettes  first;  they 
appeared,  however,  to  take  it  as  a  matter  of  course,  per- 
forming their  ablutions  and  doing  up  their  pretty  back  hair 
as  unconcernedly  as  though  we  were  "  ten  thousand  miles 
away."  We  got  a  very  good  dinner,  with  a  second  course  of 
plum,  butter  and  some  other  condiments,  novel  as  they  were 
palatable,  and  paid  3s.  for  our  banquet.  Six  fresh  greys 
were  attached  to  our  vehicle  here,  and  away  we  rattled  again, 
through  a  park  so  lovely  that  any  Englishman  would  at  once 
ask.  Where  is  the  residence  on  this  estate  ?  A  fellow 
passenger  bemoaned  a  rather  severe  loss  in  his  herd 
of  horses  from  the  "  poison  weed,"  which  he  described  as 
very  like  the  watercress,  with  a  purple  blossom,  and  which, 
though  rarely  found,  cattle  eat  voraciously  when  they  get  a 
chance.  We  skirted  a  curious  heterogeneous  mass  of  hills  to 
the  north,  through  dense  oak  scrub,  being  below  the  level  of 
the  pines,  whilst  descending  into  Pleasant  Valley  on  the 
Arkansas,  and  scuttling  down  a  tremendous  decline  towards 
it,  the  back  wheels  almost  absolutely  locked  by  a  powerful 
foot-brake.  The  sides  of  these  oak  hills  appeared  as  though 
built  of  rubble  masonry,  unfenced  precipices  yawning  grimly, 
often  on  one  side,  sometimes  on  both,  and  the  descent  into 


PLEASANT   VALLEY.  9 


Pleasant  Valley  taking  as  many  turns  as  an  hereditary  lawsuit. 
The  October  foliage  was  scarlet  red  or  crimson  on  the  hill- 
sides, absolutely  golden  as  we  got  lower  down ;  and  as  we 
reached  the  river  alternate  green  and  gold,  like  a  cottonwood 
tree  seen  from  the  north  or  south,  for  the  southern  sides  were 
always  gold,  and  the  northern  green.  Then  we  leave  behind 
a  neat  settler's  cottage,  and  ford  a  clear  stream,  out  of  which 
our  brave  greys  would  dearly  like  to  have  taken  a  nip,  but 
drink  was  forbidden  until  they  reached  Pleasant  Valley 
station,  eleven  miles  from  the  last.  From  here  we  do  not 
follow  the  Arkansas,  but  strike  S.W.,  and  the  coachman 
appears  in  a  fit  of  eccentric  capriciousness  to  have  run  into 
this  lovely  valley,  at  some  risk  and  great  inconvenience,  only 
to  cut  right  across  and  get  out  of  it  as  quickly  as  possible. 
The  temperature  was  70°,  though  on  all  sides  we  were  sur- 
rounded by  snow-clad  mountains.  Two  ranches,  a  country 
post-office,  and  two  sparkling  mountain  streams,  with  their 
autumn-goldened  cottonwood  fringes  showing  clearly  amongst 
the  dark  green  pines  far  away  up  the  Sangre  de  Cristos,  are 
our  only  objects  of  interest ;  but  our  coachman,  as  though 
he  had  given  up  the  idea  of  forcing  his  way  through  the 
mountains,  slowly  makes  a  cut  for  the  valley  higher  up, 
passing  a  deserted  ranche  whose  former  owner  had  tried  irri- 
gation from  a  mountain  stream,  which  dried,  and  the  settler 
in.  disgust  had  fled.  The  air  here  was  extraordinarily  dry ; 
half  an  hour  after  I  had  ducked  my  head  in  the  river  and  used 
my  handkerchief  as  a  towel,  hair  and  kerchief  were  as  dry  as 
lime-burners'  wigs.  This  occasional  immersion  was  abso- 
lutely necessary,  as  dust  flew  fast  and  furious,  and  a  couple 
of  hours'  dry  sun  here  almost  blinds  one.  We  crossed  the 
Arkansas  at  Roger's  station  in  this  valley,  over  a  very  good 
bridge,  the  river  being  four  feet  deep,  very  rapid,  and  the 
scenery  along  its  banks  most  varied — from  flat,  sandy,  low 
shores  to  rocky  bluffs,  and,  from  being  broad  and  placid, 
<jontracting  occasionally   between   high   rocks,  and   flowing 


10  COLORADO. 


with  noisy  force  over  boulders  and  snags — keeping,  however, 
like  all  the  rivers  in  Colorado,  its  belt  of  cottonwood,  green, 
gold,  or  brown  according  to  the  season,  all  along  its  course. 
We  were  passing  some  copper  mines,  and,  as  the  coach  was 
full  of  miners — men  of  much  intelligence,  some  who  had 
started  in  Cornwall,  mined  in  the  Urals,  gone  to  Australia, 
and  then  tried  back  nearer  home  here — and,  as  they  were  all 
willing  to  communicate  their  experiences  freely,  I  let  this 
part  of  the  Arkansas  take  care  of  itself,  and  commenced  my 
investigations  into  the  silver  mining  of  Colorado.  The 
details  of  the  gold,  I  had  previously  mastered  with  the  "  inter- 
nationals" further  north. 

To  begin  with,  a  miaer  here  pays  nothing  for  his  land. 
He  buys  in  Denver  or  Pueblo  a  coffee  pot,  a  frying  pan,  a 
camp  kettle,  a  bake-oven,  a  bread  pan,  three  tin  plates,  a 
knife  and  fork,  a  coffee  mill,  a  tin  cuj),  and  three  spoons, 
which  cost  him  11.  3s.,  all  the  clothes  he  can  carry  or  buy,  a 
Sharp  rifle,  three  double  blankets,  4Z.  worth  of  miner's  tools, 
and  some  powder ;  and  he  then  gets  as  far  west  as  a  coach 
or  waggon  will  take  him  to  Silverton,  Ouray,  Mineral  City» 
or  Lake  City,  and  thence  tramps  onwards  towards  Parrott 
City,  the  G-unnison  river,  the  Eio  la  Plata,  or  Rio  Animas. 
He  shoots  all  he  wants  to  eat,  and  often  violates  the  State 
Game  Laws  by  shooting  elk,  deer,  and  mountain  sheep  before 
August  1 ;  and  worse  still,  another  State  Game  Law,  that  for- 
bids "  the  wanton  destruction  of  game  at  any  period."  The 
miner  thinks  these  Acts  nonsense  ;  but  he  believes  in  another 
Act  that  he  thinks  passed  the  State  legislature  too  late,  viz., 
the  penalty  of  lOOZ.  to  2001.,  with  one  to  fourteen  years  in  a 
penitentiary,  for  salting  ores,  for  many  good  mines  have 
been  lost  by  actual  or  verbal  salting  of  their  ores  ;  and  two 
men  who  had  worked  on  the  notorious  "  Emma,"  declared 
that  it  always  was  a  good  paying  one — no  better  than  a 
hundred  others  they  had  been  on,  but  one  where  the  miner 
knew  he  was  earning  as  much  for  his  employer  as  for  himself, 


MINING  SPECULATIONS.  11 

l^rovided  no  misrepresentations  were  made,  and  no  pre- 
posterous amount  of  capital  were  raised.  These  men  go  off 
into  the  wilds  in  twos  or  threes,  and  shoot  and  prospect. 
Every  man  who  knows  anything  of  his  work  finds  something  ; 
then  he  claims  it  on  oath  before  a  county  official,  stakes  off 
300ft.  by  1500ft.,  puts  up  a  big  signboard  with  his  name  and 
liis  new  mine's  name,  and  his  title  is  established  beyond 
question,  provided  he  spends  201.  per  annum  on  his  enter- 
prise, and  sinks  or  drives  10ft.  the  first  year.  If  he  works 
on  his  own  mine  for  fifteen  days,  he  is  presumed  to  have 
spent  201.  When  1001.  worth  of  work  is  done,  the  United 
States  grant  a  patent,  which  is  indefeasible ;  but  the  moment 
the  patent  is  sealed,  the  mine  is  smartly  taxed,  whether  it 
pays  or  not.  In  fact,  so  long  as  you  spend  201.  a  year  on 
your  mine,  you  are  just  as  well  secured  of  its  possession  as 
though  you  had  a  patent,  and  just  as  free  to  sell.  If  you 
buy  a  mine,  of  course  seeing  a  clear  patent  is  a  comfort. 
Since  the  "  Emma  "  swindle,  English  capital  has  been  steadily 
withheld  from  these  mines  ;  and  there  is  very  little  machinery 
in  this  San  Juan  district.  Some  of  the  4500  located  mines 
here  have  over  80  tons  of  ore  (assaying  from  "  The  Tom 
Thumb  "  81.  to  the  ton,  to  the  "  Bonanza  "  3000Z.  to  the  ton) 
waiting  to  be  stamped,  or  crushed,  or  smelted ;  and,  these 
mines  being  chiefly  small  and  owned  by  working  men,  who 
cannot  work  long  without  selling,  often  fall  into  the  clutches 
of  greedy  capitalists — in  one  case  I  know  of,  a  claim 
was  actually  sold  for  lOZ.,  which  the  following  month  fetched 
4000?.  in  New  York.  SI.  per  ton  is  the  average  cost  of  ex- 
tracting ore,  and  I  can  imagine  that  few  better  or  safer  en- 
terprises could  be  started,  both  from  a  commercial  and 
philanthropic  point  of  view,  than  a  lot  of  stamping  mills. 
Professor  Hayden,  in  his  G-eological  report  of  1873,  gives 
most  reliable  data  respecting  this  district;  and  "The  San 
Juan  Guide,"  written  by  the  Hon.  Sidney  Clarke  for  the 
Santa  Fe  Eailway,  who  intend  to  push  their  line  into  that 


12  COLORADO. 


country,  is  an  interesting  work,  though  giving  only  the 
bright  side  as  far  as  the  mining  of  Colorado  is  concerned. 

As  regards  the  Colorado  miner  personally,  I  like  him 
extremely,  and  I  cannot  get  on  with  my  journey  westward 
without  treating  of  him.  He  is  essentially  a  man  of  the  world ; 
there  is  no  comparing  him  for  a  second  with  our  English  miner. 
He  is  nearly  always  educated,  he  is  often  a  gentleman,  has 
seen  life  in  many  and  varied  phases,  is  a  good  shot,  a  good 
fisherman,  and  usually  a  good  billiard  and  card  player,  as  he 
cannot  work  during  the  winter,  and  has  to  live — which  he  does 
well — in  hotels.  One  is  disposed  to  pity  the  miner's  life, 
and  to  shun  him,  as  seen  from  a  distance  ;  but  he  should  be 
seen  at  home  in  Colorado  with  his  wife  and  family,  or  with 
his  "  chum."  He  seldom  dies  a  wealthy  man  ;  but  his  life  is 
one  full  of  hope,  that  great  spring  of  all  energy.  He  earns 
his  16s.  a  day,  and  spends  it  nearly  all ;  but  he  saves  in  a  year 
just  enough  for  the  outfit  previously  referred  to,  and,  with 
some  kindred  spirit  he  penetrates  the  wilds,  a  hundred  miles 
N.,  S.,  E.,  or  W.  of  a  frontier  town,  with  his  pick  and  rifle, 
tiTQsting  to  find  a  claim  which,  though  he  cannot  hope  to  work 
it  for  lack  of  funds,  he  may  be  able  to  sell  to  some  capitalist 
for  a  sum  that  will  render  him  thereafter  independent.  He 
finds  a  vein,  establishes  a  claim,  starves  on  it,  and  perhaps 
sells  for  61.  what  costs  him  tens,  and  months  to  establish. 
Still,  61.  will  take  him  to  where  one  of  his  chums  tells  him 
there  is  a  "  sure  thing  "  ;  hope  continues  to  buoy  him  up ; 
and  so  on  to  the  end. 

The  miner  is  not  a  "  bad  lot "  ;  with  all  his  a'ugged  un- 
couthness,  a  sympathy,  a  charity,  often  a  generosity,  are  shown 
by  him  to  his  fellow  in  distress,  that  would  shame  the  boasted 
philanthropy  of  the  East.  He  lives,  as  a  rule,  honestly  and 
in  a  straightforward  way  ;  the  pioneer  of  mineral  science  of  his 
day  and  country  ;  often  the  victim  of  misj)laced  confidence,  the 
prey  of  the  capitalist,  the  sport  of  fortune,  buffeted  severely 
by  the  mountain  winds   and   snows,  though    perchance  far 


THE  MINERS.  15 


more  gently  than  by  the  blows  of  fate,  he  lives  a  life  of  work, 
sport,  speculation,  and  adventure,  and  leaves  behind  him,  in 
nine  cases  out  of  ten,  a  clean  record. 

He  is  not  a  hero  or  a  paragon  of  any  special  excellence  ;  his 
worst  side  is  presented  to  the  outer  world  in  the  large  frontier 
towns,  where  he  is  compulsorily  idle,  and  has  more  than 
enough  money.  See  him  in  his  mountain  home,  and  Bret 
Harte's  touching  stories  of  him  rush  with  all  the  force  of 
irresistible  conviction  on  the  mind ;  you  cannot  help  thinking 
that,  with  all  his  wide -world  and  underground  gained  know- 
ledge, there  is  about  him  much  of  the  good  atmosphere  of  the 
days  of  his  childhood,  which  has  been  and  will  be  ineradic- 
able. 

I  heard  many  tales  of  mountain  life  before  T  indited  the 
above  (for  me,  very  unusually  sentimental)  paragraph,  which 
I  believe  is  strictly  accui*ate.  I  met  a  miner  who  sold  a  claim 
which  turned  out  valueless  to  a  capitalist ;  that  capitalist 
had  lent  him  money  when  he  was  needy  long  previously.  The 
miner  set  to  work  to  find  another  claim  that  was  good,  found 
it,  and  gave  or  sold  two -thirds  of  it  to  his  benefactor,  whom 
he  had  first  put  in  for  a  "  bad  thing."  The  second  claim 
proved  good,  and  the  honest  miner  got  1400Z.  this  month  in 
Chicago  for  his  one-third  share,  which,  but  for  the  capitalist's 
aid,  would  never  have  been  worth  anything.  The  miner's- 
name  is  Walter  Kelly;  he  thinks  he  is  a  Scotchman,  and 
that  an  hotel  in  Del  Norte  would  pay,  so  he  is  going  to  try 
it,  and  no  one  looking  up  silver  in  the  San  Juan  country  could 
get  a  better  guide.  N.B.  Guides  here  cost  11.  a  day,  and  all 
found  for  them  in  addition.  This  is  a  mercenary  remark,  and 
has  brought  me  down  to  a  proper  mundane  level  again.  We 
are  passing  along  the  north  bank  of  the  Arkansas  ;  the  moun- 
tain peaks  on  the  other  side  tower  one  abo\e  the  other,  the 
tallest  in  the  rear,  like  the  mountains  of  the  world  in  a  big 
school  atlas  on  a  vertical  plane,  but  here  they  are  in  grand 
perspective.     From  the  rapids  just  above,  one  of  these  Sangre 


14  COLORADO. 


de  Cristo  mountains  looks  like  one  of  the  Egyptian  pyramids 
in  monolitli  magnified  one  thousand  times,  covered  with  green 
moss  (pines)  two-thirds  of  the  way  up,  and  with  four  golden- 
lined  silver  streaks  winding  from  half-way  down  to  the  base. 
The  views  in  this  valley  cannot  be  surpassed  for  loveliness, 
and  it  would  be  comparatively  easy  to  irrigate  it  for  hay 
crops,  which  here  fetch  SI.  to  4?.  per  ton.  Eleven  miles  from 
the  last,  at  Badger  Station,  we  get  six  fresh  spanking  greys, 
and  follow  the  Arkansas,  closely  rock-bound,  and  bordered 
with  pines  about  80ft.  high.  .  The  Chalk  Creek  Mountains 
come  suddenly  in  view,  with  some  copper  mines  containing 
sixty  per  cent,  of  ore,  but  which  are  little  worked,  owing  to 
the  difficulty  of  getting  the  ore  away.  If  the  Santa  Fe  line 
runs  up  the  river  thus  far,  these  would  probably  be  more 
attractive  than  the  silver  mines.  The  country  here  is  agri- 
culturally useless  ;  even  were  it  otherwise,  the  labour  of  clear- 
ing the  chiquo  brush  and  irrigating  would  only  enable  the 
farmer  to  raise  half  food  enough  for  the  grasshoppers.  Bale's 
Station  appears,  with  a  large  trout  tank,  containing  plenty  of 
beauties  from  the  Arkansas,  which  Mr.  Bale  accumulates 
when  he  has  nothing  else  to  do.  Here  we  stayed  for  the 
night  with  the  passengers  of  the  eastward-bound  coach,  thir- 
teen in  all,  in  five  rooms,  at  Langham  Hotel  prices. 

At  4.30  a.m.,  the  tocsin  sounded,  and  we  strengthened  our- 
selves with  a  feast  of  delicious  trout  for  our  mountain  drive. 
Wild  geese  had  been  flying  over  us  all  night,  and  a  cold  drive 
was  before  us ;  four  days  previously,  it  was  90°  in  Pueblo ; 
now,  32°  was  the  highest  reading  we  could  make  as  we  reached 
the  Puncho  Pass  and  crossed  the  South  Fork  of  the  Arkansas, 
on  which  beaver  are  still  tolerably  numerous,  and  little  grizzly 
bears  are  occasionally  to  be  found  in  their  nurseries,  provided 
their  immediate  progenitors  are  first  put  out  of  harm's  way 
by  a  few  rifle  shots.  I  was  offered  a  little  grizzly  for  =£30, 
tame  as  a  dog,  and  very  pretty ;  the  brown  and  black  bears 
sulk,  and  will  not  stand  training  or  punishment  for  offences 


THE   SAN  LUIS   VALLEY.  15 

nearly  as  well  as  a  grizzly,  which,  considering  their  characte- 
ristics in  a  wild  state,  is  a  very  remarkable  fact.  The  best 
deer  shooting  in  this  part  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  is  at  the 
head  of  this  Pnncho  Pass,  which  is  eight  and  a  half  miles 
long,  and  rises  2500  feet. 

Our  leaders  this  morning  were  quite  intoxicated  with  the 
mountain  breezes,  and  our  whip  crossed  their  inner  traces  to 
make  them  pull  even.  The  device  succeeded ;  but  if  one  of 
them  had  started  ahead  and  pulled  the  swinging  bars  across 
the  haunches  of  both  himself  and  his  neighbour,  we  should 
probably  all  have  finished  our  careers  in  a  Rocky  Mountain 
crevasse.  At  Round  Mountain  Station,  fifteen  miles  further, 
we  got  another  change  of  horses  ;  another  at  Kirby  Creek 
thirteen  miles  on,  and  we  were  in  the  far-famed  and  much- 
written-on  San  Luis  Valley. 

This  enormous  plateau  is  130  miles  long,  and  over  80  wide. 
The  lake  in  its  centre  is  excelled  at  certain  seasons  by  few  in 
America  for  wildfowl  shooting ;  but  as  for  the  valley — the  San 
Luis  Park  as  it  is  called — never  was  such  an  agricultural 
swindle.  There  is  no  grass  on  it,  there  is  no  soil  in  it,  and  a 
company  will  soon,  and  very  probably  in  London,  ask  for  sub- 
scriptions to  irrigate  this  wonderful  Eden  by  turning  the  Rio 
Grande  over  it.  I  declare  most  solemnly  that  six  Rio  G-randes 
would  be  for  ever  lost  in  its  gravelly  sand  before  they  got  half- 
way across  it.  Small  portions  of  it  along  this  river  may  easily 
be  irrigated,  and  some  Englishmen — Mr  Dunne  most  notably 
— have  done  very  well  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  range.  The 
high  prices  given  by  miners  tempt  the  farmer  here,  and  the 
splendid  climate  causes  loss  to  be  borne  lightly ;  but  let  no 
man,  except  a  retired  philanthropist,  subscribe  to  irrigate  the 
San  Luis  Valley  as  a  speculation.  Even  as  an  American  enter- 
prise, it  is  the  most  astoundingly  hopeless  investment  I  have 
ever  seen  or  heard  of  as  suggested  to  the  European  capitalist. 
A  fine  road  leads  through  both  sides  of  the  valley,  and  a  little 
offshoot  took  us  into  Saguache  (blue  water),  a  pretty  little 


16  COLORADO. 


town  of  two  hundred  inliabitants.  An  Englisliman  keeps  the 
hotel,  where  I  would  wish  to  have  stayed  a  week,  if  it  were 
only  stone  or  brick,  and  if  its  tariff  were  more  moderate,  an 
inferior  dinner  costing  4s.,  and  other  things  in  proportion. 
So  away  again  for  Del  Norte,  a  long  dreary  drive  of  about 
thirty  miles,  enlivened  only  by  the  anecdotes  of  Mr  Chas. 
Adams,  a  U.S.  post-office  inspector,  who  had  professionally 
been  all  over  the  States.  The  coachmen  here  are  not  in  the 
Weller  junior  or  senior  style.  They  are,  as  a  rule,  uncom- 
municative, if  not  morose ;  the  excuse  given  for  them  is  that 
they  carry  so  much  gold  and  silver,  and  keep  so  little  of  it. 
This,  however,  is  an  old  and  worn-out  apology,  and  has  long 
since  ceased  to  be  received  from  an  officer  of  the  Bank  of 
England  who  accepts  an  invitation  to  a  picnic  up  the  river, 
and  fails  to  render  himself  agreeable  thereat.  Mr  Adams 
told  me  that  the  San  Luis  Valley  is  altogether  overstocked ; 
Mr  Dunne,  an  English  settler,  alone  has  10,000  sheep  on  it 
at  his  station  near  Carmuro.  The  evening  shades  descended  ; 
the  valley  stretched  away  to  the  horizon,  not  like  a  rolling 
Kansas  prairie,  but  as  a  calm  sea  of  floating  brown  seaweed. 
We  crossed  the  Eio  Grande  in  the  dark,  and  finished  our 
drive  of  145  miles  in  Del  Norte,  at  an  elevation  of  7807ft. 

Del  Norte  is  quite  a  wonderful  new  town.  Six  years  ago 
there  was  none  of  it ;  now  it  has  at  least  one  specimen  of 
eveiy  sort  of  business  establishment.  There  is  a  bank,  which 
accommodates  one  at  20  per  cent.,  and  an  hotel  where  14s. 
per  day  makes  the  sojourner  fairly  comfortable — i.e.,  he  has 
not,  as  at  Mr.  Bale's,  to  go  out  of  doors  to  perform  his  ablu- 
tions ;  and  if  ladies  sleep  in  the  room  next  his,  their 
apartment  has  a  separate  door,  and  his  sanctum  need  not, 
as  at  Mr.  B.'s,  be  necessarily  invaded  at  unearthly  hours 
in  the  morning  by  early-rising  Coloradian  youth  and  beauty. 
For  anyone  in  debt  or  difficulty,  the  State  of  Colorado  is 
strongly  to  be  recommended,  the  debtor's  liberty,  and  even 
ancestry,  being  respected.     Here  is  a  bit  of  the  State  law,. 


DEL  NORTE  MOUNT.  17 

exempting  from  sheriff's  seizure  "family  pictures,  books, 
wearing  apparel,  beds  and  bedsteads,  stoves  and  household 
furniture,  to  amount  of  20Z;  provisions  and  fuel  for  six 
months ;  tools,  and  stock-in-trade  to  40Z. ;  working  animals, 
one  cow,  one  calf,  ten  sheep,  and  food  for  them  for  six 
months."  When  I  discovered  all  this  in  Del  Norte,  I  almost 
regretted  I  was  not  in  debt.  The  town  was  laid  out  in  1873  ; 
it  is  on  the  west  edge  of  the  San  Luis  valley,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  canon  of  the  Snowy  Eange  of  the  Eocky  Mountains, 
from  whence  flows  the  Eio  Grande  del  Norte  through  this 
town  eastward.  It  is  the  outfitting  and  supply  centre  of  the 
San  Juan  mining  country,  lying  from  60  to  160  miles  W. 
and  S.W.  of  it.  The  Rio  Grande  is  one  of  the  best  trout- 
fishing  rivers  in  the  States  ;  deer  abound  on  the  mountains ; 
and  the  view  from  the  Del  Norte  Mount  is  unique  and 
charming.  I  got  to  this  mount  by  accident.  Strolling  along 
after  breakfast  with  my  morning  pipe  at  the  back  of  the 
hotel,  gradually  rising,  I  looked  round,  and  found  I  could 
see  a  little  more  by  getting  higher ;  at  last  I  got  so  many 
hundred  feet  that  going  back  to  change  my  slippers  seemed 
a  folly.  "  Excelsior !"  I  exclaimed,  and  soon  rose  above  the 
level  of  owls  and  prairie  dogs.  The  mountain  top  was  enve- 
loped in  a  mist,  so  was  the  desert  valley ;  but  Sol  was  rapidly 
getting  the  upper  hand,  and  unable  to  continue  the  climb  in 
the  rarefied  mountain  air — which  makes  one  gasp  in  a  most 
extraordinary  manner,  each  inspiration  and  expiration  taking 
much  longer  than  one  is  accustomed  to — I  turned  round, 
and  sat  down.  The  mists  had  risen ;  below  me  was  the  Rio 
Grande  del  Norte  (great  river  of  the  north)  softly  flowing  in 
an  arc  southward,  a  broad  belt  of  the  brightest  of  yellow 
cotton  wood  marking  its  course  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
follow;  under  my  feet  the  town,  divided  into  squares  by 
mountain  streams — three  large  brick  and  about  a  hundred 
wooden  houses,  a  puff  of  steam  from  a  little  saw  mill  on  the 
outskirts,  twenty  little  cabins  on  the  plain  across  the  river, 

c 


18  COLORADO. 


and  a  few  cattle  dotted  about  them.  To  the  east,  forty  miles 
away,  the  Sangre  de  Cristos,  like  mountain  ptarmigan,  have 
assumed  their  white  winter  plumage.  To  the  west,  an  infinity 
of  small  valleys,  branches  of  the  great  San  Luis;  a  curl 
of  blue  smoke,  and  a  green  field  in  the  distance  among 
them,  showing  that  the  pushing  rancher  has  penetrated  this 
portion  of  the  rocky  vales.  An  eagle  soars  above  me ;  one 
pine  represents  the  timber  of  my  mountain  ;  fantastic-shaped 
cacti  bloom  all  round.  Granite  rocks,  stones,  and  pebbles 
browny-red,  are  all  the  mineral  wealth  I  behold ;  but  I  must 
get  to  the  summit  to  see  if  there  is  anything  at  the  other 
side,  through  fifty  to  one  there  is  only  a  higher  mountain. 
At  any  rate,  let  it  be  said  of  me  I  was  the  first  man  who  ever 
ascended  here  in  carpet  slippers.  Thus  I  argued ;  and, 
gasping  like  a  broken- winded  horse,  I  reach — oh,  joy ! — an 
isolated  peak.  Again  I  see  the  Eio  G-rande,  but  this  time 
tracing  its  course  north,  as  well  as  south,  for  twenty  miles ; 
on  its  west  shore  the  Saguache  range,  containing  the  Holy 
Cross  Mountain  ;  a  few  perfectly  barren  hills  of  bare  granite- 
like mammoth  sandhills ;  at  their  base  an  irrigated  but  not 
over- green  valley,  where  families  to  the  number  of  a  dozen 
have  settled,  and  planted  regular  rows  of  cottonwood  trees. 
Turning  to  the  eastward,  away  from  the  sheer  precipice,  I 
am  over  on  the  north  side  of  the  mountain ;  I  scramble  up 
a  cairn,  and  see  the  hundred  golden-timbered  isles  of  the 
Eio  Grande  beneath  my  feet. 

Descending,  having  no  heels  to  hold  me  on,  I  was  thrice 
nearly  numbered  amongst  the  fallen,  and  all  but  embraced  a 
cactus  in  my  attempt  to  save  myself,  which  cure  would  have 
been  worse  than  the  disease.  I  maintained  subsequently  at 
the  hotel,  and  still  do  so,  that  ascending  this  mountain  in 
carpet  slippers  was  a  feat,  not  an  eccentricity,  which  latter 
uncharitable  view  is  always  taken  abroad  of  an  Englishman's 
conduct. 

The  settler  here  has  peace,  unless  he  engage  in  the  race 


SIERRA  BLANCA.  19 


for  the  precious  metals.  He  cannot  hope  to  become  very 
wealthy,  as  he  may  in  Kansas ;  but  the  climate  is  exquisite, 
the  sport  and  scenery  beyond  all  comparison,  and  political 
and  other  strife  dim  and  distant. 

For  the  man  tired  of  the  world,  or  for  one  whose  doctors 
are  tired  of  him  (for  here,  if  you  have  two  legs,  one  lung  is 
quite  enough),  this  is  the  place.  I  do  not  mean  Del  Norte 
especially;  Canon  City,  Pueblo,  Colorado  Springs,  and 
Manitou,  all  can  be  reached  by  rail.  And  I  have  even  met 
at  these  places  pulmonary  invalids  from  Montreal,  who 
praised  them  highly. 

I  associated  a  good  deal  with  the  miners  here ;  and  after 
a  three  days'  stay,  started  by  another  of  Barlow  and  San- 
derson's fine  stage  lines  for  La  Veta,  the  road  to  which  ran 
along  the  Rio  Grande  for  forty  miles  to  Fort  Garland,  and 
again  through  the  Sangre  de  Cristos.  This  stage  is  a 
■chesnut  one,  all  the  horses  being  of  that  colour,  and  all 
teams  of  six;  distance  to  be  run  95  miles.  Two  outside 
seats  on  the  coach  only  were  available,  as  our  guard  (or 
messenger,  as  he  is  termed  on  an  American  stage)  took  the  box 
seat ;  but  I  told  him  I  had  a  mission  to  accomplish,  viz.,  to  see 
the  fatness  of  the  land  for  a  very  big  English  newspaper, 
and  my  claim  to  an  outside  seat  was  forthwith  admitted.  I 
saw  many  Mexicans'  log  and  mud-plastered  huts,  and  their 
blue  Indian  com  (threshed  by  driving  cattle  and  sheep  over 
it),  as  we  skirted  the  Rio  Grande,  and  crossed  it  on  a  partially- 
smashed  bridge  of  timber,  where  all  the  cross  planks,  as  we 
passed  over  them,  jumped  about  as  though  they  had  St. 
Vitus's  dance  or  delirium  tremens.  The  Sierra  Blanca 
towered  ahead  of  us,  which  our  coachman  insisted  was  higher 
than  Pike's  Peak,  an  opinion  justified  by  the  most  recent 
table  of  heights  published  by  the  U.S.  Survey  imder  Pro- 
fessor Hayden.  According  to  this,  there  are  fourteen  peaks 
in  Colorado  overtopping  Pike,  as  follows:  Blanca  Peak 
14,464ft.;    Gray-'s    Peak,    14,341ft.    (according   to  Whitney 

c2 


20  COLORADO. 


14,319ft.)  ;  Mount  Rosalie,  14,340ft. ;  Torrey's  Peak,  Trout 
Eange,  14,336ft. ;  La  Plata,  in  the  Sawatcli  range, 
14,311ft.  ;  Mount  Yale,  same  range,  14,263ft. ;  Massive 
Mount,  same  range,  14,298ft. ;  Mount  Lincoln,  14,297ft.  (ac- 
cording to  Whitney,  14,307ft.) ;  Long's  Peak,  14,271ft,.  ; 
Quandary  Peak,  Park  range,  14,269ft. ;  Mount  Shavano, 
Sawatch  range,  14,239ft. ;  Uncompahgre  Peak,  San  Juan, 
14,235ft. ;  an  unnamed  peak,  in  the  same  range,  14,195ft. ; 
and  Mount  Sneffels,  14,158ft. ;  Pike's  Peak,  according  to  the 
Signal  Service,  is  only  14,147ft.,  according  to  Parry,  it  is 
14,216ft. 

All  these  mountain  valley  roads  are  extremely  good,  but 
very  crooked.  The  same  engineer  who  laid  out  most  of  the 
Irish  fences  must  surely  have  planned  them ;  they  run  on  a 
level  for  tens  of  miles,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  they 
should  not  be  straight.  But,  no  !  not  a  hundred  yards  of  a 
true  straight  piece  can  one  get.  The  truth  is,  they  were 
originally  cattle  trails,  and,  the  nucleus  of  a  road  being  thus 
beaten  hard,  traffic  adopted  the  cattle  line,  and  many  miles 
were  thereby  added  to  all  routes  in  these  valleys. 

We  stopped  for  dinner  at  the  Modoc  Eanche,  kept  by  Mr. 
J.  Venables,  the  only  really  nice  clean  place  I  had  seen  since 
leaving  Pueblo.  The  fishing  there  is  good,  the  attendance 
and  meals  excellent ;  and  Mr.  Venables  modestly  offers  ta 
take  anglers  by  the  week  for  28s.  From  here  cannot  be 
more  than  sixteen  or  eighteen  miles  to  the  great  San  Luis 
lakes,  with  their  unrivalled  wildfowl  shooting.  This  is  a 
capital  centre,  in  fact,  for  all  sorts  of  sport;  but  I  hope 
everyone  will  not  go  at  the  same  time,  for  there  is  not  much 
room  in  Mr.  Venables's  very  nice  little  residence.  Twenty 
pounds  of  trout  is  here  considered  a  bad  day's  angling. 
Just  beyond,  Mr.  Franklin,  an  English  settler,  has  fenced  in 
2900  acres,  and  has  a  good  deal  of  tree  shelter  on  his  estate^ 
which  is  all  riverside.  Across  the  valley  are  the  great  sand- 
hills.    "  Six  Mexicans  and  a  thousand  sheep   were  buried 


BIO  GRANDE  ROAD.  21 


here  in  a  sand  storm  some  years  since,"  said  the  messenger. 
^'  Pity  it  was  not  six  sheep  and  a  thousand  Mexicans," 
replies  a  morose  being  in  front  of  me.  Moral :  the  Mexicans 
are  not  pets  of  the  American  people.  For  a  long  time  it 
puzzled  me  how  the  flat  roofs  of  the  huts,  plastered  with 
mud,  kept  out  the  rain  ;  but  I  here  learned  that  they  neither 
did  so,  nor  were  chiefly  designed  for  that  purpose,  rain  being 
very  infrequent  here,  but  the  sun  always  present  and 
powerful. 

Sixteen  miles  further,  through  an  amazing  number  of 
rabbits  and  mountain  hares,  and  skirting  the  Rio  Grrande  all 
the  way,  we  reach  Jackson's  Station,  and  then  the  Rio 
Grande  post-office — a  lonely  structure,  where  Mr.  Adams 
frightened  the  postmistress  almost  to  death  by  giving  her 
the  new  rules  and  regulations  of  the  U.S.  post-office.  The 
poor  woman's  salary  was  only  18s.  for  the  past  three  months, 
being  exclusively  derived  from  the  sale  of  stamps,  60  per 
€ent.  of  the  gross  sales  being  retained  by  rural  postmasters. 
As  the  town  postmasters  are  paid  by  salary,  one  does  good 
by  purchasing  stamps  at  these  poor  country  offices.  By  the 
way,  I  should  have  added  that  this  18s.  account  had  to  be 
sworn  to,  at  a  cost  of  2s.,  and  at  a  distance  from  the  post- 
office  of  twenty-five  miles. 

The  beautiful  Sierra  Madre,  towered  over  us  as  we  put  up 
for  the  night  at  the  abominable  station  of  Elkhorn — a  dirty 
log  hut,  where  I  had  a  pitched  battle  with  the  extortionate 
proprietor  to  get  a  single  bed.  The  food  was  miserable,  and 
the  accommodation  for  the  night,  including  a  perfectly 
uneatable  supper  and  breakfast,  cost  12s. 

We  passed  through  Fort  Garland,  and  then  stopped  for 
dinner  near  one  of  the  "  pilgrim  houses "  built  for  the 
accommodation  and  free  use  of  travellers  by  the  road  owners 
— these  one  often  meets  in  the  Rockies — then  fourteen  miles 
of  very  picturesque  mountain  scenery,  of  which  I  was  unable 
to  note  much.     We  ran  along  a  road  where  you  could  look 


22  COLORADO. 


down  into  Middle  Creek  as  far  as  300  yards,  and  on  tlie  left 
up  the  mountain  to  a  far  greater  height.  The  pine  trees 
were  certainly  larger  than  on  the  northerly  route  to  Del  Norte  ^ 
but  in  over  fourteen  hundred  miles  of  wandering  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains  I  never  saw  any  very  really  large  pine  or 
big  tree  of  any  sort,  such  as  we  read  of  at  home.  La  Veta 
was  reached  before  dark.  Next  morning  I  found  we  had  the 
Spanish  Peaks  in  front,  and  Bald  Mountain  behind,  and  that 
the  Denver  and  Eio  Grande  branch  of  the  Atchison, 
Topeka,  and  Santa  Fe  was  being  pushed  on  to  Fort 
Garland,  as  well  as  through  the  Grand  Canon  for  the  mineral 
traffic  of  the  rich  San  Juan  country.  I  left  for  Pueblo  on 
the  Little  Eio  Grande  road  at  8.20  a.m.,  the  country  being 
well  covered  with  stock  and  Mexican  villages.  The  Cucharas 
(Spoon)  river  waters  the  district,  and  the  deep  sandy  clay  of 
all  the  Denver  and  Eio  Grande  route  and  its  extension,  the 
Denver  Pacific,  up  to  Cheyenne  in  Wyoming,  only  requires 
iiTigation  and  some  cure  for  grasshopper  attacks  to  raise 
splendid  crops,  which  in  many  instances  are  now  actually 
raised. 

The  Mexican  hovels  are  cleaner  within  than  without,  and 
their  herds  of  nearly  red  goats  and  dark  grey  donkeys  look 
very  picturesque.  The  pretty  new  German  town  of  Walsen- 
berg,  with  fine  fat  cattle  round  it,  was  a  sudden  contrast ; 
but  before  we  had  time  to  take  it  in,  the  country  became 
Mexican  again  in  both  architecture  and  stock. 


PUEBLO  TO  DENVER. 


CHAPTER  II. 

DENVER — "  OBEGON   BILL  "—SPORT    IN   THE   ROCKIES — ESTtMATE  OF 
OUTFIT — RETURN  TO   DENVER. 

;ETUENING  to  Pueblo  when  all  the  leaves  were 
green,  and  none  of  the  golden  tints  of  the 
Indian  summer  existed,  I,  one  of  seven  of  the  In- 
ternationals, left  that  city,  with  its  big  mid- 
street  Cottonwood  tree  of  23ft.  in  circumference, 
in  the  special  train  that  GTeneral  Palmer,  chairman  of  the  Rio 
Grande  Eailway,  had  sent  for  our  transport  to  Denver.  The 
hour  was  8.30  a.m.,  so  the  sun  was  fortunately  on  our  right, 
and  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  our  left.  The  little  train  ran 
swiftly  and  very  smoothly.  Though  the  thermometer  stood 
over  80°,  the  delicious  mountain  breeze  tempered  the  heat, 
and,  being  6000ft.  above  the  sea  level,  the  air  was  rarefied 
and  delicious.  There  were  a  few  fair  residences,  a  dry  river 
and  some  Mexican  dug-outs  (a  hole  in  the  ground,  with  a 
plank  roof  over  it,  forms  this  cool  native  habitation).  The 
little  Fountain  River  on  our  right  helped  many  a  field  of 
Indian  corn  to  do  something,  and  incited  hay,  melons,  and 
cabbages  on  its  banks  to  do  the  right  thing  well.  Mountains 
appeared  and  disappeared  as  we  wound  along  the  valley  ;  but 
Pike's  Peak  we  never  lost — its  head  was  always  reared  aloft, 
and  kept  sight  of  us,  no  matter  what  queer  places  we  dodged 
in  and  out  of.  There  was  then  no  snow  on  old  Pike,  and 
his  bare  brown  summit,  more  than  2000ft.  over  the  line 
timber  will  grow  at,  shone  with  a  yellow  glare  in  the  morn- 
ing sunlight.  No  one  asked  why  the  moimtains  were  called 
"the  Rocky;"  they  were  indeed,  appropriately  named — no 


24  COLORADO. 


verdure  and  but  little  timber.  The  effect,  I  must  admit, 
was  disappointing  to  us  all,  for  no  one  could  realise  that 
Pike  was  over  14,000ft.  high.  The  reason  was,  that  we  had 
been  steadily  rising  since  we  left  Kansas  City,  and  that  this 
mountain  king  was  but  8000ft.  over  the  plateau  we  were 
traversing ;  from  Colorado  Springs  Station,  it  looked  only  a 
long  rifle  shot  distant,  though  really  at  least  eight  miles. 
Being  accustomed  to  judge  distances  at  sea,  I  was  less 
deceived  than  any  of  the  others,  but  all  strangers  under- 
estimate them  in  the  peculiar  atmosphere  of  Western 
Colorado. 

We  were  now  close  enough  to  Pike's  Peak  to  see  the 
pine  trees  growing  up  its  vast  fissure-like  valleys.  The  soil 
was  often  d^p  here,  and  a  curious  basilicated  formation 
showed  we  were  getting  near  Monument  Park,  where  the 
fantastic  and  grotesque  single  rocks  assume  all  shapes,  both 
human  and  of  the  lower  creation ;  the  bears  come  here  for 
wild  cherries  at  night,  but  rarely  ever  damage  the  settler, 
A  steep  and  long  grade  brought  us  to  the  Divide  Station 
7500ft.  above  sea  level ;  here  the  scenery  becomes  very  grand 
as  we  go  onwards,  and  castellated  rocks  of  apparently  the  most 
elaborate  design  crop  up  on  all  sides.  The  extraordinary  per- 
pendicular crests  of  the  hills  in  the  isolated  valleys  are  quite 
palatial ;  and  as  dusk  draws  on,  anyone  not  having  seen  the 
country  by  daylight  would  imagine  that  the  haughty  Spanish 
owners  of  the  district  in  the  16th  century  had  permanently 
impressed  their  lordly  style  of  architecture  on  the  territory. 
This  line  is  by  far  the  most  picturesque  in  the  west.  Perhaps 
only  the  Colorado  Central,  which  we  were  on  next  day, 
touches  it  in  point  of  romantic  scenery.  Onward  we  went 
through  the  most  artistic  phantasies  of  rocky  nature;  the 
people  we  passed  were  stout  and  ruddy-looking,  not  sun- 
dried  and  withered  as  in  the  Eastern  States.  Denver  was 
reached  in  six  hours,  including  several  long  stoppages  to  let 
us  see  things  well,  the  distance  run  having  been  120  miles. 


CLEAR  CREEK.  25 


'Charpiot's  Hotel  here  is  all  anyone  could  desire  in  the  way 
of  accommodation.  The  streets  are  very  good,  and  sporting 
appliances  of  all  sorts  can  be  got  for  a  consideration — some- 
times rather  a  substantial  one. 

As  I  wished  to  visit  the  gold  fields  at  Black  Hawk,  38  miles 
distant,  the  chairman  of  the  Colorado  Central  Railway  very 
kindly  gave  me  an  order  to  travel  on  the  locomotive,  which 
mode  of  travelling,  though  rough,  I  adopted  all  through  the 
Western  States,  the  superintendents  of  the  various  lines  never 
refusing  me  an  order  for  the  purpose.  We  crossed  the 
South  Platte,  containing  a  good  body  of  very  clear  water,  and 
Clear  Creek  a  few  miles  further  on ;  then  passing  through  a  fer- 
tile irrigated  valley,  where  the  grasshoppers  (which  have  since 
altogether  disappeared)  had  eaten  almost  eve^thing  except 
the  large  melons,  which  in  some  places  were  as  thick  as  straw- 
berries in  a  strawberry  bed,  and  the  oats  were  eaten  down  to 
such  an  extent  that  they  looked  like  poor  hay.  Seventeen 
miles  brought  us  to  Golden,  where  the  train  goes  on  to  G-eorge- 
town,  and  we  changed  carriages  to  a  narrow  gauge  line. 
Golden  is  a  very  pretty  town,  with  3000  inhabitants  ;  it  lies 
between  the  North  and  South  Table  Mountains,  altogether 
surrounded  by  hills  in  the  valley  of  the  Vasquez  Fork,  which 
debouches  from  a  weird  and  gloomy  canon,  into  which  we  sped 
up  an  incline,  in  some  places  265ft.  to  the  mile.  Clear  Creek  or 
Vasquez  Canon  affords  the  most  marvellous  scenery  of  colossal 
grandeur  for  a  few  miles  that  the  railway  traveller  can  see  in 
any  part  of  the  world,  until  the  Santa  Fe  line  goes  through  the 
Grand  Canon  of  the  Arkansas  ;  and  no  language  can  give  a 
fairly  adequate  idea  of  the  amazing  precipices  that  rose  above 
and  even  overhung  our  road  here.  A  roaring  yellow  flood 
dashed  nearly  under  the  carriages,  and  this  canon  is  so  tor- 
tuous that  no  idea  can  be  formed  of  where  the  train  is  going  to. 
You  appear  to  be  rushing  to  headlong  destruction  against  a 
granite  boulder  of  titanic  size ;  then  into  a  watery  grave ;  and 
the  gorge  gets  so  narrow  here  and  there  that  the  cliffs  appear 


26  COLORADO. 


to  be  inclined  to  meet  overhead,  a  stupendous  railway  cutting^ 
done  by  nature  exhibiting  every  variety  of  work  that  she  can 
do  with  her  enormous  water  and  wind  demons  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Game  is  now  too  much  persecuted  here  to  stand 
a  hunting  band,  but  a  single  gun  can  still  do  a  great  deal 
with  the  mountain  grouse,  and  there  is  a  chance  of  black  or 
cinnamon  bear  within  an  easy  run  from  Denver.  In  the 
mnter  the  mountain  sheep  come  down  here  in  numbers. 

All  up  this  creek  were  relics  of  the  gold-sand  washers,  and 
a  few  of  them  were  still  there.  The  enterprise  and  capital 
required  to  turn  this  impetuous  mountain  stream  aside  at  all 
points,  and  inspect  or  work  its  bed,  have  been  very  great,  and 
hardly  repaid  the  outlay.  Now,  little  gold  is  left  to  be 
washed,  and  the  gold  quartz  mines  at  Blackhawk  monopolise 
the  labour  of  the  district.  Nothing  grates  on  the  nerves  of 
the  spectator  of  this  grand  sceneiy  but  the  placards  or 
painted  advertisements  stuck  on  every  commanding  peak, 
slab,  or  table  rock.  Messrs.  Yandal  and  Shameless  of 
Denver,  are  to  be  read  of  everywhere  on  the  face  of  nature 
forty  miles  to  the  mountains ;  and  it  takes  several  days  to 
view  their  defacements  of  America's  grandest  scenery  with 
calm  contempt,  a  far  more  active  feeling  of  disgust  being  at 
first  awakened. 

The  gold-sand  washing  is  not  the  pleasantest  work  in  the 
world  ;  men  are  often  seen  up  to  their  knees  in  water  stirring 
up  the  sand  with  shovels  in  the  temporary  tanks.  The 
water  is  of  course  ice-cold  from  melted  snow,  and  the 
workers  did  not  look  either  warm  or  happy.  The  average 
earning  of  these  men  is  about  5s.  per  day,  as  they  can  only 
work  a  few  months  in  each  year.  The  town  of  Blackhawk 
is  a  wonderful  place ;  the  mines  are  in  the  town,  and  every- 
one appears  bent  on  undermining  his  neighbour's  house  or 
the  road,  which  positively  has  one  claim  staked  across  it. 
Professor  Hill's  Reduction  Works  smelt  nearly  all  the  ore 
raised,  and  are  a  splendid  commercial  success.     I  failed  on 


'' OREGON  BILL"  27 


this  occasion  to  get  into  this  establishment.  A  very  hand- 
some Roman  Catholic  University  is  the  chief  ornament  of 
Blackhawk.  Prices  are  not  dear  there  :  good  beef,  M.  to 
7^d.  per  pound,  and  at  Bushes  Hotel  good  accommodation 
for  12s.  per  day. 

On  our  return  to  Denver,  Count  Steenbock  and  I  were 
fortunate  enough  to  meet  with  "  Oregon  Bill,"  the  great  hunter, 
trapper,  and  scout  of  the  West.  Few  probably  have  seen^ 
though  probably  everyone  in  Colorado  has  heard  of  him,  as 
he  is  two  months  out  of  three  in  the  mountain  wilds,  and 
has  been  quite  crippled  for  the  past  two  years.  Our  meeting 
was  in  this  wise.  General  Steinberg,  late  of  the  U.S.  army, 
was  entertaining  us  to  supper  at  a  restaurant,  and  some  one 
was  narrating  the  sporting  adventures  of  the  Belgian  Baron 
Arnold  de  Wolmont,  the  Hon.  Louis  Molesworth,  Mr.  J.  M. 
Frost,  Mr.  Gerald  Welman,  and  M.  Gaston  Soulard,  who  had 
just  returned  from  a  two  month's  shooting  excursion  under 
Bill's  charge,  when  the  redoubtable  scout  walked  in — a 
splendid  muscular-looking  fellow,  his  hair  Indian  fashion, 
grown  far  down  over  his  shoulders,  and  his  head  surmounted 
with  a  Mexican  sombrero.  In  the  American  way,  somebody 
introduced  Bill  to  us  ;  additional  refreshments  were  called  for, 
and  amongst  many  thrilling  narratives  of  incidents  in  his 
life,  he  spoke  of  his  career  as  a  soldier  under  General  Price, 
"  You  were  then  in  the  rebel  army,"  said  General  Steinberg, 
sternly.  "  The  Confederate  service,  if  you  please,  general," 
Bill  replied  with  great  dignity.  We  got  over  the  difficulty 
by  a  shout  of  laughter,  and  before  parting,  Oregon  Bill  had 
accepted  my  offer  to  take  us  under  his  wing  in  the  Rockies 
for  ten  days  or  less.  The  remainder  of  the  Internationals 
had  to  go  back  to  Philadelphia,  which  they  did  slowly  by 
Manitou,  Canon  City,  and  all  the  fashionable  mountain 
resorts  of  invalid  America  that  they  could  discover  ;  in  fact, 
though  many  special  trains  and  free  conveyances  were  placed 
at  our  disposal,  the   combined  pecuniary  resources  of   our 


28  COLORADO. 


distinguished  literary  party  had  ebbed  to  an  alarming  degree, 
and,  but  for  the  timely  and  unexpected  arrival  of  a  beautiful 
little  circular  note  just  at  this  critical  juncture,  bearing  the  sig- 
nature of  the  well-known  colonial  bankers,  S.  W.  Silver  and  Co., 
of  Comhill,  I  should  have  inevitably  studied  the  International 
journalistic  bankruptcy  laws  of  Colorado  more  closely  than 
was  at  all  desu'able.  The  party  had  been  a  wonderfully 
successful  one,  and  extremely  pleasant.  The  interviewing, 
the  deputations  from  the  local  benches  and  bars,  the  presen- 
tations to  the  governors  of  the  various  States  we  passed 
through,  and  the  wonderful  attention  we  met  with  during  all 
our  travel  of  2800  miles  up  to  Denver,  made  our  excursion 
quite  a  state  progress,  and  were  a  tribute  to  foreign  literature 
that  probably  in  no  country  would  be  paid  so  gracefully  as  in 
America.  Were  I  a  correspondent  of  the  Court  Journal,  I 
could  have  written  quite  as  much  on  pomps  and  ceremonies 
whilst  our  band  held  together  for  that  valuable  publication  as 
I  have  done  on  sport,  scenery,  or  agriculture. 

After  bidding  farewell  to  our  late  comj^anions,  we  started 
on  our  sporting  tour:  I  mounted  the  box  of  Oregon  Bill's 
mule  waggon.  Count  Steenbock  bestrode  a  diminutive  pony  ; 
black  darkness,  such  as  the  Eockies  only  can  show,  was 
-around  us ;  and,  with  our  dog  "  Calamity "  and  our  cook 
Jack,  we  drove  to  Morrison,  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains, 
which  Bill  thought  it  undesirable  to  enter  by  night.  It  was 
too  dark  to  pitch  our  tent,  and  morning  drew  nigh,  so  we 
gained  a  publican's  permission  to  sleep  in  his  now-deserted 
bar  room,  and,  rolling  ourselves  in  rugs,  soon  slept  on  the 
bacchanalian  floor  as  soundly  as  though  on  a  bed  of  down, 
for  our  night  drive  had  been  a  long,  tiring,  and  uninterest- 
ing one.  The  sun  was  fairly  high  ere  Jack  presented  us 
with  our  morning  beefsteaks  and  the  whitest  bread  we 
had  ever  seen,  made  from  Colorado  flour.  It  may  be  worth 
noting  here  that  Colorado  wheat  is  so  wonderfully  fine 
that  New  York  corn    merchants  pay  its   2000-mile  railway 


CAMPING  OUT. 


freight,  and  then  give  for  it  the  wheat  price  current  in  that 
city. 

Cultivation  grew  less  and  less  as  we  ascended  Turkey 
Creek  Canon,  on  the  Fairplay  and  Breckenridge  road ;  teams 
of  oxen,  guided  only  by  the  voice,  drew  heavy  loads  towards 
the  Fairplay  mines ;  and  "  chipmunks,"  the  most  graceful 
little  squirrel  of  the  mountains,  danced  in  thousands  over 
every  log  and  tree,  appearing  to  prefer  the  ground  to  anything 
more  lofty.  All  that  day  we  drove,  getting  quickly  higher, 
until  just  over  Junction  we  had  to  descend  a  tremendously 
steep  mountain,  and,  seeing  a  nice  new  schoolhouse  not  quite 
finished  a  mile  up  the  valley,  marked  our  approval  of  the 
educational  plans  of  the  community  by  camping  in  it  for  the 
night.  A  colonel,  who  keeps  an  hotel  at  Junction,  sent  us  an 
invitation  to  stay  with  him,  but  we  agreed  it  would  be  a  most 
ignominious  thing  for  bold  hunters  to  do.  Oregon  Bill  and 
Jack,  during  the  ten  days'  campaign,  invariably  slept  in  a  rug 
on  the  grass  with  their  faces  uncovered,  though  each  night 
there  were  shai^p  frosts  :  the  Coloi'ado  climate  is  the  only  one 
in  which  this  could  be  always  done  with  perfect  impunity. 
Neither  the  Count  nor  I  could  feel  cold,  no  matter  how 
intense,  the  cruel  roasting  we  had  had  at  Philadelphia  having- 
thoroughly  overheated  our  systems. 

Colorado,  in  fact,  has  the  perfection  of  climate ;  like  every 
state  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  it  has  extreme  variations 
of  the  thermometer  (28°  to  74°  in  twenty-four  hours,  for  in- 
stance, during  our  trip),  but  one  does  not  feel  them.  The 
mountain  air  in  Colorado  makes  even  90°  not  unpleasantly 
hot,  and  the  cold  is  so  dry  that  it  also  is  not  appreciated ; 
but,  unfortunately,  the  soil  of  Colorado  is  not  good.  No- 
where in  this  world  can  we  have  everything. 

In  the  morning,  one  of  our  mules  proved  to  be  lost,  and 
took  a  long  time  to  recover,  we  spending  the  interval  in 
casting  b]illets  and  rifle  practice.  The  idea  of  roughing  it 
proved  nonsense.     Bill  had  all  sorts  of  dainties  provided  in 


so  COLORADO. 


Ms  big  waggon  box;  Jack's  cooking  was  superior  to  that 
found  at  half  the  hotels  we  had  been  at,  and  our  tent  was 
capacious  and  airy  as  a  house.  Camping  on  Eegatta  Island 
is  the  quintessence  of  discomfort  compared  with  Bill's  roving 
arrangements,  and,  finding  that  it  was  impossible  to  be  un- 
comfortable, we  abandoned  ourselves  with  considerable  resig- 
nation to  our  fate.  I  was  so  pleased  with  the  arrangements 
that  I  made  a  provisional  agreement  with  Bill  to  camp  with 
him  for  November,  December,  and  January  on  the  San  Luis 
Valley,  and  move  gradually  back  to  Del  Norte  for  200  miles 
to  the  Gunnison  river.  We  had  certainly  come  to  the  wrong 
place  at  this  time  of  year  for  sport,  but  considering  our 
engagements,  it  was  the  only  route  we  had  time  to  adopt; 
and,  though  to  Count  Steenbock,  who  wanted  simply  and 
purely  a  week's  shooting,  the  expedition  was  a  disappoint- 
ment, I  got  so  much  information  from  Oregon  Bill  as  to  what 
might  be  done  in  the  sporting  line  with  plenty  of  time  and 
not  very  much  money,  and  from  Mr.  Jonathan  Higginson, 
of  Deer  Mountain  Valley — a  successful  English  settler  of 
several  years'  standing — so  many  valuable  details  of  cattle 
ranche  and  agricultural  modus  operandi  in  the  mountain 
valleys,  that  I  considered  myself  quite  repaid  for  the  time  and 
expense. 

I  now  proceed  to  give  Bill's  estimate,  which  I  made  him 
carefully  work  out,  for  one  of  the  most  extended  sporting 
tours  it  is  possible  to  take  in  the  U.S.,  with  almost  a 
certainty  of  very  rough  but  good  shooting  for  more  than  a 
thousand  miles,  viz.,  from  Denver  to  San  Francisco,  across 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  via  Salt  Lake  City  in  Utah,  and  across 
the  Sierra  Nevada  range  into  Nevada  and  California.  This 
trip  has  been  several  times  made,  but  with  long  intervals 
between ;  and,  considering  that  three-fourths  of  the  route 
teem  with  game,  and  the  very  moderate  expense  of  going 
over  it,  I  think  all  sportsmen  will  agree  with  me  that  in 
no  part  of  the  globe  is  such  value  offered  for  the   money. 


8P0BT  IN  THE  ROCKIES.  31 

Sucli  a  party  for  safety  should  consist  of,  at  least  ten  men. 
The  required  outfit  would  be  : 

One  large  mountain  waggon  to  carry  35  cwt   £4iO 

Four  mules  to  draw  it  (with  harness)    90 

Wages  of  driver  and  cook  (14  weeks)   70 

Ten  ponies  and  saddles   100 

Guide     100 

Two  tents,  10  ft.  by  10  ft 8 

Twenty  pairs  of  camping  blankets     50 

Extra  shoes  for  horses,  and  contingencies    20 

Total  .£478 

Expense  to  each  man  47Z.  ISs.,  exclusive  of  ammunition. 
The  sale  of  the  outfit  in  Sacramento  or  San  Francisco  esti- 
mated to  more  than  cover  the  expense  of  food  and  drink  en 
route.  Estimated  duration  of  the  trip,  one  hundred  days. 
Estimated  cost  of  prolonging  the  trip,  21.  per  day,  or  4s.  per 
man  per  day.  The  expedition  might  do  rather  better  if  it 
started  106  miles  north  of  Denver,  at  Cheyenne,  and  took  in 
the  Black  Hills  ;  but  the  risk  of  Indians  at  that  time  was  so 
very  great  in  that  district  that  Oregon  Bill  refused  then  to 
take  a  less  party  than  sixty  northwards. 

The  estimate  I  give  here  is  not  a  general  haphazard 
average  of  expenses  ;  it  is  what  Bill  or  any  trustworthy  and 
reliable  guide  will  guarantee  to  do  for  the  money,  expended 
through  them,  or  under  their  directions.  It  may  be  con- 
sidered superfluous,  if  not  impertinent,  for  me  to  offer  advice 
to  the  class  of  sportsmen  who  will  probably  come  here. 
Knowing,  however,  the  grievous  errors  that  are  made  by  men 
in  America,  who  could  teach  me  everything  about  hunting  in 
other  parts  of  the  world,  I  venture  to  give  my  experience,  as 
follows :  1.  Get  a  precise  specification  of  the  bargain  with 
your  guide,  signed  before  witnesses,  prior  to  starting.  2.  If 
you  are  not  prepared  to  do  everything  but  cooking  for  yoiu-- 
self,  bring  a  servant  from  England — one  would  do  for  the 
entire  party — for  blacking  and  greasing  boots,  cleaning  rifles, 


82  COLORADO. 


&c.  Neither  guide,  driver,  nor  cook  will  in  any  way  go  beyond 
their  special  provinces ;  and  to  ask  one  of  them  to  carry 
your  gun,  or  to  do  any  one  of  the  fifty  little  things  you  would 
as  a  matter  of  course  request  an  attendant  to  do  at  home, 
leads  not  only  to  a  repulse,  but  to  subsequent  feeling  so 
unpleasant  that  many  parties  have  in  consequence  returned 
home  disgusted.    .. 

As  to  guns,  everyone  must  consult  his  own  taste  ;  but  the 
most  important  of  all  items  for  shooting  comfort,  good  boots, 
are  not  to  be  had  good  at  any  price  in  the  Western  States, 
nor,  as  far  as  I  have  seen,  anywhere  in  America.  Two  strong 
pairs  of  these  it  is  ^absolutely  necessary  to  bring  from  home, 
with  a  light  pair  for  comfort  in  camp.  For  a  summer V 
expedition,  very  few  clothes  are  required. 

If  Cook  would  issue  a  ticket  from  London  to  San  Francisco, 
via  Niagara,  St.  Louis,  Pueblo,  Denver,  and  Cheyenne,  and 
return  via  the  Union  Pacific,  it  would  save  the  trouble  of 
buying  a  lot  of  separate  ones,  without  additional  cost,  as 
all  railway  tickets  unused  may  be  sold  in  the  States.  This 
route  would  give  the  i)arty  all  the  prairie-chicken  shooting 
along  the  Atchison,  Topeka,  and  Santa  Fe  line,  should 
they  come  out  for  the  first  of  August.  As  regards 
actual  results,  it  may  be  observed  that  the  annals  of  a 
sporting  tour  so  invariably  consist  of  a  description  of  how 
a  greater  or  less  number  of  mammals,  birds,  or  fishes  met 
-vrith  sudden  death,  that  anyone  who  has  ever  followed 
the  historian  of  such  a  tour  forthwith  accuses  the  writer 
of  having  drawn  a  most  misleadingly  high-coloured  picture. 
Nothing  is  easier  than  to  give  an  account  of  what  one 
does  in  the  destructive  line  with  implements  of  the  chase  ; 
but  when  a  day  or  two  go  by  without  adding  to  the  weight 
of  the  game  bag,  the  hiatus  is  usually  passed  over,  not 
for  the  purpose  of  misleading,  but  simply  because  there  is 
nothing  to  be  described ;  and  so,  from  the  time  Telescopic 
Sight,  Esq.,  shoots  his  buffalo,  in  an  entire  colunm,  on  the 


SPORT  IN  THE  ROCKIES.  33 

21st,  to  the  next  time  lie  makes  a  successful  shot  at  an  elk  on 
the  28th  in  a  column  and  a  half,  only  three  or  four  lines 
intervene.  The  deduction  drawn  by  the  reader  is  that  Mr. 
T.  S.  shot  a  fat  elk  immediately  after  the  destruction  of  an 
enormous  buffalo;  and,  forthwith  starting  for  the  region 
indicated,  he  finds  that  with  a  lot  of  hard  work,  a  deer  a  day, 
and  an  elk  a  week,  with  a  three  hundred  mile  run  to  get  near 
a  buffalo  range,  is  considered  very  good  average  sport  in  the 
summer  in  the  Rockies,  and  straightway  he  denounces  the 
vsriter  as  a  disciple  of  Baron  Munchausen,  who  has  excelled 
his  master.  Really  good  shooting  is  only  to  be  had  in  the 
Eocky  Mountains  from  September  outwards,  and  if  the  start 
is  delayed  to  Nov.  1  so  much  the  better,  if  one  can  put  up 
with  an  occasional  snowstorm. 

I  may  here  transcribe  a  few  of  my  notes  as  to  what  sport- 
ing was  to  be  had  in  Colorado  in  1876 ;  and  anyone  who 
reads  further  will  see  that  Rocky  Mountain  sport  has  been  a 
good  deal  exaggerated.  It  is  very  well  worth  coming  for, 
especially  to  the  taxidermist  and  naturalist ;  but  no  one  who 
expects  to  get  more  than  he  eventually  does,  or  can  get,  goes 
home  contented,  but  blames  guides  and  weather,  guns  and 
horses,  dogs  and  correspondents  of  the  sporting  press  most 
unreasonably  and  unfairly.  Messrs.  Louis  and  Greorge  Ver- 
brugge,  formerly  of  Havana,  now  of  Paris,  with  Johnson  as 
scout,  spent  two  months  camping  out,  and  shot  nothing  for 
a  week.  They  then  engaged  S.  W.  Vance  as  guide,  and 
killed  212  trout  one  day,  23  ptarmigan  and  4  grouse  the 
next,  and  averaged  22  grouse  and  ptarmigan  per  day  for  the 
remainder  of  the  time  ;  also  shooting  a  great  many  specimen 
birds  and  a  few  rabbits — their  ground  was  along  Kenosha 
Creek  and  on  the  Kenosha  range. 

Captain  Edwards,  60th  Rifles,  and  Princes  Montenovo  and 

^ichtenstein,  of  Austria,  shot  four  deer  in  one  day,  and  a 

mountain  sheep  another,  but  did  not  average  more  than  one 

deer  a  day.    This  party  also  shot  twenty-eight  buffaloes  at 


34  COLORADO. 

Camp  Supply,  south  of  Fort  Dodge,  on  the  Atchison,  Topeka, 
and  Santa  Fe  line.  I  understood  a  week  was  consumed  in 
the  latter  feat. 

Prince  (or  Duke)  Sterhenberg,  killed  one  elk  and  two 
antelope  in  six  hours,  but  did  not  average  one  deer  a  day, 
which  average  both  Oregon  Bill  and  Bob  Craig  (the  latter  a 
most  honest,  successful,  and  hard  working  scout)  pronounce 
a  good  one.  An  expedition,  such  as  I  have  sketched  from 
Denver  to  Salt  Lake,  or  beyond  it,  would,  of  course,  strike 
previously  unhunted  ground,  and  do  as  well  as  in  any  part  of 
the  world ;  but  a  man  who  has  only  a  month  or  six  weeks  to 
spare,  cannot  get  much  more  than  health,  exercise,  and 
enough  to  eat,  with  his  gun  in  the  mountains.  The  guides 
are  the  best  judges  of  routes  according  to  season ;  so, 
except  saying  that  I  believe  North  Park  to  be  always  the 
resort  of  sheep,  elk,  and  deer,  I  can  indicate  no  particular 
route. 

I  only  know  of  one  man  in  Denver  that  can  preserve 
specimens  artistically,  namely,  S.  W.  Vance,  who  is  always  to 
be  heard  of  at  Taylor's  free  museum  :  he  is  a  professional 
taxidermist  and  uses  only  three  parts  salt,  and  one  part  alum, 
dispensing  with  mercurial  preparations  until  the  very  last. 

A  few  of  the  rare  species  I  have  seen  in  the  Eockies,  all 
of  which  are  worth  preserving,  are  the  blue  hares  (white  in 
winter)  ;  the  grey-crowned  finch,  supposed  to  be  the  rarest 
bird  in  America,  because  he  is  always  above  timber  line, 
where  few  go  to  look  for  him ;  Clarke's  crow,  or  the  noisy 
chatterer,  also  living  only  at  great  altitudes ;  the  pine  gros- 
beak, also  found  only  at  great  elevations,  red  in  summer, 
in  winter  grey,  with  yellow  head;  long-crested  jay,  black 
head  and  crest,  blue  and  black  transverse  ribbed  wings  and 
tails ;  red-shafted  woodpecker,  rather  rare,  and  a  beauty, 
body  cuckoo  marked,  with  regular  grey  woodpecker  head  and 
breast,  red  under  the  wings.  Great  horned  owls  are,  though 
handsome,  very  common,  as  is  the  towhee  finch.     The  cross- 


THE  SOUTH  PLATTE.  35 

l)red  foxes,  between  red  and  grey,  are  large,  abundant,  and 
very  pretty  wben  stuffed. 

A  guide,  who  shall  be  nameless,  and  a  party  whom  I  will 
not  particularise,  were  out  here  in  1876 ;  and  as  the  latter 
was  of  the  class  that  shoot  and  cannot  hit,  although  an 
unusual  quantity  of  game  was  found,  only  mountain  air  filled 
the  game  bag.  The  sportsman  thereupon  got  discontented 
and  disagreeable,  and  talked  of  going  back ;  but  as  it  is  as 
much  as  a  scout's  character  is  worth  to  bring  his  party  home 
empty,  when  the  next  two  bucks  were  found  he  pretended  to 
select  the  smaller,  and  bid  his  employer  shoot  at  the  big 
one,  at  which  he  also  fired  surreptitiously;  the  thing  was 
done  three  times.  Nimrod  came  into  Denver  thinking  he 
never  missed,  and  his  guide  never  hit ;  and  the  amateur  was 
and  is  happy. 

Keturning  to  my  own  tour,  let  us  now  move  onwards  from 
Junction,  our  lost  mule  having  been  discovered  in  a  private 
hay  field,  and  the  fear  of  demand  for  damages  considerably 
accelerating  our  progress  to  Deer  Creek. 

Further  up  the  valley  was  Hall's  G-ulch,  an  English  mining 
settlement,  presided  over  by  Captain  Jebb.  We  do  not  visit 
her6,  so  still  onward  and  upward  the  waggon  carries  us, 
Count  Steenbock  and  I  taking  the  little  pony  by  turns  for  an 
hour's  ride  through  rocks  teeming  with  advertisements,  pines, 
and  chipmunks.  Valley  vistas  surround  us  on  all  sides  until 
we  get  to  Pine  Grove  Eanche,  turn  down  a  lovely  glen  en- 
vironed by  rugged,  snow-capped  mountains,  and  reach  Mr.* 
Higginson's  ranche,  a  nicely- cultivated,  long,  narrow  strip  of 
alluvial  land  on  the  South  Platte  River,  or  rather  the  north 
fork  of  it ;  towering  mountains  overshadowing  the  neat  resi- 
dence in  front  and  rear.  Mr.  Higginson  was  not  at  home,  so 
we  pushed  on  to  where  Buffalo  Creek  runs  into  the  South 
Platte,  and  camped  for  the  night.  We  were  now  on  ground 
sacred  to  the  deer ;  and  next  morning,  whilst  Oregon  Bill  was 
wasting  all  his  light  tackle  on  the  big  trout,  not  one  of  which 

d2 


36  COLORADO. 


we  succeeded  in  landing  that  day,  we  -unpacked  our  guns  and 
got  things  generally  in  readiness.  The  Count  had  one  of 
Evans  of  Maine's  repeating  rifles — a  new,  and,  I  believe,  prize- 
taking  patent  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition — and,  of  all  the 
unserviceable  weapons  it  has  ever  been  my  bad  fortune  to  meet 
with  it  proved  the  worst.  For  the  first  shot,  it  was  admirable 
and  accurate ;  for  the  second,  no  cartridge  would  come  up  into 
the  chamber ;  then  we  worked  the  lever  frantically,  and  No.  3 
would  follow  No.  2  cartridge  so  closely  that  the  machine 
would  not  close,  and  we  had  to  cut  out  No.  3  piecemeal  with 
our  knives.  This  occurred  perpetually,  and  Bill  was  terribly 
disgusted  with  the  prospect.  "  There  is  only  one  American 
gun,"  he  said — "  Well,  one  and  a  half — Sharp's]  is  the  one, 
Kemington's  the  half."  Bill  had  both  of  these  rifles,  and 
knocked  the  heads  off  mountain  grouse  on  the  limbs  of  trees 
with  their  bullets  both  with  accuracy  and  apparent  ease.  The 
Indians  chiefly  use  Winchester's,  and  will  give  their  most 
valuable  horses  for  one  of  these  guns,  which  cost  8Z.  here. 
The  best  shot  Bill  made  was  with  his  Sharp,  upon  which  some- 
one sat  in  the  waggon,  breaking  the  stock  clean  off.  Holding, 
it  as  a  pistol,  to  prove  how  slight  the  recoil,  he  hit  a  small 
white  stone  two  hundred  yards  away,  and  I  nearly  did  the 
same  feat,  using  the  weapon  in  a  similar  manner,  and  then 
with  my  Chas.  Lancaster  elliptic  smooth-bore  rifle,  which  cost 
SOI.  Only  that  I  was  able  to  shoot  chipmunks,  blue  jays, 
squirrels,  &c.,  for  specimens  with  the  shot  cartridges  of  my 
rifle,  I  found  it  but  slightly  superior  to  Sharp's  81.  one,  though 
we  were  perpetually  testing  them  against  each  other.  My 
power  of  firing  shot,  and  carrying  only  one  light  gun,  gave 
me,  however,  a  very  great  advantage ;  for  knocking  off  birds* 
heads  with  my  own  or  any  other  rifle  bullets  was  a  "  game  I 
did  not  understand."  Bill  prognosticated  rheumatic  mis- 
fortunes of  divers  kinds  for  me  as  I  took  my  usual  bath  in  the 
cold  mountain  stream ;  and  it  really  appears  that  these  melted 
snow  streams  are  rather  dangerous  to  bathe  in,  especially  in. 


DEER.  37 

liot  weather ;  but  there  was  no  other  water  to  be  had.  I  per- 
sisted in  the  practice  and  escaped  scatheless.  The  heat  was  very 
great  in  this  valley,  and  we  set  off  on  the  14th  of  September 
•for  another  some  eight  miles  further  on,  I  in  advance  on  foot. 
Bill  to  the  right,  also  on  foot,  Jack  driving  the  waggon,  and 
the  Count  on  pony-back  bringing  up  the  rear.  There  was 
quite  a  beaten  road,  and  I  walked  meditatively  along,  presently 
hearing,  as  I  thought,  the  Count's  pony  galloping  up  to  me ; 
the  timber  was  high,  and  I  could  see  nothing  on  looking  round, 
so  pursued  my  way.  In  another  moment  six  does  and  a 
magnificent  stag  rushed  across  the  road  in  front  of  me.  In  my 
hurry  I  must  have  fired  at  least  six  feet  behind  the  last  deer 
as  it  plunged  into  the  forest  on  the  left.  In  no  case  could 
I  have  got  more  than  a  snap  shot,  and  in  no  case  do  I  ever 
intend  to  take  another  with  a  rifle  at  a  deer  crossing  a  narrow 
road.  The  animal's  track  was  easily  followed  for  some  miles, 
and  I  pursued  it  over  a  burnt  forest,  where  there  was  neither 
vegetation  nor  life,  the  long  charred  pines  lying  in  a  moulder- 
ing state  of  decay  across  each  other  in  all  directions.  When 
I  got  out  of  this  I  was  in  a  dense  growth  of  Mexican  burrs. 

Now  I  do  not  believe  anything  will  defy  the  penetrating 
power  of  these  abominable  prickles  for  any  length  of  time, 
unless  one  is  dressed  in  leather.  Deer  traces  at  once  vanished 
in  this  miniature  but  disagreeable  jungle,  and  I  came  to  a 
halt,  and  to  a  simultaneous  conclusion  that  I  had  no  idea 
where  the  waggon  or  future  camping  ground  were.  I  looked 
at  the  sun,  which  was  plain  enough,  but  gave  me  no  hint.  I 
sent  a  bullet  through  an  eagle's  tail  as  the  bird  poised  over 
me,  hoping  the  shot  would  attract  attention,  and  bring  down 
the  bird ;  but  it  did  neither.  I  then  shot  a  chipmunk  with  a 
charge  of  No.  9  ;  but  no  response.  Seeing  there  was  no  use 
in  waiting  or  thinking,  I  struck  for  the  highest  hill  near  me, 
some  three  miles  off,  trusting  to  see  something  or  somebody 
from  there.  I  reached  the  hill,  and  could  see  nothing  but 
isolated  ranges  of  the  Eocky  Mountains  on  aU  sides;    no 


38  COLORADO. 


Platte  or  other  river,  no  house,  no  curl  of  smoke.  I  thought 
of  the  Australian  "  coo-ee,"  which  my  brother-in-law,  a  Vic- 
torian colonist,  had  taught  me,  and,  standing  up,  sent  a  pro- 
longed "  co-oo-oo-ee  "  ringing  through  the  mountains.  I  had 
dHmbed  a  little  rocky  pinnacle  to  do  this,  and,  as  the  last  note 
rang  echoing  in  the  distance,  my  seven  lost  deer  got  ner- 
vously up  just  beneath  me  from  their  afternoon  snooze,  and 
trotted  merrily  off.  Was  ever  such  bad  luck  ?  My  rifle  was 
at  the  foot  of  the  pinnacle ;  I  jumped  down  for  it,  and  got  a 
shot  at  my  retreating  game  at  about  three  hundred  yards,, 
hitting  one  with  the  left  barrel  in  the  back  or  flank.  It 
wheeled  once,  and  then  pursued  its  companions,  never  again 
to  appear  to  me.  The  "  coo-ee "  brought  Bill  up,  and  it 
appears  I  had  spoilt  a  shot  of  his  also  by  it.  Evening  was 
setting  in,  and  we  camped  on  the  side  of  a  little  occasional 
creek.  By  the  word  "  occasional  "  I  mean  one  which  in  some 
places  flowed  as  any  respectable  creek  would,  and  at  others 
underground  through  the  sand  (like  our  Surrey  river,  the 
Mole),  all  traces  of  it  being  lost  for  a  mile  or  more  at  a  time. 
Of  this  eccentricity  of  the  mountain  streams  we  were  not 
aware,  and  both  Count  Steenbock  and  I  got  rather  badly  lost 
the  next  day,  as  we  took  this  creek  for  a  landmark  and  guide' 
back  to  camp,  and  neither  of  us  found  it  until  after  much 
fruitless  wandering. 

The  whole  of  the  next  day  we  worked  very  hard,  but  got 
liothing  better  than  fine  views  from  the  mountain  tops  we 
ascended.  The  Count  saw  literally  nothing ;  I  only  one  deer, 
out  of  range,  and  a  lot  of  rabbits  and  squirrels,  shooting  a 
rare  specimen  of  a  black  colour.  We  all  went  different  ways, 
and  agreed  to  meet  six  miles  lower  down  the  valley,  at  the 
fitream,  which  was  not  there,  and  we  reached  camp  late  and 
tired,  finding  Bill  had  decapitated  several  grouse  with  his  rifle, 
and  that  Jack  had  a  most  delicious  mess  of  them  ready 
cooked. 

A  lot  of  grasshoppers  visited  us  early  next  morning,  and. 


STATE  LAND  SALES.  39 


we  started  once  more  for  an  extensive  solitary  walk,  and  again 
had  little  success,  one  fawn  and  a  dozen  grouse  and  rabbit 
being  all  we  could  sbow  at  night.  This  day  I  deliberately 
threw  up  sport,  and  walked  over  to  Mr.  Higginson's  to  get 
information  as  to  the  settlers  in  these  valleys,  and  what  they 
were  doing;  evil  luck  still  pursued  me,  as  I  found  Mr. 
Higginson  had  gone  another  way  to  my  camp.  Mrs.  Higgin- 
son,  however,  hospitably  persuaded  me  to  do  a  thing  which  I 
always  about  once  a  year,  but  not  more  often,  perpetrate,  viz., 
eat  lunch ;  and  returning  at  evening  I  found  another  blank  day 
recorded  at  camp,  but  Mr.  Higginson  and  a  friend,  who  were 
driving  in  their  joint  cattle  to  brand  agreed  to  remain  the 
night  with  us.  These  gentlemen  occupy  all  the  ground  between 
the  north  and  south  forks  of  the  South  Platte  for  several 
miles,  and  their  cattle  run  together  for  the  year,  being  only 
occasionally  separated  to  brand.  The  Count  retired  early, 
and  Mr.  Higginson  gave  me  a  good  many  statistics  of  grazing 
and  farming  in  Colorado,  which  were  aU  the  more  valuable  as 
Colorado  had  been  but  that  year  made  a  State  of  the  Union. 
There  is  as  yet  no  State  board  of  agriculture  here  ;  everyone 
has  his  own  self-interested  list  of  figures ;  but  the  land  laws 
are  the  same  in  Colorado  as  in  Kansas — viz.,  a  settler  can 
take  up  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  free,  and  purchase  as 
many  more.  The  State  of  Colorado  has  a  grant  of  one-fifth 
of  the  State  land  from  Grovemment,  and  it  is  believed  this 
will  shortly  be  j>ut  up  for  sale  by  auction  at  a  reserve  price  of  5s. 
per  acre.  That  not  purchased  will  be  put  up  after  an  interval 
at  4s. J  and  so  on  as  low  as  Is.  per  acre.  As  there  are  large 
tracts  of  grounds  in  Colorado  that  can  never  be  settled 
under  the  Homestead  Acts,  the  soil  being  too  barren  and 
water  too  remote,  settlers  along  river  banks  are  almost 
certain  eventually  to  get  an  option  of  purchasing  the 
lands  lying  behind  them,  which,  being  cut  off  from  the 
water,  would  be  useless  to  anyone  else,  even  at  Is.  per 
acre. 


40  COLORADO. 


The  Indians  living  in  tlie  State  are  not  of  tlie  warrior 
class ;  they  are  Utes,  all  perfectly  harmless,  and  long  since 
tamed,  injuring  nothing,  stealing  nothing,  and  only  desiring 
to  remain  unmolested.  A  few  years  ago  they  regularly  camped 
in  large  numbers  every  winter  near  Mr.  Higginson's  house, 
and,  though  only  his  wife  and  one  man  were  there,  no  appre- 
hensions were  excited,  and  after  the  redskins  had  hunted  the 
district  diligently  they  moved  off.  Civilisation  has  now  driven 
them  further  west,  and  with  the  exception  of  one  surveying 
party  of  the  United  States  Government,  who  came  to  grief 
because  their  theodolites,  compasses,  and  other  scientific 
instruments  shone  so  brightly  that  no  savage  could  help 
stealing  them,  an  outrage  of  any  sort  emanating  from  the 
Indians  has  been  unheard  of  for  years  in  this  district.  To 
acquire  160  acres  free,  a  foreigner  must  naturalise. 

The  first  thing  I  shot  next  morning  was  a  coal-black  squirrel, 
and,  as  these  animals  are  extremely  rare,  Bill  took  the  trouble 
to  skin  him  scientifically  for  stuffing.  I  brought  this  little 
fellow  down  with  only  one  pellet  of  shot  at  80  yds.  with  my 
rifle.  No  more  deer  were  seen,  so  we  struck  camp,  and  went 
back  to  the  South  Platte,  occupying  a  rancher's  deserted  log 
house,  about  a  mile  to  the  east  of  it ;  the  day  being  breezy 
and  good  for  trout  fishing.  Topping  the  hill  over  the  river, 
we  noticed  a  curious  effect  of  the  wind  in  these  stilly  heights ; 
the  breeze  being  intermittent,  we  could,  hear  it  as  though 
close  at  hand,  rustling  through  the  pine  boughs  many 
minutes  before  we  felt  it ;  then  it  would  sing  musically  away 
through  the  gorges  for  several  minutes  more,  and  our  ears 
gave  us  timely  notice  of  the  next  puff.  Had  we  been  on  the 
surface  of  a  large  lake  instead  of  on  the  mountain  tops, 
sight  could  not  have  detected  the  approaching  zephyr  more 
quickly  than  the  sense  of  sound  here  conveyed  the  same  in- 
telligence to  the  mind.  The  trout  in  the  Platte  were  most 
aggravating  and  very  numerous.  Seven  different  casts  of 
flies   I  tried  in    succession,   but    to    no    purpose.      Count 


PLAQUE  OF  FLIES.  41 


Steenbock,  with  a  mock  grasshopper,  got  any  number  of  rises 
and  gentle  nibbles,  but  he  also  did  nothing.  Bill  then  came 
on  the  scene,  and,  impaling  a  real  hopper  on  his  hook,  landed 
a  two-pounder  almost  immediately,  and  shortly  afterwards  a 
number  of  smaller  fry,  which  we  forthwith  walked  off  to  pack 
for  culinary  preparation.  This  day's  work  had  been  a  short 
one,  as  our  errant  mule  had  got  lost  in  a  herd  of  almost  wild 
horses,  and  had  to  be  "  cut  out,"  which  proceeding  he  re- 
sented, and  for  a  long  time  baf&ed  our  most  strenuous 
attempts  to  force  him  back  to  the  ways  of  civilisation.  We 
were  attacked  by  a  swarm  of  flies  in  our  ranche,  and  had  to 
leave  it  until  darkness  set  in;  these  annoyances  have  fol- 
lowed population,  first  through  the  Kansas  prairies,  and  then 
-actually  into  the  Eocky  mountains.  Hunters  out  west  ten 
years  ago  never  saw  a  fly. 

We  started  on  our  back  trail  for  Denver  from  the  ranche 
as  a  black  cloud  rose  to  the  westward,  and  Bill  predicted  a 
storm ;  but  we  cried  "  onward,"  and  our  mules,  invigorated 
by  the  long  rest,  pulled  us  quickly  up  the  mountain  over  the 
Platte.  It  was  here  very  apparent  to  us  that  the  impossi- 
bility of  getting  possession  of  over  320  acres  in  Colorado 
encourages  a  poor  and  shifting  class  of  men,  who  neither  im- 
prove the  country  nor  are  of  any  social  advantage  to  those 
previously  settled  in  the  State.  The  extremely  low  taxation 
— 2i  per  cent.,  including  everything — is  a  great  inducement 
to  them  to  come  here  from  the  heavily  taxed  Southern  States, 
Texas  alone  excepted. 

Whilst  comparing  notes  on  statistics,  Count  Steenbock 
and  I  were  literally  shaken  by  a  terrific  peal  of  thunder,  and 
the  rain  descended  immediately  like  a  waterspout ;  the  waggon 
was  ahead  of  us,  but  we  dare  not  face  the  tempest,  and  crept 
under  a  thick  bushy  scrub,  which,  for  a  while,  kept  off  the 
downpour.  We  were  nearly  on  the  mountain  summit,  and 
had  the  full  benefit  of  one  of  the  most  severe  mountain 
storms  that  has  occurred  for  the  year,  and  could  see  down 


42  COLORADO. 


into  the  valleys  as  the  lightning  rent  the  clouds  in  them.. 
Finding  that  we  were  wet  through,  and  regularly  in  for  it, 
we  ran  after  the  waggon,  and  drove  most  of  the  day,  despite 
the  storm,  to  our  old  schoolhouse  home,  near  "  Junction." 

We  drove  right  through,  day  and  night,  to  Denver,  where 
we  spent  a  few  pleasant  days,  and  met  the  late  Mr.  George 
Grant,  of  Victoria,  and  Dr.  Everhardt,  of  the  Kansas  Pacific 
Railway.  We  were  invited  by  the  former  gentleman  to  meet. 
Judge  Sayre  to  dinner  at  Charpiot's  French  Hotel,  and 
agreed  to  go  over  the  K.  P.  Railway,  and  become  Mr.  Grant's 
guests  at  Victoria  for  a  few  days. 

A  visit  to  the  markets  posted  me  in  the  following  prices : 
Butter,  Is.  Sd.  per  lb. ;  potatoes,  6s.  per  cwt. ;  cabbages,  Id. 
each ;  bacon,  6d.  per  lb. ;  chickens.  Is.  Sd.  each ;  beef  steers, 
61.  to  61. ;  3  years  old,  21.  8s.  to  21.  16s. ;  Mexican  ewes,  9s.  to 
10s. ;  rifle  powder,  per  keg,  at  5s.  per  lb. ;  flour,  13s.  per  cwt. ; 
befef,  retail,  per  lb.,  M.  to  7^d.  ;  mutton,  M. ;  lamb,  7^d.; 
ham,  7^d. ;  and  tea,  2s.  per  lb. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  being  present  at  the  first  sittings  of 
the  first  State  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  the 
then  new  State  of  Colorado.  A  few  Mexican  members  of  the 
latter  House  could  neither  read,  write,  nor  speak  English ; 
the  class  of  men  and  the  oratory  were  precisely  similar  to 
those  of  a  home  corporation  or  board  of  guardians,  though 
these  Houses  form  a  perfectly  independent  legislature  in  every 
matter  but  that  of  imperial  policy,  even  the  militia  being 
solely  under  the  governor's  orders,  and  in  no  way  an  imperial 
force,  in  every  State. 

Next  day  Count  Steenbock  and  I  went  on  to  Victoria  with 
Dr.  Everhardt  and  Mr.  Grant ;  but  before  leaving  Denver  I 
will  just  say  that  on  two  lakes  joined  by  a  canal,  two  miles 
and  a  half  on  its  westward  side,  near  the  Grand  View  Hotel 
(unfortunately  closed,  as,  were  it  open,  it  would  be  by  far  the 
most  picturesque  and  pleasant  place  to  stop  at),  a  very  telling 
morning  shot  can  often  be  had  at  wildfowl,  which  are  both 


8L0AN  LAKES,  DENVER.  43 

abundant  and  easy  of  approacli.  I  liad  some  very  good  rifle 
practice  at  the  duck  and  teal,  and  unless  a  bullet  went  within 
ten  feet  of  a  bird,  it  rarely  flew  off.  Boats  can  be  hired  here  for 
4s.  per  day,  and  I  have  seen  them  laden  with  gunners  driving 
the  flocks  across  the  western  lake  repeatedly,  getting  shots 
every  fifteen  minutes  for  hours  before  the  canvas-backs  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  they  were  in  a  disagreeable  place,  and  re- 
ceived orders  to  quit  from  their  leaders.  A  steam  launch  used 
to  ply  on  these  waters,  but  did  not  pay,  and,  fortunately  for 
gunners,  she  is  dismantled  permanently.  These  lakes, 
named  after  a  Mr.  Sloan,  are  most  difficult  to  find  without  a 
guide,  as  they  are  closely  environed  by  rolling  hills,  and  you 
usually  see  over  them  in  all  directions.  If  you  strike  due 
west  from  Denver,  a  lot  of  rifts  or  crevasses  in  the  deep,  sandy 
clay  bar  progi'ess  almost  absolutely.  A  tramway  runs  to  the 
Grand  View  Hotel,  and  the  distance  from  there  is  very  short 
to  the  water's  edge  of  the  eastern  lake,  which,  however,  holds 
usually  but  few  birds. 

The  bridge  crossing  from  Denver  by  the  well-kept  water- 
works is  a  good  place  to  study  advertisements :  details  of 
where  you  can  get  "  square "  meals,  square  dealing,  and 
many  other  square  things,  may  be  read,  as  also  where 
"  Oysters  cooked  in  every  stile  "  are  to  be  had.  A  G-erman 
military  band,  which  had,  under  the  leadership  of  Carl  Beck, 
been  performing  through  the  West  since  the  Centennial  Ex- 
hibition opened,  rendered  Denver  very  gay  whilst  I  was  in  the 
city.  Jem  Mace,  the  then  champion  pugilist,  also  had  engaged 
one  of  the  theatres  (which  are  small  and  quite  unworthy  of 
their  surroundings) ;  but,  as  Allen  was  advertised  to  oppose 
him  in  gloves,  and  that  combative  scientist  was  in  Canada  (a 
warrant  for  ungloved  tilts  and  tournaments  in  sundry  places 
in  the  U.S.  having  been  issued  against  him)  Mace's  perform- 
ances were  very  flat  and  unprofitable,  as  he  had  it  altogether 
his  own  way,  few  having  the  temerity  to  encounter  so 
doughty  a  hero  in  his  special  line  of  business. 


44  COLORADO. 


Denver  is  an  exceedingly  clean  and  neat  town,  built  upon 
an  eminence  facing  the  Eocky  Mountains  ;  tte  land  rises 
behind  the  city,  and  shuts  out  all  view  of  the  desert  plain 
lying  to  the  back  of  it.  One  can  only  get  an  idea  of  how 
large,  substantial,  and  pretty  the  city  is,  by  driving  to  the 
Grand  View  Hotel  or  near  it. 

Mr.  George  L.  Taylor's  free  museum  is  well  worth  a  visit. 
All  the  curiosities  and  sporting  products  of  Colorado  may 
there  be  inspected  or  bought.  Mr.  Taylor  is  a  naturalist  both 
hj  taste  and  profession,  most  obliging  and  communicative. 
The  public  library  has  a  fine  gymnasium,  and  the  English 
and  New  York  papers  can  only  be  seen  here.  Any  stranger 
sending  up  his  card  to  the  courteous  librarian  is  usually 
granted  admittance.  A  good  racecourse  and  shooting  ground, 
880  yards  square,  inclosed  by  an  eight-foot  wall,  complete 
the  lions  of  Denver,  unless  the  Government  Assay  Office, 
usually  termed  the  Mint,  is  included. 

The  celebrated  Capt.  Bogardus  shot  a  match  in  Denver 
whilst  I  was  there,  and  anyone  who  saw  the  fashionably 
dressed  swells  of  the  place  and  period,  and  the  nice  way  the 
carriages  were  turned  out  on  the  occasion,  would  like  to 
punch  the  head  of  the  man  who  described  Denver  as  a 
place  "  where  grizzly  bears  prowled  round  the  street  comers, 
and  naked  savages,  intoxicated  by  benzine,  perambulated  the 
streets,  potting  passers-by  with  Colt's  army  revolvers."  The 
matches  shot  by  Bogardus,  Cook,  and  others  were  very  inte- 
resting ;  in  one  match  I  witnessed,  the  captain  shot  twenty 
birds  out  of  twenty-three,  right  and  left  shots ;  considering 
the  disadvantages  under  which  he  laboured  of  a  crowd 
pressing  unfairly  on  him,  and  a  thermometer  of  11°,  with  an 
icy  wind,  this  was  one  of  his  best  performances.  Bogardus 
shot  throughout  with  a  Scott  No.  10  central-fire,  and  used 
electro-plated  cartridge  cases  ;  his  opponents  all  used  No.  10 
by  Parker,  of  Connecticut. 

I  left  Denver  for  Cheyenne  with  regret,  as  nothing  could 


THE  "  tribune:'  45 


exceed  the  kindness  I  met  with  there  from  Mr.  Dawson,  the 
editor  of  the  Tribune,  and  many  others.  The  Tribune  office 
and  its  foreign  telegrams  were  always  open  to  me,  as  well  as 
its  editorial  columns ;  the  latter  compliment  is  very  usually 
paid  to  foreign  correspondents  in  the  West,  and  I  once  wrote 
half  a  paper  in  a  small  town,  to  enable  the  editor  to  start  on 
a  tour  of  inspection  more  speedily  with  me. 


46  COLORADO. 


CHAPTER  III. 

VISIT   TO   CHEYENNE — DENVER  AT   CHEISTMAS — ^VISIT   TO    MB.  Q.  GRANT'S 
FARM — THE   ROCKIES   IN   WINTER — BEAVERS — ENGLISH    SETTLERS. 

WENT  to  Cheyenne  from  Denver  on  the  Denver 
Pacific  Eailway,  106  miles,  under  the  escort  of 
Mr.  Dill,  editor  of  the  Denver  Times,  as  I  was 
anxious  to  find  some  spot  in  Colorado  where 
profitable  agriculture  or  pasture  can  be  carried 
on,  the  climate  of  the  state  being  so  delightful,  and,  so  far, 
more  agreeable  to  Europeans  than  that  of  any  other  I  have 
been  in.  In  January  I  had  seen  no  rain,  and  the  sun  had 
not  been  obscured  for  over  two  months. 

For  pleasure  or  enjoyment  of  life,  commend  me  to  central 
or  southern  Colorado ;  for  agriculture  generally,  send  me  to 
almost  any  other  part  of  the  world.  I  shall  proceed  to 
instance  some  exceptions  to  the  rule ;  but  to  have  to  irrigate 
first,  and  then  to  supply  the  grasshoppers  before  the 
<;rop  can  be  gathered  in,  cannot  be  said  to  constitute  a 
farmer's  idea  of  the  fitness  of  things.  Climatic  conditions 
are  considered  so  important  by  Englishmen,  and  so  many  of 
them  do  not  live  for  gold,  that,  though  I  do  not  feel  justified 
in  entering  to  any  length  on  the  very  doubtful  agricultural 
advantages  of  Colorado,  I  shall  sketch  the  places  best  adapted 
to  suit  those  who,  with  small  incomes,  wish  to  live  in  one  of 
the  most  splendid  climates  of  which  I  have  had  experience — 
places  not  the  result  of  idle  fashion,  or  of  this  continent's 
invalids  (for  Colorado  is  the  sanatorium  of  America).  Let  the 
wealthy  invalid  seek  Manitou,  Colorado  Springs,  or  Canon  City, 
all  on  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railway.     I  got  more  high 


GREELEY.  4:7 

life  than  enough  in  the  eastern  States,  and  came  to  Colorado 
determined  to  study  only  sport  and  agriculture ;  the  latter  I 
take  first,  as  the  reader  travels  with  me  over  the  Denver 
Pacific.  We  run  from  end  to  end  of  it  through  silicated  deep 
clay  soil,  following  the  South  Platte  river  northwards  for 
about  half  the  way,  viz.,  to  near  Greeley,  where  we  enter  upou 
an  absolute  desert. 

G-reeley,  as  a  settlement,  is  the  only  successful  agricultural 
one  in  Colorado,  though  many  isolated  ranches  pay  extremely 
well  in  other  parts  of  the  State ;  but  I  wish  it  to  be  clearly- 
understood  that  for  one  paying  ranch  here  there  j  are  five  non- 
paying.  G-reeley  was  founded  in  1870  in  the  Tribune  office, 
New  York,  by  the  staff  of  that  then  leading  journal  of 
America,  on  a  letter  by  the  celebrated  Horace  Greeley  appear- 
ing on  Colorado.  Mr.  Meeker,  then  on  the  Tribune  staff,  now 
the  proprietor  of  the  Greeley  Tribune^  and  the  leading  citizen 
in  Greeley,  took  the  initiative  in  the  settlement  of  the  colony, 
and  two  canals  from  the  Cache  de  Poudre  jriver  were  first 
built  to  irrigate  all  the  original  land  purchase,  which  was  the^ 
inclosed  by  forty  miles  of  wire  fence.  Greeley  now  has  a 
population  of  2000,  and  the  irrigation,  supplied  by  the  finp 
iiributary  of  the  Platte,  is  so  abundant  and  certain  that 
the  obnoxious  grasshoppers,  which  up  to  1876  were 
ruinously  numerous,  can  be  washed  [away  by  it  before  they 
reach  the  perfect  state.  Greeley,  therefore,  is  a  decided 
success ;  but  as  it  is  the  result  of  combined  effort  properly 
directed,  which  will  succeed  anywhere  along  a  river  in 
Colorado,  but  which,  regarding  the  individual^chances  offered 
to  Englishmen  elsewhere,  and  especially  in  the  British 
colonies,  it  would  be  absurd  to  recommend  to  home  emigrants 
(who  almost  invariably  become  set  against  each  other  and 
disintegrated  here ;  why,  I  cannot  quite  see,  yet  I  know  it),  I 
pass  over  this  very  well-known  and  prospering  community^ 
and  wind  between  interminable  sand  hills  through  Colorado 
into  Wyoming,  a  state  where  the  bare  mention  of  agriculture 


48  COLORADO. 


raises  a  laugh  of  derision.  Arizona  is  a  blooming  garden  as 
compared  with  it,  for  in  Arizona  an  occasional  grove  consist- 
ing of  three  sage  bushes  and  a  cactus  is  said  to  be  met  with, 
but  even  a  cactus  is  a  rarity  in  Wyoming. 

The  night  I  arrived  in  Cheyenne  we  were  favoured  with  a 
gravel  storm,  during  the  lulls  in  which  only  sand  flew.  How 
the  window  glass  in  the  very  fine  hotel  there  stood  the 
onslaught,  I  cannot  imagine.  Mr.  Dill  and  I  started  after 
supper  to  find  an  editor  to  take  us  round :  I  thought 
Cheyenne  was  a  good  deal  more  witty  and  hospitable  than 
•wicked,  and  enjoyed  its  most  extraordinary  theatres  very 
much,  though  the  Black  Hills  miners  wintering  there  in  great 
numbers  were  a  good  deal  more  rough  than  their  brothers  of 
San  Juan.  Now  that  the  Times  has  lauded  Mr.  John 
Morrissey,  of  New  York,  as  a  "  really  great  man,"  I  suppose 
English  taste  will  permit  me  to  give  an  account  of  a  Chey- 
enne establishment  of  the  celebrated  Morrissey  type,  so  just 
let  us  glance  inside  one  of  the  numerous  keno  rooms  of  this 
western  town :  a  long  narrow  apartment,  brilliantly  lighted 
at  one  end,  at  which  are  the  tables,  nearly  dark  at  the 
other ;  fifty  or  more  miners,  two  dozen  of  whom  are  playing 
this  apparently  intricate  game.  Just  look  closely  at  them — 
one  man  wears  diamond  studs,  a  most  expensive  French  silk 
hat,  and  no  shirt  collar ;  the  next  is  attired  all  in  leather, 
wears  large  gold  rings  and  chain,  has  taken  off  one  boot  for 
comfort,  and  put  the  unencumbered  foot  on  the  table. 
Several  are  armed  to  the  teeth ;  most  of  these  are  Mexi- 
cans. A  good  many  are  under  the  influence  of  spirits, 
but  all  are  very  quiet ;  only  a  subdued  murmur,  chiefly  of 
terrible  oaths,  reaches  the  ear.  The  play  is  never  very  high, 
a  local  gambling  statistician  assuring  me  that  twelve  dollars 
per  night  was  his  average  loss  on  the  worst  month  he  had  ever 
had.  This,  however,  was  not  the  sort  of  statistics  of  which 
I  was  in  quest,  nor  did  I  find  any  in  the  great  number 
of  large  liquor  stores  of  which  Cheyenne  is  chiefly  com- 


CHEYENNE.  49 


posed;  indeed,  except  for  its  much  greater  magnitude,  it 
recalled  to  my  memory  the  village  of  Drimoleague,  co.  Cork, 
which  in  1874  consisted  of  a  post-office,  nine  public-houses, 
and  a  private  residence  (the  latter,  however,  is  also  licensed 
now,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  unfair  to  its  occupant  to  be 
the  only  non-licensed  vintner  in  the  district).  Being  the 
point  of  supply  for  the  Black  Hills  has  made  a  large  business 
for  Cheyenne,  and  the  U.S.  fort  close  to  it  is  also  a  source 
of  prosperity  to  its  traders.  The  gravel  storm,  politely 
termed  a  "  Cheyenne  zephyr,"  only  subsided  to  give  place  to  a 
tremendous  snowstorm,  which  effectually  barred  my  course 
further  north ;  but  I  lost  little,  if  anything,  by  this.  The 
way  the  splendid  express  engines  of  the  Union  Pacific 
brought  their  trains  for  San  Francisco  or  New  York  up  to 
time  sharp — sending  the  snow,  which,  an  hour  after  the  storm 
commenced,  lay  a  foot  deep  on  parts  of  the  line,  flying  in 
all  direction — was  a  most  attractive  sight.  "Loafers  and 
ticket  scalpers "  were  forbidden  by  the  company's  notice  to 
occupy  the  waiting  room ;  but  it  was  full  of  the  former  class, 
who  possibly  combined  both  professions.  In  Cheyenne  I 
dare  not  display  such  gross  ignorance  as  to  inquire  what  a 
"  ticket- scalper  "  is,  and  never  since  have  I  been  able  to  find 
out. 

Back  again  to  Denver,  through  an  Arctic- sea  scene,  rolling 
waves  of  snow  extending  to  the  horizon  in  all  directions,  only 
the  tops  of  the  sand  hills  bare,  swept  continually  clear  by 
the  wind,  and  the  valleys  quickly  filling  up.  These  heavy 
gales  that  invariably  accompany  snowstorms  in  Wyoming  and 
North  Colorado  are  most  beneficial,  as  they  always  keep  the 
hills  clear  of  snow,  and  give  the  cattle  of  the  district  such 
herbage  as  there  is  uncovered  on  them.  Herds  of  haK-wild 
young  horses  thus  live  here  without  shelter  through  the  year ; 
if  the  country  were  a  plain,  they  would  surely  perish.  A 
great  many  pretty  picturesque  ranches  lie  westward  of  this 
Denver  Pacific  line  and  of   its  southern  continuation  the 


50  COLORADO. 


Denver  and  Bio  Grande,  between  the  lines  and  up  to  the  foot 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains ;  most  of  these  residences  and  farms 
are  very  well  adapted  for  sporting,  and  would  be  sold  for  what 
it  cost  to  establish  irrigation  on  them.  This  proves  most  con- 
clusively that  they  are  non-successes  in  an  agricultural  point 
of  view,  and  the  cattle  on  them  are  decidedly  inferior  to  those 
in  Kansas.  At  Lupton  there  are  plenty  of  chances  of  this 
sort ;  and  there  are  better  along  the  Boulder  Valley  branch 
of  the  Denver  Pacific,  which  starts  from  Hughes,  south  of 
Greeley,  and  runs  to  within  a  few  miles  of  Estes  Park,  the 
charming  and  picturesque  seat  of  Lord  Dunraven,  who,  with 
a  son  of  that  well-known  sportsman.  Col.  J.  J.  Whyte,  has 
built  a  handsome  hotel  there,  and  made  a  large  outlay  in 
general  improvements.  The  Denver  Pacific  has  a  land  grant, 
and  sells  it  at  rates  varying  from  9s.  to  21.  per  acre,  giving 
five  years  to  extend  the  payment  of  purchase  money  over.  I 
think  that  profit  in  farming  is  not  the  rule  here,  but  that 
these  ranches  furnish  only  occupation  and  sport  to  the 
settler. 

Denver  on  Christmas  Day  would  form  an  admirable  subject 
for  an  essay  on  Western  life,  manners,  and  customs ;  but 
this  subject  has  been  so  overwritten,  that  every  reading  man 
at  home  knows  rather  more  than  all  about  the  subject.  The 
readers  of  "  The  Gentleman  Emigrant  "  doubtless  picture 
the  Western  States  "  as  a  German- Irish  reserve,  where  the 
English  labourer  is  not  received  with  cordiality,  but  pitied 
as  a  being  blighted  by  the  cold  shade  of  the  British  aristo- 
cracy; and  the  presence  of  an  Euglish  gentleman  has  the 
same  effect  on  the  population  as  a  red  rag  on  the  bull."  I 
quote  verbatim;  and,  whilst  quite  admitting  the  fact  that 
the  Irish  American  is  always  disagreeable  and  rude  to  the 
English  settler  when  he  is  in  the  majority,  I  cannot  help 
laughing  at  the  impressment  of  German  America  into  the 
Fenian  army.  As,  however,  it  does  not  appear  by  the  book 
referred  to  that  the  author  was  ever  in  Kansas  or  Colorado — 


CHRISTMAS  AT  DENVER.  51 


thougli  his  accounts  of  the  places  in  which  he  has  travelled 
are,  I  believe,  both  accurate  and  valuable — I  subjoin  extract 
from  Government  census  of  the  "  Irish  German  Reserve  "  : — 
^'  In  1875,  Kansas  had  a  population  of  531,156 ;  of  these 
12,744  were  bom  in  Germany,  10,940  in  Ireland,  and  9000  in 
Great  Britain;"  an  English  tourist  would  thus  see  seven 
times  as  many  Irishmen  in  the  eity  of  Cork  and  sixty  times  as 
many  in  London  as  in  all  Kansas,  and  fifty- three  anti- 
Hibernians  to  each  Paddy  in  that  state.  As  to  Colorado, 
there  are  almost  no  Irishmen  in  it,  and  if  it  is  a  reserve  at 
all,  it  is  an  English  one,  almost  every  third  ranche  there  being 
English  property.  So  Denver,  the  capital  of  the  State,  was 
the  rendezvous  of  the  British  Lion  on  Christmas  Eve ;  and 
from  the  Earl  of  Dunraven  down  to  the  sturdy  Scottish 
shepherd,  all  who  could  get  away  from  the  care  of  cattle 
flocked  into  Denver,  and  made  it  very  merry.  Mr.  Griffith, 
formerly  of  the  Union  Bank,  London  (who  has  now  his 
capital  invested  in  Denver  at  10  to  15  per  cent. — he  considers 
perfectly  safely),  and  Mr.  E.  Knight  Bruce,  of  South  Ken- 
sington, Mr.  George  Grant's  agent  on  his  Colorado  estate, 
called  on  me  after  Christmas  Day,  and  I  agreed  to  accept 
Mr.  Bruce' s  invitation  to  Haystack  Farm  at  the  immediate 
foot  of  the  mountains  near  Larkspur ;  so  on  Dec.  27  I  left 
many  kind  friends  in  Denver,  carrying  with  me  most  pleasing 
recollections  of  that  eity,  in  Mr,  Grant's  light,  graceful. 
Eastern-built  buggy,  with  an  English-bred  pair  of  horses, 
for  a  forty  miles'  drive  through  deep  snow  under-foot  and 
light  driving  snow  showers  aloft. 

The  frost  had  been  extremely  intense ;  for  the  past  two 
days  the  thermometer  had  been  as  low  as  4*^  Fahr.  during 
the  nights,  yet  the  air  was  dry,  clear,  crisp,  enjoyable. 
Everyone  we  met  looked  like  old  Father  Christmas,  and  one 
wayfarer,  who  had  travelled  all  the  previous  night,  had  enor- 
mous solid  icicles  dependent  from  his  moustache  and  beard, 
being  indeed  quite    an  exaggerated  type  of  the   Yuletide 

e2 


52  COLORADO. 


monai-ch.  He  inquired  the  way  to  the  residence  of  Potato- 
Clarke,  once  a  very  humble  settler,  who  had  attained  monetary 
magnitude  by  growing  the  "  murphies  "  required  in  Denver ; 
and,  though  it  never  struck  our  ancestors  to  call  the  first 
importer  of  these  valuable  tubers  Sir  Potato  Ealeigh,  Mr- 
Clarke  lives  in  times  when  appreciative  gratitude  flourishes 
more  widely,  and  his  Christian  name  is  Potato  in  Arapahoe 
County,  Colorado,  and  the  regions  round-about.  Mr.  Yan 
Wermer  has  a  fine  farm  a  little  further  on,  and  Judge  J.  H. 
Craig  a  ranche,  with  300  horses  on  it,  to  the  west  of  this. 
Then  we  took  leave  of  the  Denver  and  Eio  Grrande  Railway 
line,  parallel  to  and  sometimes  across  which  we  had  been' 
driving,  and  turned  up  Plum  Creek,  where  are  fourteen 
ranches  in  line,  the  upper  one,  j  ust  at  the  base  of  the  RockieSy^ 
being  Mr.  Grant's.  Mr.  Stewart's  picturesque  little  house^ 
with  its  tasty  verandah  and  curtained  windows — a  rarity 
here — is  very  attractive-looking.  Mrs.  Stewart  is  the  first 
English  lady  I  had  heard  of  living  outside  the  town  in 
Colorado,  and  even  the  outside  of  her  house  marks  the 
pleasing  exception  to  the  general  rule.  Mr.  Bloomfield's  resi- 
dence comes  next  but  one  to  this.  Mr.  RatcliKe,  a  Londoner^ 
has  invested  his  savings  in  a  villa  on  the  banks  of  the  creek ; 
passing  this,  a  fine  house  of  Mr.  Perry's,  under  a  hill  to 
the  right,  and  the  little  post-office  of  Glengrove,  we  reach 
Mr.  Grant's  700-acre  inclosure,  and  drive  through  it  in  fast^ 
gathering  darkness  to  the  steward's  house,  reaching  it  at 
half-past  five — seven  and  a  half  hours,  without  a  halt,  from 
Denver;  perfectly  wonderful  travelling  for  horses  through 
the  deep  snow.  Mr.  Bruce  wanted  me  to  take  his  room  in 
the  steward's  house  and  move  himself  into  the  villa,  which, 
to  save  the  trouble  of  keeping  it  heated  during  the  winter, 
he  had  abandoned.  But  my  duck-shooting  campaigns  in  the 
South  of  Ireland  for  the  past  seven  winters  rendered  an 
unaired  house  terrorless  to  me,  and  I  insisted  on  occupying 
it,  though  solus.      So  after  a  delicious   supper  of  antelope 


THE  ROCKIES  IN   WINTER.  53 

steak,  admirably  cooked  by  Clarke,  one  of  Mr.  Bnice's 
coloured  attendants,  T  turned  in.  Beyond  all  question,  it 
was  a  cold  night,  and  at  various  intervals  I  roamed  through 
the  dwelling  in  search  of  more  rugs  and  blankets.  I  stripped 
every  bed  of  its  coverings,  and  "  yet  I  was  not  happy ; "  but 
at  length,  by  popping  a  fine  big  hair  mattress  over  the 
blankets,  a  due  amount  of  caloric  was  generated,  and  Somnus 
descended  on  the  scene. 

"Get  up  and  see  the  Aurora  and  sundogs,"  Bruce  sang  out 
to  me,  at  a  very  early  period  of  the  morning,  but  I  did  not, 
as  my  description  of  these  phenomena  would  not  give  any- 
one half  as  much  pleasure  as  it  would  have  given  discomfort 
to  me  to  see  them.  I  never  saw  frost  like  it.  Every  drop  of 
water  in  the  ewers  in  my  room  was  frozen  solid ;  the  towel 
on  which  I  had  dried  my  hands  the  previous  evening  was 
stiff  as  a  sheet  of  tin,  and  the  supply  of  water  to  the  bath 
room,  though  direct  from  a  mountain  stream,  was  cut  off  by 
being  frozen  hard.  I  have  heretofore  despised  folks  who  have 
fires  in  their  bedrooms  ;  but  I  retract  and  apologise  to  such, 
admitting  I  am  the  fool  in  the  matter.  When  I  did  arise 
and  looked  about,  a  more  lovely  and  picturesque  scene  could 
not  have  met  my  eye.  I  found  the  villa  had  been  planted 
amongst  mammoth  red  sandstone  rocks  of  remarkable  and 
fantastic  forms,  of  which  one  was  twice  as  high  as  the  house 
— faces  with  eyes  only,  faces  with  nothing  but  noses,  points 
like  an  alligator's  mouth,  flat  rocks,  round  rocks,  spires,  and 
boulders,  all  brilliant  red  against  a  pure  white  background  ; 
the  spruce-clad,  and  above  that  pine-clad,  foot  hills  of  the 
immortal  Rockies  round  us  everywhere,  save  the  point  of 
departure  for  the  South  Platte  of  Plum  Creek,  which  had  its 
source  just  above  us;  and  in  our  snow-covered  mountain- 
•environed  valley  of  about  a  thousand  acres,  baby  firs  and 
spruces  lifted  their  little  hoary  heads,  and  English  pigeons, 
with  pretty  and  home-like  confidence,  fluttered  round  us  as 
we  entered  the  steward's  house  for  breakfast.     The  villa  is  of 


54  COLORADO. 


wood,  but  this  was  a  solid,  cosy,  little  red  sandstone  structure' 
of  three  rooms,  an  enormous  American  cooking  stove  in  the- 
centre  keeping  all  hot.  Through  the  door  we  could  see  a 
slightly  brownish  vermilion,  colossal  natural  monument  rise 
to  the  sky  from  the  plain,  its  deeply  indented  strata  dipping 
at  about  60°,  filled  with  snow  in  regular  streaks,  and  with 
two  smaller  stones  like  defaced  sphinxes'  heads,  juveniles  of 
the  boulder  family,  at  its  foot.  Between  three  narrow  vistas 
of  snowed  heights,  plentifully  sprinkled  with  melancholy 
frostbitten-looking  pines,  appeared  the  winter  sun,  shining- 
on  all  the  white,  red,  and  green  with  sparkling  radiance, 
rendered  even  more  brilliant  and  beautiful  by  the  minute 
particles  of  frost  floating  everywhere  through  the  air,  lit  up 
as  they  wavered,  edge  or  flat  side  towards  us,  with  the  ever 
evanescent  shades  of  the  rainbow. 

The  Rockies  in  winter  are  indeed  different  from  the  same 
Bockies  in  summer,  and  not  less  beautiful,  for  the  brown 
sandy  gravel,  with  its  weeds  and  burrs,  is  not  now  seen,  and 
one  can  imagine,  no  matter  how  falsely,  that  the  snowy  mantle 
covers  a  green  carpet.  "  But  then  the  cattle,  what  do- 
they  do  F "  "  Eat  hay,"  said  Bruce,  "  come  and  look  at 
them."  In  sheds,  covered  first  with  pine  boughs,  then  by 
snow,  were  one  hundred  head,  some  cows  having  come  from 
Oxfordshire,  shorthorns.  Nature  had  bountifully  given 
them  an  additional  crop  of  hair,  but  otherwise  they  looked 
as  if  the  mountain  breeze,  keen  though  it  be,  was  not  more 
disagreeable  to  them  than  the  fogs  of  Smithfield,  where  they 
would  possibly  have  been  if  then  in  Old  England.  Then  the 
horses,  all  Virginians,  two  stallions,  twelve  mares ;  and  lastly, 
two  mules,  nothing  very  much  to  look  at,  but,  considering 
the  absolute  lack  of  oats  in  the  State,  wonderful  for  the 
se.LSon  and  place.  Now  then,  we  were  to  be  off  to  cut  ice  for 
next  summer,  and  after  that,  as  no  agricultural  work  could 
be  done,  the  men  were  ordered  to  cart  a  lot  of  timber  for 
sleepers  to  the  railway,  so  as  to  make  them  pay  for  themselves. 


TREATMENT  OF  HORSES.  65 

Here  straw  and  hay  are  abundant,  but  21.  8s.  or  thereabouts 
per  ton.  Yet  five  months'  continued  feeding  of  stock  that 
are  rather  thinner  in  May  than  when  turned  in  during 
DiBcember,  does  not  look  cheering.  The  life — the  delightful, 
bracing  mountain  life — is  the  chief  profit,  and  dozens  of 
Englishmen  think  it  sufficient,  though  they  would  naturally 
wish  to  do  just  a  little  more  than  pay  expenses.  Up  to  the 
timber  drawers,  through  a  romantic,  densely-wooded,  narrow, 
winding  canon — the  little  sulphur  stream  rippling  musically 
under  any  amount  of  frozen  snow ;  blue  jays  flitting  from 
tree  to  tree ;  squirrels,  rather  subdued  in  their  antics  by 
thermometric  depression,  yet  cheery,  and  twinkling  their 
merry  little  eyes.  Then  the  nice,  gentle,  patient  horses 
shake  the  icicles  off  their  nostrils  occasionally. 

Here  they  say  horses  and  men  are  too  much  pampered  in 
England.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  it.  Where  in 
England  will  you  find  an  animal  highly  bred  enough  to  trot 
a  mile  in  from  two  and  a  half  to  three  minutes,  or  gallop  at 
a  proportionate  rate,  that  you  can  tie  to  a  post  or  a  door, 
and  leave  (even  a  pair  of  them)  to  take  care  of  your  car- 
riage for  an  hour?  Here  it  is  done  every  day,  and  no 
carriage  is  ever  kicked  to  pieces,  as  would  most  assuredly 
occur  if  an  uninitiated  Yankee  purchased  a  pair  at  Tatter- 
sail's,  and  hitched  them  up  in  any  London  suburb. 
One  sees  wonderfully  little  wickedness  or  vice,  in  an  equine 
sense,  here.  Kicking,  biting,  and  plunging  are  all  but  un- 
known, and  English  highly -bred  animals,  that  under  English 
grooms  are  the  most  troublesome  brutes  alive,  take  much 
more  kindly  to  the  Americans  than  to  their  masters,  and 
soon  set  an  example  of  gentleness  even  to  their  American- 
bred  brethren. 

A  pleasant  evening's  rabbit  shooting  wound  up  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  day;  rabbit  and  antelope  make  a  capital 
stew,  the  juicy  and  game  qualities  of  the  latter  imparting 
just  the   required    properties   to   the   former.      The   three 


56  COLORADO. 


coloured  men  sat  in  tlie  room  and  waited  the  conclusion  of 
our  repast  to  commence  theirs.  Clark,  the  cook ;  Charlie,  his 
son,  whose  mother  was  a  Comanche  Indian  (not  by  any 
means  a  bad  mixture  of  races,  though,  as  usual  in  such  cases, 
one  would  fancy  that  the  bad  qualities  of  each  would  be 
combined ;  but  Charlie  bears  the  character  of  a  bright,  hard- 
working, honest  little  fellow)  ;  the  third  was  a  negro  named 
Oscar,  the  horse  and  cattle  man.  Amusing  souls  are  these 
western  blacks,  full  of  dignity  and  bad  grammar,  willing  and 
anxious  to  discuss  anything,  from  Darwinism  to  bean  boiling, 
and  singularly  ignorant  of  everything.  "  Dat  waggon  wheel 
am  broke,  Oscar?"  "Yes,  Clarke, you  take  him  to  de  smit." 
"Which  smit?"  "Ob  course  to  Upton,  for  he  not  drink, 
and  do  de  job  quick,  more  den  de  oder ;  and  tell  him, 
Oscar,  dat  if  he  don't  do  him  quick,  and  reasonable,  dat  me 
will  no  more  patronise  him."  The  word  "patronise," 
evidently  intended  as  a  treat  for  me,  was  pronounced  with 
great  pride  and  distinctness. 

Then  the  bi-weekly  post  came  in  from  the  little  shanty 
post-office,  and  home  news  filled  our  thoughts  for  the 
evening.  As  severe  a  frost  reigned  this  night  as  the 
last;  next  day  was  to  be  devoted  to  wood  chopping  and 
beaver  seeing,  so  we  retired  early.  The  men  and  boy  had 
gone  to  draw  sleepers  as  before.  Fire  for  the  night  had  first 
to  be  provided,  so,  begging  to  be  permitted  to  assist  in 
chopping  stichs — as  quite  large  felled  pines  are  slightingly 
termed  in  the  mountains — Mr.  Bruce  and  I  started  for  the 
back  yard,  and  set  to  work.  I  can  split  logs  or  break  up  an 
old  boat  to  perfection,  but  cutting  faggots  out  of  a  pine  tree 
is  a  different  species  of  amusement.  Bruce  and  I  estimated 
that  I  could  cut  in  this  latter  way  about  as  much  in  a  week, 
as  in  these  snowed  heights  I  should  require  to  consume  in 
twenty -four  hours ;  my  friend,  though  only  six  months  in 
this  country,  had  picked  up  the  regular  backwoodman's 
left-handed  axe  swing,  and  cube  after  cube  fell  before  him 


BEAVERS.  57 


rapidly,  only  requiring  a  few  strokes  to  split  into  service- 
able faggots.  This  achieved,  we  wended  our  way  to  the 
heaver  dams,  which  are  carefully  watched  and  preserved. 

The  destruction  and  approaching  extermination  of  the 
bison  or  buffalo  of  Western  America  have  been  subjects  for 
regretful  comment  both  in  this  country  and  still  more 
extensively  in  the  daily  and  sporting  press  of  the  United 
States;  but  the  poor  hard-working  little  beavers  have  as 
yet  elicited  no  such  sympathy,  although,  for  practical  pur- 
poses, they  are  far  more  useful  as  aids  to  the  irrigation 
which  is  always  necessary  in  such  partially  watered  dis- 
tricts as  many  in  Colorado.  If  you  help  the  beavers,  they 
will  help  you  here;  just  run  a  dam  a  short  way  across  a 
stream,  and  forthwith  the  beavers  finish  it.  If  your  engineering 
is  bad,  and  the  structure  too  low,  or  too  weak,  they  will  raise 
and  strengthen  it ;  so  Mr.  Bruce  and  his  neighbours  seeing 
this,  and  that  the  pretty  harmless  little  animals  were  rapidly 
becoming  annihilated  in  the  State,  combine  to  protect  those 
on  Plum  Creek.  On  this  ranche  there  are  six  beaver  settle- 
ments, in  a  small  lake  caused  by  the  expansion  of  the  creek ; 
the  lake  and  creek  alike  were  frozen  hard,  so  Mr.  Bruce 
selected  a  most  auspicious  occasion  to  introduce  me  to  his 
pets  in  an  afternoon  call.  The  first  dam  visited  was  102 
yards  long,  extremely  substantial.  We  walked  all  along  the 
top  of  it  on  to  the  beaver  house,  also  built  unaided  by  them- 
selves ;  this  was  6ft.  high,  and  75ft.  in  circumference,  opposite 
their  hall  door,  which  was  under  water.  They  kept  a  hole 
broken  in  the  ice,  so  that  every  beaver  before  he  took  his 
walks  abroad  had  to  pass  through  his  bath  room  and  bath. 
These  beavers,  having  a  quiet  life,  get  like  most  beings  who 
exist  under  such  circumstances — very  fat ;  401b.  is  quite  an 
ordinary  weight  for  one.  We  walked  over  the  house,  and 
found  it  also  very  strongly  constructed;  then  we  departed 
across  the  thick  ice  to  dam  No.  2,  a  semi-circular  one,  arching 
up  stream — not  the  main  creek,  but  a  little  one,  impregnated 


68  COLORADO. 


with  sulphate-of-ii*on.  This  stream,  being  chiefly  fed  by  a  hot 
sulphur  spring,  never  freezes,  and  the  lucky  beavers  who  had 
"  concluded  to  locate  "  here  had  only  thirty -five  yards  of  em- 
bankment to  make.  They  had  no  need  to  tell-off  sentries  to 
keep  their  ice  hole  open,  and  they  positively  had  hot  and  cold 
water  laid  on,  hot  above  in  the  mineral  stream,  cold  below  in 
Plum  Creek,  for  they  had  dammed  the  tributary  part  at  its 
confluence  with  the  stream.  Anyone  who  believes  in  the 
transmigration  of  souls,  and  gets  the  choice  offered  to  Indur, 
the  founder  of  the  theory,  had  better  wish  to  be  a  beaver  in 
this  particular  dam  ;  my  description  of  its  locality  is  sufficient 
to  guide  any  mortal,  much  more  any  spirit,  to  the  right  place. 
Then  there  were  four  other  dams,  tiny  ones,  inhabited  by  but 
four,  six,  or  eight,  exclusive  or  excluded  beavers— aristocrats 
or  outcasts — of  the  tribe.  To  see  these  interesting,  almost 
scientific,  and  constantly  industrious  animals,  this  is  the 
place.  Dam  No.  1  is  the  largest  I  have  seen  in  America, 
though,  doubtless,  in  Canada  many  larger  are  to  be  found ;  I 
have  been  now  from  north  to  south  of  Qolorado,  from  east  to 
almost  its  western  border,  following  the  South  Platte,  Arkan- 
sas, and  Rio  Grande  nearly  to  their  sources,  and  have  seen 
no  beaver  dam  to  be  compared  to  this  one  on  the  Haystack 
Farm.  Water  exists  in  sufficient  quantity  for  a  little  irriga- 
tion along  this  valley,  but  the  grasshoppers  had  intimidated 
agriculturists,  and  most  of  the  ranchers  in  the  vicinity  only 
raised  hay  on  the  land  (usually  from  one-tenth  to  one-sixteenth 
of  their  entire  farms)  over  which  they  get  water. 

Mr.  Bruce  most  kindly  determined  to  devote  the  first  three 
days  of  the  new  year  to  show  me  what  other  English  settlers 
were  doing,  and  through  deep  snow  we  drove  to  the  residence 
of  Mr.  Ealston-Bloomfield,  late  lieutenant  E.N.,  who  is  about 
to  sell  his  property  here  to  his  brother.  Capt.  Winslow,  late 
106th  Regiment,  and  Mrs.  Winslow  were  also  here,  and  the 
ladies  of  the  family,  recently  arrived  from  Brighton,  made 
their  mountain  villa  a  true  English  home.     Mr.,  Mrs.,  and 


ENGLISH  SETTLERS.  5& 


Miss  Stewart,  whose  pretty  residence  I  have  previously 
noticed ;  Mr.  Smith,  of  Guernsey ;  and  Mr.  Dennis,  of  Gal- 
way,  made  up  our  New  Tear's  party,  widely  different  from 
my  Christmas  one  amongst  the  hardy  western  trappers.  We 
had  the  English  papers  to  hand  by  an  unusually  quick  mail ; 
and  if  those  at  home  only  knew  half  the  pleasure  that  is 
afforded  to  those  dear  to  them  afar  by  the  sight  of  a  favourite 
home  paper,  addressed  in  the  handwriting  of  some  valued 
friend,  the  Transatlantic  newspaper  mail  would  be  much  more 
than  double  the  size  it  is  at  present.  Mr.  Stewart,  who  in- 
sisted on  my  spending  one  day  and  a  night,  at  least,  with 
him,  has  been  a  very  successful  Victorian  sheep  farmer.  He 
likes  Australia ;  but  maintains  that  one-fifth  of  the  capital 
required  to  start  there  will  suffice  here,  though  there  is  every 
chance  of  making  money  there,  and  very  little  here.  lOOOZ. 
is  enough  to  buy  a  very  comfortable  home,  which  will  support 
one ;  this  really  is  saying  a  great  deal  for  Colorado,  and  I 
do  not  think  I  can  say  as  much  of  many  of  the  other  States 
I  have  been  ia.  Mr.  Griffiths,  as  I  have  said,  has  invested  his 
money  in  house  and  other  property  in  Denver,  and  most 
strongly  recommends  any  small  capitalist  to  do  likewise ;  but 
he  must  stay  and  watch  his  men  and  his  money. 

I  wish  I  could  dwell  upon  the  English  settlers  in  Colorado, 
but  the  subject  would  lack  novelty ;  here  is  no  deterioration 
of  home  manners,  culture,  or  ideas,  for  the  settlers  have 
brought  home  with  them,  and  are  exclusive,  an  easy  matter 
in  these  beautiful  solitudes. 

"  Oh,  the  lies  we  were  told  before  we  came  here,"  said  to 
me  by  so  many  settlers,  rings  in  my  ear.  People  who  come 
from  home  on  American  representations  deserve  little  sym- 
pathy, not  that  American  representations  are  intentionally 
false,  or  in  many  cases  false  in  fact,  but  the  national  tastes 
differ  very  much,  and  most  especially  does  an  American's  idea 
of  a  "  delighful  climate  "  differ  from  ours. 

Take  the  figures  and  facts  from  the  State  Boards  of  Agri- 


^  COLORADO. 


culture  Eeports,  but  have  nothing  to  say  to  their  deductions, 
^nd,  above  all  things,  get  an  English  version  of  the  advan- 
tages of  the  State  before  you  come.  Get  that  version,  if 
possible,  out  of  a  leading  newspaper,  for  its  correspondents 
are  far  less  likely  to  be  personally  interested  in  what  they 
describe  than  one  who  writes  a  book  about  any  single  dis- 
trict. This  is  my  advice  to  those  who  contemplate  emi- 
^ation. 


THE  COLORADO   CENTRAL.  SL 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CLEAB  CBEBK  VALLEY — ENGLISH  MINING  SPECULATIONS  AND  NATIVE 
PECULATIONS — THE  COLDSTREAM  MINE — ^FISH  BREEDING  AT  GBBBN 
LAKE — ^EMPIRE— IDAHO   SPEINGS. 

>E.  CUSHMAN'S  fish-breeding  establisliinent  near 
Greorgetown,  some  fifty  miles  from  Denver,  is 
too  remarkable  an  instance  of  successful  pisci- 
culture to  pass  over.  On  the  way  to  it,  one  has 
to  go  over  the  romantic  Colorado  Central  Rail- 
way for  twenty  miles  through  Clear  Creek  Valley,  past  Idaho- 
Springs,  rising  from  Denver — which  is  exactly  a  mile  higher 
up  in  the  world  than  London — 2025ft.,  to  Georgetown,  which, 
though  in  a  deep  valley,  is  8452ft.  over  sea  level.  The 
celebrated  Terrible,  Silver  Plume,  and  Coldstream  mines — 
the  two  former  celebrated  as  much  for  their  wealth  as  th& 
poverty  they  have  entailed  on  their  Enghsh  shareholders — 
are  within  three  miles  of  G-eorgetown.  To  see  an  American 
mining  camp  within  a  few  miles  of  Gray's  Peak  in  the  depths^ 
of  a  very  severe  winter,  and  everything  else  above  mentioned, 
proved  too  strong  a  temptation  to  be  resisted. 

It  was  12°  under  freezing  point  when  I  started  on  the  morn- 
ing of  Jan.  26  on  the  Colorado  Central.  The  town  of  Central 
looked  even  prettier  than  when  I  saw  it  in  summer;  but 
the  smelting-house  chimneys  smudged  a  good  deal  of  the 
purely  white  landscape  with  disagreeably-odorous  smoke. 
Truckloads  of  silver  ore,  more  or  less  rich,  were  shovelled 
out  as  though  only  sea  sand  were  being  handled.  Again  I 
ran  up  through  Clear  (or  Vasquez)  Canon,  the  creek  being 
only  occasionally  visible  as  it  impetuously  burst  a  hole  in  the 


COLORADO. 


two-feet  thick  ice,  and  the  pines  bent  under  a  heavy  weight 
of  snow.  Mr.  Eeuter's  four-horsed  stage  coach  met  the  train 
at  Floyd  Hill,  to  which  village  the  railway  then  only  reached ; 
and  no  road  could  be  better  than  the  one  it  ra,n  over  through 
South  Clear  Creek  Valley.  A  most  extraordinary  set  of 
crooked  timber  cranks,  about  four  miles  out  from  Floyd  Hill, 
were  worked  for  mineral  reduction  by  a  water  wheel.  Then 
we  saw  a  poor  fellow  washing  gold  out  of  sand  in  a  hole  in 
the  ice,  and  hoped  he  might  some  day  enjoy  the  wealth  he 
worked  so  hard  to  attain.  We  stopped  at  Idaho  hot  springs 
(soda  and  iron)  to  change  horses  and  dine.  This  is  a 
fashionable  summer  resort,  where  a  number  of  valleys  con- 
centrate into  the  Clear  Creek,  and  villas  are  dotted  over  the 
best  timbered  hills  I  had  seen  in  Colorado.  The  town  is  well 
supplied  with  hotels,  Beebee  House  being  the  best  one,  and 
its  charges  only  SI.  per  week,  fricasseed  chicken,  roast  beef, 
roast  mutton,  ham,  vegetables,  and  sweets  being  our  4s. 
dinner  there.  The  valley  is  so  narrow  that  the  scenery  is 
almost  gorge-like.  Papoose  Peak  and  the  Old  Chief  facing 
the  hotel.  For  miles  beyond  this,  and  from  that  onwards,  the 
ascent  is  rapid,  and  gets  steadily  more  and  more  picturesque 
up  to  the  Douglas  Mountain,  where  we  branched  off  the  road 
to  Middle  Park  and  Empire,  and  ran  along  the  foots  of 
Democrat  and  Republican  Mountains  to  Georgetown,  where 
the  traveller  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  in  the  form 
of  hotel  proprietors,  both  food  and  attendance  being  very 
indifferent  at  16s.  per  day.  I  speak  from  my  experience  of 
the  Barton  House,  which  I  am  informed  is  the  best  hotel  in 
Georgetown,  a  miaing  town  of  about  3000  inhabitants,  and^ 
situated  in  a  valley  a  mile  wide,  Leavenworth,  Republican, 
and  Sherman  Mountains — each  roughly  10,500  feet — tower- 
ing above  it.  So  much  timber  has  been  cut  off  these 
mountains  for  smelting  and  other  purposes,  that  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  the  town  is  much  disfigured ;  but  as  I  drove 
out  southwards  and  upwards  next  morning,  in  one  of  Mr. 


MINING  TITLES.  68 


Eeuter's  express  waggons,  througli  mountains   whicli  were 
dotted  with  almost  countless  silver  mines,  the  district  became 
very  handsome,  verging,  indeed,  on  absolute  grandeur  pass- 
ing Silver  Plume  (managed  by  Mr.  Foster,  a  young  English- 
man).    I  walked  from  Brownsville  to  call  on  Mr.  Henty,  the 
manager  of  the  notorious  "  Terrible,"  which  was  discovered  in 
1866,  and  produced  very  largely   until  sold  to  an  English 
company  in  1870,  since  which   date,  like  every  good  mine 
in  English  hands  in  Colorado,  it  has  been  the  subject  of  con- 
tinued litigation.     Nothing  can  possibly  be  more  disgraceful 
to  the  country  than  the  systematic  manner  in  which  all  titles, 
and  especially  English  mining  titles,  are  questioned  in  this 
district.     Lawyers   in    high  official  positions   actually  buy 
claims  adjacent  to  English  ones  to  raise  a  disputed  boundary 
question ;  and  the  only  court  in  America  in  or  for  which  English- 
men have  the  slightest  confidence  or  respect — the  Supreme 
Court  of  the    United    States — has,   until    this  year,  been 
practically  closed  to  them,  owing  to  Colorado  being  a  Terri- 
tory only.     The  working  miners  in  the    San  Juan  district 
have  had  the  good  sense  to  avoid  the  farce  of  trials  in  the 
district  courts,  and  there  all  disputes  are  settled  by  juries  of 
miners.     Mr.  Henty,  a  leading  man  in  the  London  School  of 
Mines,  and   who   has  managed  Spanish  mines   for  Messrs. 
Smith,  was  arrested  a  few  days  after  he  had  assumed  the 
management  of  the  Terrible,  for  disobeying  an  iniquitous 
injunction  of  the  district  court.     I  call  it  iniquitous  from  an 
English  point  of  view,  for  he  was  never  served  with  any  notice 
to  show  cause  against  its  being  granted;  but  then  his  opponent 
was  a  senator  of  the  United  States,  and  a  leading  lawyer !   A. 
truly  nice  reception  for  an  English  scientific  gentleman,  who 
represented  one  of  the  wealthiest  London  mining  corpora- 
tions in  America !     If  Mr.  Henty  had  not  allowed  this,  the 
most  valuable  mine  in  Colorado,  to  fill  with  water,  he  is 
certain  it  would  have  been  forcibly  taken  from  him.     So  far 
from  thinking  little  of  the  wealth  of  Colorado's  mines,  I  am 


64  COLORADO. 


certain  that  they  are  wealthier  than  their  most  ardent 
English  shareholder  believes.  I  myself  have  seen  three  men 
paid  a  cheque  for  150Z.,  their  month's  pay,  being  three- 
fourths  of  the  value  of  the  ore  they  raised  in  the  Coldstream ; 
and  Bruce,  a  Scotchman,  with  two  others,  received  the 
incredible  sum  of  3600Z.  for  their  three-fourths  value  of  the 
last  ten  days'  work  on  a  new  lode  of  a  rather  valueless  mine 
— ^the  Colorado  Central.  In  the  present  miserable  ^tate  of 
the  mining  laws  in  Colorado,  any  English  capitalist  is  a 
downright  fool  to  buy  a  mine  in  this  district ;  for  the  moment 
he  proves  it  a  good  one,  all  the  swindling  sharks  for 
fifty  miles  round  appear,  and  combine  to  oust  him  legally^ 
or  in  a  few  instances  even  by  force.  It  is  not  possible 
to  believe  that  the  American  Government,  or  even  that 
of  the  State  of  Colorado,  will  permit  the  suicidal  policy 
that  keeps  foreign  capital  out  of  the  country  and  renders 
that  which  is  at  present  in  it  unproductive,  to  continue  for 
ever,  or  even  for  long ;  but,  whilst  everyone  knows  their 
own  business  best,  I  trust  none  of  the  English  capitalists 
will  encourage  the  black-mailing  practised  here  by  making 
any  terms  or  compromise  with  a  class  of  men  who  could  not 
stand  legally  or  morally  for  a  moment  before  the  thoroughly 
independent  supreme  court  of  their  country  were  they  taken 
straight  there.  Giving  any  statistics  of  this  Terrible  mine 
would  be  to  touch  a  vital  Stock  Exchange  point ;  and, 
as  such  is  entirely  outside  my  province,  I  shall  ask  the 
reader  to  ascend  Mount  Sherman  and  see  an  American 
private  gentleman's  mine — Col.  Glenn's — named  the  Colds- 
tream, in  remembrance  of  the  unremitting  kindness  and 
hospitality  of  that  distinguished  regiment  to  the  colonel 
when  he  was  a  confederate  fugitive  from  a  federal  military 
prison  on  a  charge  of  rebellion,  and  escaped  to  London.  A 
splendid  young  Englishman,  also  a  Eoyal  School  of  Mines* 
man,  Mr.  John  J.  Cooper,  managed  this  mine ;  and,  hiring 
horses  at  the  livery  stable,  he  and  I  rode  up  three  miles  of 


SILVER    PLUME.  65 


corkscrew  in  a  light  but  blinding  snow  storm,  past  the 
Baxter,  Dunkirk,  Dives,  and  Pelican  mines — everyone  of 
them  I  believe  in  litigation,  and  most  of  them  a  source 
of  wailing  and  lamentation  to  English  half -pay  officers  and 
widows  in  narrow  circumstances  at  home.  Then  we  reach  the 
Coldstream,  over  which  are  a  few  wooden  houses,  and  see 
above  us  the  Phoenix  and  Scotia,  and  beyond  us  the  Cashier 
and  Terrible.  The  snowstorm  had  just  cleared,  and  enabled 
me  to  get  a  most  grand  and  impressive  view,  scarcely 
exceeded  by  any  in  this  wonderful  land  of  mountain  and 
valley,  colour  and  shade,  stream,  and  glorious  sky. 

I  stand  on  a  mass  of  boulder  which  has  become  detached 
volcanically  from  Mount  Sherman.  Nearly  2000ft.  below  me 
are  the  little  narrow  gorge  of  South  Clear  Creek  and  the  vil- 
lage of  Silver  Plume ;  Mount  Leavenworth  rises  snow-capped 
just  to  above  timber  line — which  is  here  11,000ft. — opposite, 
its  rugged  pine-clad  sides,  deeply  scored  here  and  there  by 
artificial  torrents,  created  by  the  melted  snow  waters  being 
embanked  and  held  back  in  summer  by  the  miners,  and  then 
let  go  in  a  body,  thereby  denuding  the  rock  of  its  light 
covering  of  pebbly,  sandy  earth,  and  occasionally  exposing 
some  long- wished  and  waited-for  lode  or  vein  of  silver,  lead, 
or  zinc.  Silver  Plume  looks  like  a  collection  of  children's 
toy  houses,  and  the  fleeting  snow  clouds  alter  its  appearance 
perpetually  by  the  blue  shadows  they  throw  from  hill  to  hill 
across  it.  The  broken  ore  around  me  is  frozen  and  snowed 
together,  and  the  silver  particles,  rendered  doubly  brilliant 
by  their  glacial  covering,  sparkle  in  the  sunshine,  which, 
January  though  it  be,  is  more  powerful  than  in  the  midst  of 
summer  at  home,  though  it  is  freezing  tremendously  in  the 
shade.  Waggon  loads  of  ore,  2  J  tons  in  each,  are  winding 
down  the  steep  mountain  side,  their  hinder  wheels  locked 
with  chains ;  yet  so  steep  is  the  descent,  that  the  pole  braces 
have  to  do  a  good  deal  of  work  from  time  to  time.  These 
pole  braces  are  not  anywhere  in   America  attached  to  the 

V 


ee  COLORADO. 


pole ;  a  joke  or  bar  crosses  the  pole  head,  and  to  this  the  braces 
are  buckled,  so  that  the  horses  have  a  direct  pull  back,  without 
having  their  collars  pulled  diagonally  in  towards  each  other 
— a  proceeding  that  in  this  land  of  winter,  snow,  and  ice, 
would  certainly  tend  to  make  them  fall.  As  this  Coldstream 
mine  never  was,  and  probably  never  will  be,  in  the  market,  a 
little  of  its  statistics  may  interest,  without  doing  harm. 
Twenty-five  tons  of  ore  had  been  sent  down  to  the  reduction 
works  the  previous  day,  and  assayed  on  an  average  200oz.  of 
silver,  40  per  cent,  of  lead,  and  20  per  cent,  of  zinc  to  the 
ton.  Forty  men  are  employed,  all  on  a  percentage  of  what 
they  raise,  and  none  of  them  average  less  than  12s.  per  day  ; 
whilst,  as  I  have  previously  said,  three  of  them  earned  50?. 
eaph,  or  11.  13s.  4d.  per  day  each,  in  one  month  of  thirty  days. 
The  original  price  and  outlay  on  this  mine  together  were 
less  than  20,000Z.  Its  profits  are  5000Z.  per  annum,  which, 
though  not  so  good  as  those  of  many  other  mines,  promise  to 
increase,  and  have  tempted  the  invariable  action  on  the  part 
of  the  covetous  outsiders — viz.,  a  question  as  to  its  title  and 
boundaries  being  raised.  Mr.  F.  W.  Jone«-  the  foreman, 
gave  us  a  capital  lunch  in  his  log  house,  and  told  me  he  paid 
lis.  per  ton  to  the  waggoners  for  hauling  his  ore  to  George- 
town, only  three  miles  distant. 

With  all  these  lawsuits,  and  as  a  consequence  so  many 
mines  shut  up,  or  nearly  suspended,  these  mines  about 
Oeorgetown  exported  500,000Z.  worth  of  silver  last  year,  and 
Mr.  Cooper,  who  has  managed  for  John  Taylor  and  Sons,  of 
London,  the  well-known  mining  proprietors  and  agents  all 
over  the  world,  assures  me  that  he  believes  the  lead  here  to 
be  more  abundant,  and  more  easily  got  at  than  anywhere  else 
he  has  ever  been  to,  Spain  included ;  but  he  agrees  with  me 
that  to  buy  a  lode  here,  except  for  the  purposes  of  holding  it 
until  proprietary  rights  and  laws  are  well  established,  is  utter 
folly.  A  pleasant  day  on  Sunday  at  Mr.  Henty's,  where 
everything,  including  Mrs.  Henty,  the  fourth  English  lady  I 


MOUNTAIN  BATS.  67 


have  met  in  Colorado — was  refresHngly  English,  and  many 
home  reminiscences,  comparisons,  and  histories  mingled  with 
local  adventures  during  the  evening.  Mrs.  Henty  had 
actually  an  English  servant,  a  thing  utterly  unheard-of 
previously  in  Colorado ;  for  in  the  first  place  it  is  next  to 
impossible  to  get  one  to  come  out,  and  if  she  does,  and  you  pay 
her  passage,  she  forthwith  wants  to  go  back,  and  does,  unless, 
as  is  usually  the  case,  she  marries  a  farmer  or  miner. 

Mr.  Henty  had  captured  a  mountain  rat  (the  Neotoma 
dnerea  of  Baird)  for  me,  a  curious  animal,  as  like  a 
squirrel  as  a  rat,  with  large  wistful  eyes,  a  bushy  tail, 
and  nervous,  never  resting,  long  whiskers  like  a  cat. 
These  animals  frequent  the  deepest  mines,  and  the  miners 
wiU  not  allow  them  to  be  molested,  though  they  are 
determined  and  systematic  thieves.  The  reason  why  the 
miners  like  the  rats  is,  that  their  nests  are  found  to  contain 
not  only  stolen  but  lost  articles.  One  of  Mr.  Henty's  men 
dropped  his  pet  tobacco  pipe  down  a  shaft  one  day,  and 
found  it  the  next  in  a  rat's  nest.  Higher  up  on  this  moun- 
tain, the  Siberian  squirrel  (a  form  of  Tamias  Asiaticus, 
Allen),  has  been  found ;  but  the  snow  was  at  the  time 
of  my  visit  far  too  deep  to  make  it  safe  to  venture  into  the 
Middle  Park.  The  more  difficult  it  is  to  get  into  that  place, 
the  better  the  shooting  is  there  ;  but  ravines  of  snow  nearly, 
if  not  quite,  100ft.  deep  were  then  between  mie  and  it ;  so  I 
contented  myself  with  seeing  Mr.  Cushman's  fish-raising 
establishment.  Knowing  the  impossibility  of  salmon  reared 
in  Colorado  reaching  the  sea,  I  verily  believed  this  establish- 
ment to  be  as  absolute  a  myth  as  was  ever  narrated  to  a 
Saxon  in  search  of  the  wonderful  in  these  western  regions ; 
but  seeing  is  believing — so,  furnished  with  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  Mr.  Francis  Johnson,  Mr.  Cushman's  manager, 
and  declining  the  offer  of  my  friend  Cooper's  horse  to  ride 
over  a  mountain  road  on  which  the  snow  lay  so  deeply  that 
veven  the  natives  had  not  traversed  it  for  four  days  preceding, 

f2 


68  COLORADO. 


I  started  up  a  gentle  ascent  of  530ft.  to  the  mile,  to  walk 
from  Georgetown  to  G-reen  Lake,  three  miles  on  the  road  to 
"the  dome  of  the  continent,"  Gray's  Peak.  The  frozen 
mountain  streams  were  being  used  to  slide  trees  into  the 
valleys ;  and  to  see  pine  after  pine  thunder  downwards  with 
ever-increasing  velocity  some  1100ft.,  sending  from  time  to 
time  showers  of  minute  ice  particles  dancing  into  the  brilliant 
sunlight,  detained  me  on  the  road  a  good  deal.  Then  I  plunged 
knee-deep  into  snow,  and,  the  path  being  quite  undiscernible, 
the  wonder  was  that  I  did  not  get  head  over  ears  into  the 
ermine  mantle  of  the  old  Rockies.  However,  I  reached  Mr. 
Johnson's  house  in  safety,  presented  my  order,  and  was 
shown  round  these  wonderful  fish-raising  ponds  and  tanks, 
I  had  better  first  give  a  sketch  of  the  locality,  and  then  say 
what  I  saw  therein. 

Green  Lake  lies  to  the  north  of  Independence  Peak,  which, 
though  11,500ft.  high,  does  not  rise  very  much  above  the 
lake,  which  is  probably  in  a  volcanic  crater,  and  was  once 
much  larger,  as  the  water-worn  boulders  around  its  shores 
testify.  These  masses  of  rock  have  evidently  been  deposited 
with  so  much  violence,  that  the  locality  is  termed  the  "  Battle- 
field of  the  Gods."  The  lesser  hills,  which  rise  sharply  over 
the  lake,  are  very  densely  pine-clad,  and  the  never- changing 
green  of  these  trees,  reflected  in  the  lake,  gives  its  name. 
Pine  trees  are  said  to  stand  as  they  grew  (now  probably 
petrified)  in  the  bottom  of  this  lake  ;  but,  as  it  was  frozen 
over,  I  could  not  see  any.  Green  Lake  is  a  favourite  summer 
resort  for  the  Georgetowners,  and  on  it  are  eight  well-built 
boats,  like  yacht  gigs,  and  three  iron  section  boats,  Bond's 
patent,  all  for  hire ;  but  when  I  saw  the  lake,  boating  was 
altogether  out  of  the  question,  for  the  entire  of  its  half-mile 
in  length,  and  quarter-mile  width,  was  frozen  18in.  thick — 
the  ice,  by  reflection,  being  green  as  grass.  In  the  centre,  was 
a  regular  hatchway  left  open  in  daytime,  closed  at  night,  for 
the  purpose  of  feeding  and  breathing  the  fish.     From  this 


SALMON   REARING,    GREEN   LAKE.  69 

lake  a  stream  ran  into  a  smaller  one,  50ft.  by  25ft.,  and  from 
tliat  a  race  into  a  third  one,  85ft.  by  40ft.  and  8ft.  deep ;  eacb 
of  these  lakes  had  a  hatchway  like  the  larger  one.  These 
lakes  were,  however,  not  the  first  scenes  of  the  salmon's 
infancy  ;  they  first  saw  light  in  the  fish  house,  60ft.  by  25ft., 
where  I  commenced  my  inspection  of  the  establishment.  On 
the  15th  of  October  last,  300,000  salmon  eggs  arrived  here 
from  Oregon,  sent  by  the  U.S.  Fishery  Commissioners,  and 
were  placed  in  the  hatching  troughs,  which  number  thirty- 
four,  and  are  each  7ft.  by  16in.  The  ova  were  covered  with 
gravel,  the  troughs  being  brought  into  communication  by 
tubes,  and  gauze  wire  cleverly  arranged  across  them  gave  an 
incessant  ripple.  Only  one  per  cent,  of  these  fish  was  lost ; 
but  by  the  French  system,  the  ova  being  placed  on  small 
glass  rods  arranged  transversely,  like  a  flight  of  stairs,  the 
success  was  not  nearly  so  great.  The  temperature  of  the 
water,  which  came  direct  from  a  mountain  stream,  varied 
from  42°  to  48°  ;  and  the  fish  began  to  appear  at  the  end  of 
the  sixth  week,  and  were  all  hatched  on  the  termination  of 
the  eighth.  For  six  weeks  they  lived  on  their  little  red  sacs. 
None  of  the  fish  died  until  these  sacs  were  consumed,  and 
then  beef -liver  ground  fine  was  presented  to  them,  as  the 
most  suitable  food.  Some  of  them  declined  this  dainty  and 
died,  but  the  total  loss  was  not  quite  5  per  cent. ;  after  that, 
in  no  year  does  the  mortality  of  the  fish  exceed  1  per  cent. 
A  good  many  abnormal  monstrosities  are  hatched,  the  com- 
monest form  being  fish  with  two  heads ;  these  are  called 
"  Siamese  twins  " — very  beautiful  little  things,  but  they  never 
live  over  the  six  weeks'  sac-feeding.  Mr.  Johnson  kindly 
caught  several  of  them  and  put  them  into  a  phial  of  spirits 
for  me  to  send  home.  The  healthy  little  salmon  were  dark 
in  colour,  and  rather  ugly,  the  head  being  very  large ;  but 
the  poor  little  invalids  were  silvery  and  graceful.  From  this 
house,  containing  nearly  300,000  salmon,  I  was  conducted  to 
pond  No.  1,  where  were  the  one-year-olds  raised  this  time  last 


70  COLORADO. 


year.  Not  one  of  these  would  come  to  the  hatchway  in  their* 
pond  to  be  either  fed  or  looked  at,  so  I  had  to  take  the 
existence  of  200,000  of  them  there  for  granted,  and  pass  on  to 
the  two-year-olds  in  the  next  pond,  which  15,000  of  them  and 
10,000  trout  inhabit.  These  salmon  are  beauties,  very  lively, 
rising  fearlessly  to  every  crumb  we  offered  them;  hand- 
somely marked,  healthy  and  strong,  much  browner  than  any 
of  their  mce  who  had  seen  salt  water,  but  appearing  to  care 
little  for  the  deprivation,  and  to  be  making  the  best  of  exist- 
ing circumstances.  These  fish  were  all  very  much  smaller  than 
they  ought  to  be  at  their  age,  and  I  rather  doubt  whether 
they  would  grow  much  more ;  the  largest  I  saw  was  certainly 
not  longer  than  eight  or  nine  inches. 

The  main  lake,  containing  only  brook  trout  caught  in  the 
Eiocky  Mountain  streams,  was  the  next  point  of  interest. 
There  were  10,000  of  these  beauties,  varying  in  age  from  two 
to  five  years ;  but  no  salmon  in  this  lake.  The  five-year-old 
fish  weigh  61b. ;  and  never  have  I  seen  such  handsome, 
graceful  fish  anywhere.  They  are  bold  to  the  verge  of  actual 
audacity,  and  came  up  to  be  fed  on  a  white  plank  placed  a 
few  inches  under  water,  so  as  by  contrast  to  show  their  shape 
and  colour  in  the  green  waters  of  the  lake.  In  1878,  these 
preserves  were  to  be  thrown  open  to  those  who  liked  fishing 
made  easy,  and  the  contemplated  charge  was  2s.  per  lb.  of  the 
fish  caught — rather  a  stiff  royalty ;  but  the  contents  of  the 
basket  would  sell  for  nearly  that  sum  in  the  Georgetown  market. 

On  my  way  back,  I  passed  the  mine  where  Bruce,  a  Scotch 
miner,  who  had  been  notoriously  unfortunate  all  his  life^ 
made  the  discovery  of  ore  before  mentioned.  That  week,  he 
again  drew  1600Z.  for  his  three-fourth  royalty.  Of  course, 
this  rich  silver  ore  is  only  what  is  called  a  "  bunch "  or 
pocket ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  a  source  of  great  gratification 
that  this  deserving  Scot,  who  had  toiled  all  his  life  and 
gained  nothing,  should  so  speedily  realise  a  handsome  com- 
petence to  make  his  latter  days  easy  and  happy. 


EMPIRE.  71 


Of  the  scenery  of  Empire  and  of  Empire  Pass  I  had  read  a 
good  deal ;  so  next  day  I  started  again  on  foot  to  see  for  myself, 
and  though  I  lost  my  way  in  the  snow,  and  walked  twelve 
miles  instead  of  six,  the  extra  exertion  was  very  well  repaid- 
Empire  Pass  is  out  of  the  run  of  tourists  to  Middle  Park' 
though  they  drive  within  one  or  two  miles  of  it ;  but  from 
the  pass — instead  of  walking  down  into  Empire — I  walked 
up  the  mountain  amidst  light  snow  showers,  and  soon  saw 
Parry's  Peak,  looking  ghostlike  in  its  shroud  of  drifting 
snow,  almost  too  much  in  cloudland  to  pass  for  any  part  of 
the  nearer  and  more  real-looking  range  running  from 
Empire  towards  it.  Then  I  saw  for  the  first  time  the  little 
town  I  was  in  quest  of,  at  the  foot  of  Lincoln  Mountain,  on 
the  edge  of  a  valley  that  had  been  apparently  irrigated  and 
cultivated.  I  rested  here,  and  looked  down  upon  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  acres  of  the  beautiful  State  of  Colorado, 
where  every  prospect  pleases,  but  man  is  often  most  remark- 
ably vile.  Just  where  Nature  seems  so  nearly  to  approach 
her  God,  is  the  very  region  where  deeds  of  death  and  violence 
have  been  anything  but  uncommon,  and  the  hand  of  justice 
both  tardy  and  timid.  The  present  district- judge  here  has 
been  the  first  one  to  exhibit  any  pluck,  and  he  has  done 
a  great  deal  to  stop  the  "  jumping "  of  mines,  which  acro- 
batic expression  is  locally  used  to  imply  that  some  gang  of 
lawless  desperadoes — whilst  a  mine  is  in  litigation — evict  by 
force  the  miner  or  company  in  possession,  and  tear  the  lodes 
to  pieces  in  their  haste  to  make  hay  whilst  the  sun  shines,  or, 
more  accurately  speaking,  get  all  the  silver  they  can  before  an 
order  against  them  reaches  the  sheriff's  hands,  and  a  posse 
fearless  enough  to  act  against  them  can  be  raised.  Empire, 
as  well  as  Georgetown,  has  been  the  seat  of  this  sort  of  thing, 
and  a  murderer  in  open  day  in  Georgetown  been  allowed  to 
walk  unchallenged  from  the  scene  of  his  crime ;  but  only 
mining  disputes  cause  these  excesses  of  barbaric  brutality, 
and  the  rancher  is  as  safe  as  the  tomist  in  the  district. 


72  COLORADO. 


Over  the  crisp  frozen  snow  I  walked  to  Empire,  which  was 
once  an  important  town  during  the  gold  fever,  and  which 
stands  most  picturesquely  almost  at  the  junction  of  two 
enormous  gorges.  These  are  connected  by  a  long  wooden 
bridge,  protected  by  a  snow  shed  as  on  the  Union  Pacific 
Railway.  From  here  the  valley  east  and  west  appears  so 
narrow,  and  the  mountains  are  so  high  and  precipitous,  that 
it  looks  as  though  a  Titanic  railway  cutting  had  been  made 
to  carry  those  of  the  Arabian  Nights  Genii  who  were  a 
thousand  feet  high,  in  a  train  drawn  by  a  locomotive  of  a 
million  horse-power.  Lincoln,  Covode,  Douglas,  and  Colum- 
bia Mountains  hem  in  the  four  sides  of  the  little  town,  where 
the  Peck  Hotel  puts  one  up  for  10s.  per  day,  or  21.  8s.  per 
week.  The  hotel  may  not  be  very  good,  but  the  locality  is 
more  romantic  than  G-eorgetown,  where  roughing  it  at  16s. 
per  day,  without  extras,  is  not  what  would  please  most 
tourists.  I,  of  course,  did  a  very  exceptional  thing  in  coming 
here  in  the  depths  of  winter,  and  had  to  stay  at  an  hotel 
when  not  with  any  English  friends,  as  camping  out,  so 
pleasant  and  healthful  in  summer,  would  be  almost  out  of 
the  question  after  October,  or  at  any  rate  November.  To  see 
Colorado,  a  man  should  neither  travel  on  a  railway  or  sleep  in 
an  hotel,  but  then  he  should  arrive  at  Pueblo  on  or  about 
August  1.  A  projpos  of  Pueblo,  I  omitted  to  say  that  one  of 
the  best  trappers  in  the  State,  M.  H.  Morse,  lives  there,  and 
will  take  a  party  in  his  spring  waggon  over  the  State  for  as 
small  a  sum  per  head  as  they  would  pay  for  living  in  an 
hotel,  viz.,  from  3Z.  to  3Z.  10s.  per  head  per  week ;  he  finding 
all  provisions,  tents,  and  beds.  I  have  heard  Morse  so  highly 
spoken  of,  that  I  am  certain  he  is  a  respectable  and  efficient 
guide,  and  in  the  little  I  saw  of  him  I  found  his  conversation 
most  interesting.  A  very  wonderful  gold  lode  had  been,  I  was 
told,  struck  at  Empire,  of  which  I  was  given  specimens,  though 
not  permitted  to  see  it — a  fact  which  may  be  construed  to 
mean  that  one  hears  a  good  deal  of  wonders  in  the  West, 


IDAHO    SPRINGS.  73 


which,  even  when  you  get  there,  are  not  to  be  seen.  Back  to 
Georgetown  and  down  the  Everitt  silver  mine,  a  very  pretty 
and  promising  shaft,  with  Mr.  Henty  ;  an  introduction  to  and 
pleasant  evening  at  Mr.  Cooper's  with  Dr.  Todd,  an  English 
resident  and  physician  in  Georgetown ;  and,  with  the  most 
pleasant  recollections  of  my  countrymen  and  countrywomen 
in  Georgetown,  and  indeed  of  the  Georgetowners  in  general,  I 
started  for  Central  on  one  of  Mr.  Renter's  four-horse  coaches, 
retracing  the  road  by  which  I  had  come  as  far  as  Idaho  Springs, 
by  the  side  of  a  Jehu  who,  though  twenty -four  years  in  this 
<50untry,  retained  his  native  Waterford  brogue  with  undimi- 
nished richness.  Wooden  houses  were  all  along  the  roadside  ; 
at  length  a  stone  one  appeared,-  and  I  remarked  that  it  was 
very  credifable  to  the  owner  to  have  set  an  example  of 
permanent  architecture  in  the  district.  "  Bedad,  sir,"  re- 
sponded my  companion,  "  the  divil  a  credit  I  see  for  him ; 
sure,  if  a  man  can't  build  a  stone  house  where  stones  is  the 
only  crop,  I'd  like  to  ax,  in  the  name  of  St.  Patrick,  where  he 
could  build  one."  This  reasoning  was  too  direct  for  me  to  get 
in  any  way  out  of  my  untenable  position. 

I  had  time  to  visit  Idaho  Springs  on  this  trip.  I  found 
-them  very  warm  and  agreeable,  three  rather  tatterdemalion- 
looking  bathing  houses  receiving  all  the  hot  water  that 
welled  up.  Then,  dropping  the  stage  coach,  I  went  in  Mr. 
Renter's  private  drag  with  him  over  the  mountain  to  Central, 
only  seven  miles,  but  over — in  winter  at  any  rate — a  terribly 
picturesque  road.  Up  Virginia  Creek  and  Canon  for  about 
half  the  distance,  under  Veto  Hill  and  Mine,  and  Seaton 
Mountain;  the  heights  behind  us  rising  just  above  timber 
line  on  the  north,  though  on  their  southern  slopes,  I  heard 
from  Mr.  W.  W.  Rose,  they  were  timbered  to  the  very  tops. 
Reaching  the  summit,  we  saw  in  the  deep  valley  ahead  mines 
without  mills,  and  mills  without  mines — the  way  business 
was  done  here  first,  when  machinery  was  chiefly  erected  for 
gold  reduction,  and  the  veins  as  a  rule  grew  less  auriferous 


74  COLORADO. 


and  more  silvery,  serving,  as  Mr.  Samuel  Cushman  says  in 
his  "Mines  of  Clear  Creek  County,"  "  the  purpose  of  distri- 
buting cash  where  it  was  much  needed,  and  showing  how  not 
to  do  it."  Down  into  this  valley  we  descended,  the  hinder 
wheels  locked,  but  the  road  such  a  mass  of  ice  and  so  steep 
that  the  locked  wheels  slid  sideways  ahead,  and  the  body  of 
the  trap  was  sometimes  advancing  broadside  on,  and  at  right 
angles  to  its  fore  part.  In  this  way  we  kept  constantly 
"  broaching  to,"  if  a  nautical  phrase  may  be  permitted  to 
elucidate  Rocky  Mountain  travel.  We  passed  some  cows 
with  horns  so  arranged  as  to  protect  their  eyes  from 
collisions ;  then  through  Russell  Grulch  and  village,  where 
all  the  surface  had  been  turned  upside  down  in  search  of 
gold ;  then  another  set  of  hair-breadth  escapes  down  a  semi- 
precipice  into  Central,  a  town  9000  feet  over  sea  level,  where 
I  made  direct  for  Bushe's  very  good  hotel. 

Next  day,  I  met  Mr.  Richard  Pearse,  who  has  made  such  a 
success  of,  and  is  a  partner  in.  Professor's  Hill's  works,  and  I 
was  shown  all  over  their  most  interesting  and  scientific  por- 
tions. First  the  silver  ore  is  roasted,  when  the  worthless 
slag  comes  to  the  top,  and  the  valuable  portion — matte — 
sinks  to  the  bottom,  the  fine  ore  being  roasted  in  reverbera- 
tory  furnaces  to  get  rid  of  the  sulphur  ;  then  the  prepara- 
tion is  converted  into  sulphate  of  silver,  which  is  soluble  in 
hot  water,  and  the  sulphurous  fumes  here  remind  one  of 
Dante's  "  Inferno  "  as  illustrated  by  G-ustave  Dore.  Then  this 
sulphate  of  silver  is  put  in  tubs,  and  boiling  water  run 
through,  which  dissolves  it,  and  by  being  passed  over  plates 
of  copper  the  silver  is  precipitated  in  a  spongy  form, 
collected,  melted  down,  and  run  into  bricks  of  1  cwt.  each, 
and  99'9  fine.  The  gold  process  is  a  secret  invented  by  Mr. 
Pearse,  and  carried  out  most  privately ;  that  it  is  successful 
the  ceasing  of  export  of  all  gold  ore  for  treatment  elsewhere 
evidences.  About  500,000Z.  worth  of  bullion  is  sent  away 
every  year  by  these  works.     I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 


GOLD    AND    COAL    MINES.  75 

Professor  and  Mrs.  Hill  in  Mrs.  Pearce's  nice  English  home 
that  evening;  and  next  day  Mr.  Grraj,  the  state  assayer, 
took  me  through  the  great  Bobtail  Grold  Mine  by  an  adit 
level  of  1150ft.,  all  of  which  was  driven  in  the  daily  hope  of 
striking  gold ;  now  they  have  got  it,  but  before  this  many  a 
poor  miner  engaged  on  speculation  to  work  it 

By  the  wayside  fell  and  perish' d, 
Weary  of  the  march  of  life. 

To  epitomise,  I  saw  half  the  mines  and  all  the  mills  of 
Central,  and  then  came  along  the  Colorado  Central  past 
G-olden,  near  the  very  promising  Ralston  coal  mine,  which 
has  lime  and  alabaster  round  about.  This  Ealston  had 
3,000,000  tons  of  coal  exposed,  and  the  British  Legation 
were  owners.  The  British  Legation  was  a  sort  of  English 
club  in  Denver,  of  which  Capt.  Whiteford  was  chairman, 
and  Mr.  Arthur  Husey,  secretary ;  the  leading  members, 
being  Messrs.  Franklin,  Cornish,  Morris,  Smith,  and  Free- 
man, and  they  in  knots  combined  in  many  business  enter- 
prises. A  regular  English  club  is  badly  needed  in  Denver, 
not  only  for  the  benefit  of  the  very  considerable  number  of 
home  settlers  scattered  through  the  State,  but  as  a  place 
to  which  men  from  home  could  come  with  introductions, 
and  get  the  combined  ideas  of  Englishmen  of  experi- 
ence. Any  one  English  settler's  ideas  of  Colorado  are 
not  often  altogether  correct.  The  State  is  very  large, 
and  few  of  them  have  seen  much  of  it;  indeed,  only 
by  getting  more  than  a  dozen  experiences  of  home  settlers ^ 
adding  them  all  together,  and  dividing  the  sum  by  twelve, 
have  I  arrived  at  information  fairly  accurate  on  the  State  of 
Colorado. 


,76  COLORADO. 


CHAPTEE  V. 

THE    VETA     PASS — MB.    LIVESAY's     BANCHE     "  GOODNIGHT" — SUCCESSFUL 
INVESTMENT   OF   CAPITAL — ^WET   MOUNTAIN   VALLEY. 

S  I  left  the  exquisite  maple  and  walnut  panelled 
carriage  of  the  Santa  Fe  Railway  in  Pueblo, 
from  which  I  intended  to  go  on  next  day  to  see 
the  highest  and  most  picturesque  railway  pass 
in  the  United  States — the  Veta,  on  the  Denver 
and  Eio  Grande  narrow-gauge  line — a  piece  of  singular  good 
luck  befel  me  in  being  addressed  by  Mr.  T.  J.  Livesay,  a 
fellow  countryman,  who  has  investigated  our  southern  colonies, 
and  deliberately  returned  here  to  invest  over  30,000Z. ;  so,  seeing 
a  rich  harvest  of  comparative  emigration  statistics  ready  to  be 
reaped,  and  the  certainty  of  pleasant  society  before  me,  I  at 
once  accepted  a  seat  in  his  spring  waggon  for  the  pui-pose  of 
being  driven  to  one  of  his  ranches,  five  miles  up  the 
Arkansas  river,  alongside  the  Canon  City  branch  of  the 
Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railway.  Mr.  Livesay's  ranche  and 
the  railway  station  are  alike  called  "  Goodnight,"  not  because 
— as  I  thought  last  year  when  going  up  to  see  the  Grand 
Canon  of  the  Arkansas — the  train  passed  this  point  at  sunset, 
but  because  its  first  landed  proprietor  was  a  Mr.  Goodnight. 
Here  is  a  sketch  of  the  scenery  as  seen  just  above  the 
ranche  from  a  precipitous  hill  surmounted  by  the  castel- 
lated top  so  distinctive  of  all  southern  rocky  mountain 
views. 

The  hill  is  of  lime  and  brownstone,  cedars  are  thinly 
scattered  over  it,  and  in  the  ascent,  in  consequence  of  the 
j-ound   pebbles  you  walk  over,  you  very  often  advance  like 


GOODNIOHT.  77" 


the  Irish  militia  captain  at  Aldershot — several  paces  to  the 
rear.  The  mountain  when  you  get  on  it  is,  nautically 
speaking,  almost  an  island,  being  only  joined  to  the  adjacent 
plateau  by  a  narrow  natural  causeway  or  isthmus.  To  the 
north,  the  clear  Arkansas  winds  through  a  very  sparse  belt 
of  Cottonwood ;  from  the  west  and  running  usually  parallel  to 
the  river  to  the  eastward,  is  the  little  narrow-gauge  line, 
whereon  twenty-two  heavily  laden  coal  waggons  follow  a 
miniature  Titan  with  six  small  coupled  wheels.  Two  horse- 
men's voices  ring  musically  through  the  mountain  air  as  in 
the  valley  below  they  admonish  their  large  charge  of  cattle 
to  hasten  to  slake  their  thirst  in  the  nearly  ice-cold  Arkansas. 
Below  red-faced  and  red-cloaked  damsels  bowl  along  in 
their  buggies  towards  a  neighbour's  ranche,  for  the  neigh- 
bour gives  a  ball  this  evening,  admittance  with  invita- 
tion 6s. 

The  grass  is  hay.  Nothing  but  the  cedars  is  green,  for 
the  cotton-woods  have  some  time  since  turned  to  gold, 
and  even  begim  to  undress  for  the  winter.  Old  Pike's 
summit  is  enveloped  in  a  sullen,  impenetrable  greyish- white 
angry  cloud;  but  the  Spanish  Peak  ranges  to  the  south  are 
sharply  defined  against  the  evening  sky;  their  edges  and 
summits  of  white  showing  against  the  dark  blue  as  distinctly 
outlined  as  a  steel  engraver  could  cut  them — their  grim, 
barren,  inhospitable  side  ravines  filled  with  deep  snow. 

The  little  scrub  pines  or  cedars  on  the  surrounding  hills 
look  like  cattle  in  the  waning  light,  and  from  over  the  great 
limitless  plains  to  the  east,  blue,  hazy,  ill-defined  snow  clouds 
come  up.  Lights  begin  to  twinkle  in  the  distant  town 
of  Pueblo ;  a  ruddy  glare  through  the  open  door  of  the  little 
ranche  beneath  in  the  valley  tells  of  hissing,  crackling  pine 
logs,  glowing  warm  and  cheerful.  What  avails  the  finest 
scenery  even  of  Colorado  after  dark  ?  I  reflect.  So  avoiding 
as  much  as  possible  ground  which  offers  but  round  rolling 
pebbles  to  the  feet  and  cactus  to  the  hands  of  the  pedestrian,. 


?8  COLORADO. 


I  shuffle  down  the  precipitous  descent,  passing  corrugated 
honeycombed  masses  of  granite,  and  detached  slabs  of  lime- 
stone cropping  a  few  feet  above  the  sward,  like  giants'  tomb- 
stones, weighing,  some  of  them,  many  hundreds  of  tons. 
Then  I  sniff — not  the  battle,  but — the  supper  from  afar,  and 
shut  my  notebook  for  that  day,  on  which  my  subsequent  acts 
were  purely  gastronomic. 

Returning  to  my  start  with  Mr.  Livesay  from  Pueblo 
by  the  Denver  and  Eio  Grande  line  ;  after  a  few  hours 
of  plain  scenery  we  reach  Walsenberg,  and  from  thence 
pinon  and  cedared  hills  stretch  away  to  the  grand  Spanish 
Peaks— one  12,720ft.,  the  other  13,620ft.  high.  These  peaks 
in  towering  grandeur  sentinel  the  little  town  of  La  Veta.  A 
few  golden  clouds  rest  on  the  summits  of  the  great  moun- 
tains, and  these  clouds  reflect  brightly  on  the  sheets  of  snow, 
which  are  not,  however,  so  deep,  but  that  sharp,  razor-like 
-edges  push  brownly  through  their  would-be  coverlet.  Now  a 
warm-tinted  Mesa  rises  from  our  track  and  runs  in  an 
unbroken  plain  to  the  mountain  foot.  At  five,  we  leave  Veta 
for  the  pass  ascent,  the  train  consisting  of  only  one  passenger 
car,  and  a  combined  baggage  and  mail  van.  The  line  is 
beautifully  laid,  sleepers  only  a  few  inches  apart,  and  the 
grade  starts  up  directly;  no  twists  or  turns,  business 
must  be  strictly  attended  to,  and  the  little  engine,  so  small 
that  to  see  it  at  first  you  would  think  it  a  railway  directors' 
plaything,  puffs  away  vigorously,  and  gets  us  on  upward 
steadily.  Brute  force  will  not  do  it  all ;  so  we  toil  round  a 
curve  now  almost  as  sharp  as  a  gradient,  and  only  inferior  to 
one  of  those  on  the  Colorado  Central  in  point  of  steepness ; 
that,  I  think,  is  230ft.  to  the  mile,  this  is  217.  A  vast 
monument-like  rock  rises  square  from  the  top  of  a  brown 
conical  hill  on  the  plain,  the  rock  being  at  least  one-third 
the  size  of  the  hill.  Spanish  Peaks  do  not  appear  so 
very  much  above  us,  as,  after  a  little  engine-breathing  level, 
over  which  we  dash  at  top  speed,  we  again  climb  a  grade  so 


THE    VETA    PA88.  79 


steep  that  a  coachman  would  think  it  unfair  to  trot  his  horses 
up  it.  Cloudy,  driving  snow  now  covers  the  mountain  tops  to 
the  south,  and  one  of  Pike's  range  rears  a  high  white  plateau 
over  a  stone-strewed  Stonehenge  to  the  right.  Steeper  yet, 
another  curve,  and  we  head  for  a  monster  sugar-loaf — Veta 
Mountain,  11,512ft.  above  sea  level.  This  giant  is  but 
sparsely  pine  gi'own,  and  is  snowed  for  more  than  half  way 
down  its  height,  though  a  higher  range  behind  it  is  not 
snowed  at  all ;  such  are  the  very  partial  characters  of  storms 
in  the  mountain  passes.  A  sort  of  moor  stretches  away  from 
us  on  either  side  ;  it  bears  but  little  grass,  but  on  it  weeds, 
that  look  just  like  incipient  heather,  make  me  think,  in  a 
misty  indistinct  way,  of  grouse.  Another  curve,  and 
now  a  snowy  amphitheatre  of  broken- contoured  pined 
hills,  opens  the  view  southwards.  Over  these  the  great 
Spanish  Peaks  watch ;  they  rise,  indeed,  from  them,  and  then 
descend  abruptly  on  the  other  side  into  the  great  plain 
which  stretches  away  eastward  for  700  miles  to  the  Missouri 
river. 

Comparative  absence  fi'om  curves,  and  a  bold  attempt  to 
directly  scale  the  heights,  have  been  the  distinguishing 
features  of  the  run  up  to  this ;  but  now,  after  cutting  through 
a  lot  of  high  oak  scrub,  we  wind  interminably  across  bright, 
rapid,  clear,  mountain  streams  ;  the  vast  sugarloaf  mountain 
frowns  directly  over  us,  and  volumes  of  brilliant  sparks  from 
the  lignite  coal  shimmer  in  relief  against  snow  banks  as  the 
sun  retires  for  the  day,  and  stars,  beautifully  clear,  and 
looking  so  far  off  in  the  blue  vaulted  arch  of  heaven,  shed 
light  enough  on  our  path  to  see  with  considerable  distinct- 
ness up  to  Ojo,  pronounced  musically  "  Oho  " — a  true  moun- 
tain (and  to  the  locality  most  appropriate)  cry  of  the  railway 
porter.  Heavy  pine  sheds  now  close  in,  so  suppose  we  spend 
the  evening  at  Garland.  Then  let  us  turn  round,  very  much 
pleased  with  the  Garland  Hotel,  and  come  back  to  Ojo  on  a 
-clear  frosty  morning  in  October,  through  brown,  pine- dotted 


80  COLORADO. 


hills,  and  along  a  winding  mountain  rill.  The  snowed  Sangre 
de  Christo  range,  crowned  by  the  Sierra  Blanca,  glitters 
brilliantly  in  the  morning  sunny  air ;  but  we  soon  leave  the 
monarch,  and  wind  upwards  round  positive  quadrants,  often 
vainly  thinking  we  are  at  the  summit ;  going  through 
woods  of  smooth-barked,  quaking  ash,  and  pine  forests. 
The  icy  wind  was  so  cold  that  no  one  but  I  had  courage 
to  stand  outside  on  the  platform  ;  but  when  we  did  reach  the 
neat  stone  station-house  on  the  summit,  and  had  heard  of 
how  many  deer  were  weekly  shot  there,  and  how  a  carriage 
got  loose  and  ran  down  into  Yeta  in  fourteen  minutes,  and 
some  other  agreeable  incidents,  I  was  fully  recompensed  for 
getting  a  chilling. 

Down  we  went  at  five  miles  an  hour ;  all  brakes  half  on, 
and  no  steam  used ;  along  the  side  of  Dump  Mountain, 
our  track  sometimes  close  alongside  of  the  rock,  some- 
times cut  through  it,  but  no  woodwork,  all  sohd  earth 
and  snow.  A  glorious  valley  opens  below,  at  the  end 
of  which  stand  the  Spanish  Peaks.  Round  another  hill 
we  wound,  seeing  the  rails  over  which  we  had  come,  parallel  to 
those  we  were  -  running  on,  and  then  went  due  north, 
charging  Yeta  Mountain.  Shut  your  eyes  for  a  minute. 
Where  is  Yeta  Mountain  now  ?  Eight  behind  :  in  that 
one  minute  we  have  come  round  half  a  circle.  The 
lovely  valley  vista  far  below  has  again  opened  :  white, 
rounded,  steam-like  clouds  float  over  it,  as  though  all  the 
locomotives  in  the  United  States,  combined  into  one,  were 
puffing  their  way  up  to  us. 

The  valley  was  hundreds  of  feet  below  us,  and  in  the  clear 
air  appeared  part  of  another  world.  We  saw  from  time  to 
time,  as  we  went  on,  portions  of  the  line  we  had  to  go  over, 
and  portions  that  we  had  passed,  in  isolated  bits,  which  had 
apparently  no  sort  of  connection  with  the  rails  we  then  ran 
on  ;  and  how  we  should  ever  get  into  the  valley  to  which  we 
sometimes  turned  our  backs,  and  sometimes   ran  at  right 


THE    VETA  PASS.  81 


angles,  and  which  we  never  directly  approached,  was  a 
wonderful  and  pleasing  puzzle,  and  unless  you  knew  the  line, 
an  insoluble  one.  It  might  be  round  this  mountain,  or  it 
might  be  round  that ;  you  could  only  wait  and  see.  Looking 
up  the  long  narrow  carriage,  you  saw  its  head  swing  up 
round  a  curve,  as  quickly  as  that  of  a  cutter  with  helm 
"  hard  a  lee  "  in  a  good  breeze.  Far  down  below — in  fact, 
directly  under  us — a  little  engine  panted  and  snorted  into  a 
siding,  to  get  out  of  our  way,  though  then  we  were  going 
directly  away  from  it.  At  last  we  were  in  the  valley.  Dump 
Mountain  towered  over  us,  a  broad  red  sash  across  its  brown 
breast  marking  our  road,  but  running  in  such  a  way  that  it 
appeared  some  other  road,  and  anvthing  rather  than  the 
one  by  which  we  had  come. 

Such  is  the  Veta  Pass,  as  engineered  by  Mr.  M'Mutrie.  An 
English  engineer  would  have  been  knighted  for  half  the 
achievement.  An  altitude  of  9340ft.  is  reached  at  the  Divide 
station  ;  4500ft.  are  ascended  in  a  run  of  fourteen  miles,  and 
the  rich  mines  of  the  San  Juan  country  have  a  level  road  into 
Grarland  station. 

Back  from  all  the  entrancing  grandeur  of  the  Veta  Pass, 
we  ran  over  the  foot  plains  to  Pueblo.  From  these  westward 
lie  two  English  undertakings  in  Colorado,  viz.,  Messrs. 
Livesay's  sheep  farm  and  Dr.  Bell's  oat  and  hay  ranche: 
these  I  now  propose  to  describe,  commencing  with  the 
former,  which  lies  along  the  valleys  westward  from 
Pueblo  along  the  rivers — valleys  where  snow  rarely  lies, 
and  where  storms  never  strongly  strike.  Messrs.  Livesay's 
experiences  of  many  portions  of  the  world  are  very  wide- 
spread, and  I  have  no  doubt  that  a  summary  will  be  found 
both  instructive  and  interesting. 

"  People  say  I  am  a  fool,"  Mr.  T.  J.  Livesay  remarked  to 
me,  "  because  I  have  invested  so  largely  in  land  here ;  but  I 
did  not  do  so  until  I  had  investigated  New  Zealand,  Cali- 
fornia, Oregon,  and  Washington  territory,  as  well  as  portions 


COLORADO. 


of  British  Columbia.  I  certainly  was  not  impressed  much 
by  Colorado  or  by  Texas  when  I  first  saw  them  in  1873  ;  but, 
nevertheless,  I  purchased  two  thousand  two-year-old  steers 
at  21.  2s.  each  in  Colorado,  and  was  about  to  take  them  on  to 
the  free  ranges  of  the  Panhandle  in  Texas,  when  a  good 
profit  on  my  purchase  was  offered  to  me.  Prospects  here  did 
not  then  look  bright  enough  to  make  me  think  it  wise  to 
refuse  it ;  so  my  first  venture  in  America  resulted  in  a  few 
weeks  in  profit  enough  to  pay  my  brother's  and  my  own 
expenses  to  New  Zealand. 

"  I  would  now  say  to  a  man  with  lOOOZ.,"  said  Mr.  Livesay, 
"  and  Mr.  Cresswell,  who  has  been  here  at  stock  for  twenty 
years,  also  says :  Buy  young  steers,  and  go  out  into  free  range. 
You  are  there  at  all  times  liable  to  lose  your  horses,  and  are 
certain  to  lose  a  good  deal  of  your  stock.  You  have  to  pay 
21.  a  sack  for  flour,  which  you  could '  get  for  10s.  in  any 
Colorado  town.  The  life  is  a  hard  one ;  but  nevertheless  you 
are  far  more  likely  to  increase  than  diminish  in  substance." 
As  against  this  advice,  two  talented  Englishmen — Mr.  G-.  W. 
E.  G-riffith,  of  Denver,  and  Mr.  C.  E.  Wellesley,  of  Colorado 
Springs — decidedly  say  :  "  Lend  your  money  at  10  per  cent. ; 
you  can  get  18  safely,  as  soon  as  you  know  the  country  a 
little,  for  new  enterprises  of  every  sort  are  rife  in  this 
new  State,  and  money  is  excessively  scarce."  The  reader 
here  will  please  note  that  I  deal  with  no  theories.  There 
are,  no  doubt,  a  hundred  and  fifty  ways  in  which  money  could 
be  made  in  Colorado ;  but  I  consider  it  almost  absolutely 
useless,  if  not  really  mischievous,  to  write  for  the  intending 
emigrant  anything  but  a  record  of  the  few  ways  in  which  he 
can  invest  his  money,  so  as  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  existing 
proved  successes  here. 

Returning  to  Mr.  Livesay's  experience.  "  In  New  Zea- 
land," he  said,  "in  1874,  I  found  labour  very  bad  and 
unsatisfactory.  Taxes  were  heavy,  and  no  one  knew  how 
runs  would  be  leased  in  1880,  when  almost  all  Government 


COLORADO    VERSUS  2^W   ZEALAND.  83 

contracts  for  land  to  settlers  expire.  I  viewed  New  Zealand 
from  a  sheepman's  standpoint.  It  was  then,  and  now  is,  a 
first-rate  place  for  agriculturists,  who  were  usually  called 
*  Cockatoos  ' — and  a  terrible  thorn  in  the  sides  of  sheepmen 
they  were.  I  found  the  little  etiquette  existing  with  respect 
to  sheep  runs  in  Australia  almost  non-existent  in  New 
Zealand ;  for  there,  the  moment  you  turn  your  back,  small 
men  buy  your  leased  run  in  bits  ;  and  then  you  try  to  worry 
them  out,  and  they  to  worry  you  out,  as  much  as  possible. 
At  that  time  some  of  the  largest  sheepmen  in  New  Zealand 
said  they  were  anxious  to  get  to  America,  and,  to  the  great 
loss  of  New  Zealand,  many  of  them  did  so ;  for  instance,  Mr. 
M'Kellar,  of  Tapanui,  bought  a  6000Z.  interest  in  the  Nolan 
grant,  and  Mr.  Pinkerton  went  heavily  into  other  Spanish 
grants  in  California."  These  gentlemen  lost  sheep  very 
heavily  en  route  to  New  Mexico,  whither  they  had  endeavoured 
to  drive  6000  sheep  from  California,  and,  not  being  fortunate 
in  striking  water,  lost  nearly  4000  on  the  way.  Now,  how- 
ever, Mr.  Livesay  says  they  will  do  very  well,  if  the  U.S. 
Government  confirm  the  grant,  and  if  after  that  they  can  get 
the  Mexicans  off  the  land — very  much  the  same  sort  of 
undertaking  that  Mr.  AUan  PoUok  so  successfully  carried  out 
on  the  Martin  estate  at  Lismany,  co.  Galway,  during  which 
he  ran  such  repeated  and  serious  chances  of  losing  his  life. 
The  only  grant  unquestionably  confirmed  in  Colorado  is  another 
Nolan  grant,  the  greater  portion  of  which  Messrs.  Goodnight 
and  Dodson  sold  to  the  Colorado  Central  Improvement  Com- 
pany. Mr.  Livesay  has  a  good  deal  of  this  land,  to  which  he 
took  a  fancy  the  moment  he  saw  it,  but  not  until  he  had  been 
half  round  the  world,  and  tried  sheep  in  Texas,  near  San 
Antonio,  or  rather  Boeme,  just  after  Mr.  KendaU,  of  the 
New  Orleans  Picayune,  had  startled  the  western  world  with 
his  success  there.  Mr.  Chapman,  of  New  York,  and  Mr. 
Eeed — now  at  Durham  Park,  Kansas — were  then  the  largest 
sheep  owners  in  Texas ;  but  they,  with  Mr.  Livesay,  aban- 

q2 


84  COLORADO. 


doned  that  State  for  others,  selling  out  their  Texan  flocks  at 
Is.  7d.  per  head. 

In  Oregon,  Mi\  Livesay  found  land  was  too  high-priced  for 
paying  sheep-raisers,  and,  he  considered,  the  high,  dry,  Rocky- 
Mountain-like  parts  of  Washington  Territory  splendid  for 
cattle,  but  good  only  for  them. 

Then  Mr.  Livesay  and  his  brother  came  to  the  conclusion 
to  return  to  their  first  love — South  Colorado — and  to  spend 
plenty  of  money  in  the  purchase  of  river  fronts  and  water 
holes  within  reasonable  distances  of  each  other,  so  as 
gradually  to  acquire  the  land  between  them,  which  they 
have  been  since  rapidly  doing  along  the  valley  of  the 
Arkansas  and  St.  Charles,  and  the  water  holes  lying  between 
these  rivers.  In  these  mild-climated,  sheltered  valleys — 
whilst  everyone  from  Trinidad  to  Cheyenne  lost,  last  winter, 
from  20  to  50  per  cent,  of  sheep — only  150  of  the  Livesay 
flock  of  3600  succumbed  to  the  cold,  though  without  artificial 
shelter ;  and  these  150  were  all  old  ewes,  bought  for  a  mere 
song,  merely  as  an  experiment. 

The  first  8000  acres  cost  the  brothers  Livesay  15,000Z., 
which  was  gradually  expended  in  three  years.  This  range 
comprises  2000  acres  on  the  Arkansas,  and  1000  acres  on  the 
St.  Charles,  all  agricultural  land,  and  all  irrigated  by  little 
canals  or  "under  ditch"  (as  is  here  said).  The  water  holes 
purchased  are  dotted  over  an  area  of  20,000  acres,  and  all 
this  area  of  some  of  the  best  sheep  land,  in  this  State  of  very 
poor  grass  land,  is  commanded  by  these  water  holes.  This 
entire  range  is  estimated  to  carry  over  80,000,  which  are 
rapidly  being  purchased,  and  the  intention  is  to  eventually 
use  it  only  as  winter  quarters,  the  flocks  being  driven  each 
summer  on  to  the  plains,  and  even  into  northern  New 
Mexico.  The  1400  improved  cattle  now  here  are  being  sold 
off,  for  it  is  found  that  cattle  will  not  control  a  tract  of  land. 
Sheep  will  eat  all  your  borders,  but  cattle  will  not,  and  thus 
leave  patches  of  good  grass  on  your  confines,  which  tempt 


8HEEP-RAI8ING.  85 


other  ranging  herds  to  invade  you — ^the  law  of  trespass  in  all 
western  States,  even  when  existent,  being  nothing  better  than 
a  legal  farce. 

Just  now,  7600  sheep  range  here,  most  of  them  good 
Mexicans  which  shear  2Jlb. ;  these  are  valued  at  7s.  each, 
but  their  descendants  fetch  125.,and  shear  51b.  on  an  average, 
many  of  them  having  yielded  101b.  and  111b.  last  season.  No 
disease  but  dandriff,  caused  by  dust  and  alkali  (falsely  called 
scab  in  Colorado),  is  known  here;  but  serious  depredations 
are  from  time  to  time  committed  by  the  wolves,  which  must 
and  can  be  poisoned  off.  Mexican  wool  in  Denver  fetches 
8|(Z.,  and  improved  wool  Is.  2d.  per  lb.  Vei-mont  Merino  rams 
are  found  to  be  the  best,  as  they  are  acclimatised  to  cold, 
and  cost  here  51.  each,  two  being  allowed  to  each  flock 
of  100. 

The  taxes  in  Pueblo  county  are  unusually  heavy,  more  so 
than  in  any  other  portion  of  Colorado,  and  average  2  per 
cent,  of  the  valuation,  which,  however,  is  never  the  real  value. 
The  large  amount  of  farming  and  irrigated  land  here  on 
which  hay  and  grain  can  be  raised,  and  the  broad  low  valleys 
to  which,  when  the  heights  and  plateaux  are  snowed,  sheep 
can  retreat,  and  where  they  can  remain  well  fed  for  weeks  at 
a  time,  place  this  on  the  top  of  the  list  of  first-class  en- 
terprises in  Colorado  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  that 
Mr.  Livesay  and  his  brother  will  draw  from  5000?.  to  SOOOl. 
a  year  from  their  40,0002.  investment  at  Goodnight.  They 
work  hard,  late,  and  early  ;  they  sacrifice  almost  all  comfort, 
and  almost  all  society,  to  their  very  promising  and  extensive 
business,  and  they  give  freely  advice  and  hospitality  to  all 
emigrant  fellow-countrymen.  With  the  exceptionally  fortu- 
nate start  they  have  made  in  a  peculiarly  favoured  locality, 
they  are  naturally  hopeful  and  cheerful;  but  they  do  not 
think  any  others  could  do  nearly  so  well,  and  are  certain  that 
if  they  sold  this  place  they  could  not  get  another  like  it  in 
Colorado.  It  is  true  that  the  original  owner,  Mr.  Goodnight, 
did  not  succeed  here ;  but  why  ?    Because,  hard-working  as 


86  COLORADO. 


he  was,  lie  could  not  afford  to  pay  24  per  cent,  per  annum  for 
his  working  capital.  That  he  did  so  for  many  years,  and  was 
by  no  means  ruined,  says  a  great  deal  in  favour  of  Messrs. 
Livesay's  prospects,  and  for  the  prospects  of  persons  who, 
like  them,  invest  only  in  such  valley  lands  in  Colorado  as 
they  have  fii'st  tested  practically  with  Doctor  Bell,  the  vice 
chairman  of  the  Denver  and  Eio  G-rande  Railway  Company. 

Let  us  now  follow  up  the  Canon  City  branch  of  the  narrow- 
gauge — "  the  baby  line  "  of  Colorado — winding  along  the 
river  for  thirty  miles.  We  get  to  the  coal  banks  on  a  coal 
train,  with  our  horses  in  a  loose-box  van.  These  beds  turn 
out  350  tons  per  day  of  splendid  anthracite  coal,  which  the 
miners  are  paid  3s.  Sd.  per  ton  for  raising  and  loading  on 
waggons.  I  wish  I  could  see  a  prosperous  future  in  store  for 
Colorado  ranches ;  but  I  must  admit  that  I  see  much  more 
chance  of  the  prices  of  agricultural  produce  here  going  down 
than  up.  At  present  (1877)  you  can  get  three  times  as  much 
for  what  you  raise  in  Kansas  ;  but  facilities  to  bring  Kansan 
and  Nebraskan  crops  and  beasts  into  Colorado  increase  with 
every  mile  of  the  rapid  mountain  railway  extension,  and  must 
continue  to  do  so.  Dr.  Lambom,  one  of  the  originators  of 
the  Centennial  Exhibition,  and  a  director  of  the  Denver  and 
Rio  Grande,  disagrees  with  me  as  to  this,  maintaining  that  the 
rapidly  increasing  population  of  Colorado  more  than  balances 
the  additional  facilities  of  transit.  Time  alone  can  say  which 
of  us  is  right.  Even  poverty  basks  joyous  in  the  clear  air, 
bright  sunshine,  and  glorious  scenery  of  Colorado.  May 
Eoi-tune,  now  that  the  grasshopper,  the  chief  enemy*  of  rural 
Britishers  here,  has  vanished,  turn  her  wheel  auspiciously,  and 
enable  them  to  turn  their  cents  into  dollars,  and,  towards  the 
close  of  their  days,  those  U.S.  dollars  into  V.R.  sovereigns. 


*  As  a  set-ofE  against  insect  damages,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  insect- 
produce,  in  the  shape  of  honey,  forms  a  much  larger  industry  here  than 
is  likely  to  be  supposed.  According  to  Uhler  (Hayden's  "  Report,"  Vol. 
m.),  the  parts  of  Eastern  Colorado  within  reach  of  irrigation  are  capable 
of  being  made  the  greatest  honey-producing  locality  of  the  Continent. 


THE   HERCULES    AND    ROE    MINE.  87 

Although  not  an  agricultural  subject,  as  I  have  seen  so 
many  men  of  very  small  capital  buying  shares  in  really  good 
mines  here,  and  being  as  a  rule  ruined  thereby,  I  may 
devote  a  few  lines  to  Colorado  mines;  and,  as  one  of  my 
oldest  and  most  intimate  friends  is  a  member  of  the  London 
Stock  Exchange,  in  whose  office  I  have  wiled  away  many 
pleasant  hours,  my  readers  may  rest  assured  that  I  know 
almost  as  much  about  the  way  American  mines  are  manipu- 
lated in  London  as  I  do  about  their  usually  dishonest 
management  here.  In  one  recent  instance,  however.  English- 
men here  have  been  fortunate.  The  Hercules  and  Eoe 
Mine — one  of  the  most  valuable  in  the  State,  having 
been  for  years  the  cynosure  of  every  swindling  eye, 
and  having  had  its  21.  shares  reduced  in  value  even  to 
5d.j  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  a  knot  of  bankers  to 
buy  it  in  for  almost  nothing  at  a  sheriff's  sale — has  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  Mr.  G.  W.  E.  Griffith,  formerly  of  the  Union 
Bank  of  London,  at  less  than  one-fifteenth  of  its  value,  one 
of  the  banks  that  wanted  to  gobble  it  up  having  failed  just  as 
the  sheriff's  sale  came  on.  It  is  altogether  a  pretty  story, 
and  the  first  instance  I  know  of  in  which  an  Englishman  has 
got  the  better  of  the  mining  sharks.  Against  this,  however, 
the  Terrible  mine  has,  by  its  secretary  not  understanding 
the  country,  been  allowed  to  fall  under  the  management  and 
control  of  the  First  National  Bank  in  Denver.  All  I  can 
say  on  this  subject  is,  that  I  pity  the  unfortunate  English 
shareholders,  as  nothing  they  can  now  possibly  do  will,  in  my 
opinion,  save  them.  Even  the  English  general  manager,  Mr. 
G.  M.  Henry,  of  the  Royal  School  of  Mines,  will  not  risk  his 
character  for  the  fine  salary  the  Terrible  company  pay  him  ; 
and  he,  I  understand  and  hope,  will  manage  for  Mr.  Griffith, 
who  will  sell  no  shares  and  will  prevent  quotations  of  them  on 
any  stock  exchange.  These  quiet,  unadvertised  speculations 
are  indeed  the  only  good  ones  in  Colorado,  and,  as  a  rule,  in 
Utah  also. 


88  COLORADO. 


Of  course  it  is  bad  taste  on  my  part  to  allude  to  these  un- 
pleasant features  in  Western  speculation  ;  but,  as  I  may 
safely  say  that  no  English  paper  has  ever  had  a  correspon- 
dent long  enough  in  Colorado  to  learn  any  of  the  inner 
springs  of  financial  life  as  generally  practised  towards  English 
investors,  I  think  it  only  right  and  fair  to  say  this  much  to 
my  fellow-countrymen :  If  you  do  not  direct,  manage,  and 
control  your  enterprises  here  personally,  you  will  regret  that 
your  money  was  not  subscribed  to  the  Indian  Famine  Eelief 
Fund  or  some  other  patriotic  object. 

We  tarry,  however,  over-long  at  the  busy  Canon  coal  beds, 
and  our  steeds  are  impatient ;  let  us  therefore  ride  along  the 
foot  hills  into  Canon  City.  Here  we  passed  a  pleasant  evening 
with  some  of  the  officers  of  that  hospitable  regiment,  the  19th 
Cavalry  ;  and  next  day,  borrowing  a  spring  waggon  and  fine 
pair  of  mules  from  Mr.  Legard — one  of  the  Wet  Mountain 
Valley  settlers,  who  keeps  a  depot  for  the  sale  of  his  produce  in 
Canon  City — Dr.  Bell,  his  excellent  manager  Mr.  J.  B.  Cald- 
well, and  I  staiiied  for  a  thirty-two-mile  drive  to  what  is 
claimed  to  be  the  best  agricultural  valley  in  the  state,  the 
Wet  Mountain  one,  which  lies  southward  of  Pueblo  between 
the  Greenhorn  range  of  mountains,  there  distinctly  visible, 
and  the  great  and  beautiful  Sangre  de  Cristos.  The  road 
to  this  valley  is  as  lovely  and  romantic  as  the  mind  can 
imagine.  I  fear  I  have  already  dwelt  a  little  too  much  on 
scenery,  and  Manitou  Park  remains  to  be  described ;  so  the 
reader  must  imagine  me  driving  my  plucky  mules  through 
gorgeous  mountain  passes ;  the  golden  sunshine  on  the 
dazzling  snow ;  vast  pines  towering  over  roaring,  babbling, 
singing  brooks ;  red  and  purple  precipices,  so  high  as  to  shut 
out  the  sun  from  their  gloomy  but  grand  canons  even  at 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  day;  occasionally  a  broad  open  park, 
with  dry  gravelly  soil  and  golden  grass,  varies  the  usual 
scenery  of  the  pass.  And  through  all  this  we  move  for  eight 
hours.     A  sense  of  immensity  and  overwhelming  force  takes 


WET    MOUNTAIN    VALLEY. 


precedence  of  the  mere  idea  of  beauty  in  such  a  place  as 
this.  The  vast  masses  of  detached  rock  on  the  mountain 
sides,  the  almost  as  vast  boulders  in  the  creek  beds,  all  point 
to  physical  forces  of  which  we  can  form  no  conception — forces 
volcanic  and  glacial — as  well  as  the  slower  but  even  more 
mighty  ones  of  denudation.  Through  all  this  grandeur, 
formed  in  Nature's  most  impressive  mould,  we  came  late  at 
eve  into  the  greatest  exception  to  general  Colorado  scenery  to 
be  found  in  the  State — the  Wet  Moimtain  Valley,  which 
extends  from  N.  to  S.  for  twenty-five  miles,  the  level  bottom 
being  in  the  centre  six  miles  wide,  and  tapering  off  to  nothing 
at  each  end.  Through  this  valley  runs  Grape  Creek,  which 
we  had  all  day  followed  up  nearly  from  the  Arkansas  through 
its  moimtain  canons ;  and  into  this  creek  run  many  placid 
mountain  rills,  permeating  nearly  all  the  heavy  rich  soil, 
which  in  addition  can  of  course  be  irrigated  at  very  trifling 
expense. 

The  Sangre  de  Cristos  rise  abruptly  from  the  west  side  of 
the  valley,  one  hundred  and  twenty  peaks  deeply  indented 
and  sharply  serrated,  all  snowed  down  to  the  valley  level. 
From  Dr.  Bell's  hay  ranche — which  I  shall  afterwards  fully 
describe — these  mountaias  looked  not  a  mile  to  the  westward ; 
but  both  Eita  Alto  and  Crestone's  Peak,  each  over  14,000ft. 
high,  must  be  at  least  fifteen  to  twenty  miles  off.  This  rock- 
ribbed  range  runs  along  the  edge  of  the  valley  as  far  as  the  eye 
can  reach  to  the  south,  where  it  apparently  fades  away  into  a 
sort  of  hummocky  table  land.  To  the  north.  Hunt's  dumpy- 
looking  mountain  also  rears  its  head  to  an  altitude  of  14,000ft. ; 
and  another  moimtain,  which  rises  just  north  of  Puncho  Pass, 
is  a  stalwart  companion  of  Hunt's  in  this  direction.  Turning 
round  with  the  compass,  the  little  shanty  village  of  Ula 
appears  under  the  rough  fort-like  foot  hills,  most  of  them 
sandy  and  bare,  though  a  few  are  pine-covered ;  these  extend  all 
along  the  eastern  horizon,  and  between  two  of  the  largest  is 
seen  old  Pike's  hoary  head  in  the  far  distance.     From  this 


90  COLORADO. 


side,  Pike  is  quite  a  finished-looking  and  artistic  mountain;  its 
grand  defiles,  as  well  as  its  noble  head,  shine  silvery  and 
sharp ;  and  it  is  pleasant  to  gaze  on,  for  the  greater  distance 
softens  its  whiteness — too  dazzling  in  the  snowy  range  of  the 
Sangre  de  Cristos,  apparently  close  behind  us.  Then  look  we 
to  the  south — tiny  curls  of  blue  smoke  indicate  half  a  dozen 
ranches  in  this  direction,  and  the  valley  plain,  broken  just  at 
the  horizon  by  three  isolated  brown  hills  like  islands  in  a 
wintry  sea,  fades  away  into  a  wintry  sky.  There  is  little 
wild  or  romantic  in  this  valley,  apart  from  the  suiTOunding 
mountains,  which  are  too  distant  to  look  very  large  or  grand. 
The  immense,  well-fenced,  flat  fields  destroy  all  idea  of  wild- 
ness,  and  the  colours  are  too  sombre,  at  any  rate  at  this  time 
of  the  year,  to  be  pleasing  to  the  eye.  The  first  thing  known 
of  the  valley  was,  that  it  was  flooded  by  beaver  dams,  and 
twenty  years  ago  was,  for  this  reason,  avoided  alike  by 
Mexicans  and  Indians.  At  that  time,  there  were  willows  all  over 
this  plain;  but,  as  the  dams  flooded  the  vale  to  greater  depths, 
even  the  willows  got  drowned  out ;  then  the  beaver  found  he 
had  been  too  clever,  and  had  left  himself  nothing  to  eat ;  he 
therefore  had  to  leave  for  more  congenial  spheres.  Settlers 
came  gradually  in,  and  the  place  became  drained,  and  every 
year  more  habitable.  A  few  GTerman  stockmen  first  settled 
here  in  '68  and  '69,  and  Mr.  Elisha  T.  Thorn  initiated  agri- 
culture. In  the  spring  of  '70,  Carl  Wulsten  located  a  G-erman 
colony  from  Chicago,  but  he  selected  a  rocky,  bad  district  at 
the  upper  end  of  the  valley,  and  there  the  U.S.  G-overnment 
"  deeded  "  them  a  township  six  miles  square ;  the  colonists 
were  chiefly  tradesmen  and  mechanics,  and  the  entire  enter- 
prise, through  Wulsten*  s  weak  management  and  unfortunate 
selection  of  land,  ended  so  badly  that  now  there  is  not  one 
original  colonist  left.  In  1870,  Dr.  Bell  and  General  Palmer 
came  into  the  valley;  Dr.  Bell  brought  out  the  only  two 
American  settlers  that  were  living  there,  and  started  a  large 
cheese  factory  on  the  broadest  and  best  portion  of  the  valley ;, 


VALLEY  FARMS.  91 


but  his  English  manager  either  did  not  understand  the 
business,  or  failed  to  work  energetically,  and  it  has  been 
abandoned.  Meanwhile  the  richness  of  the  valley  soil,  its 
fine  hay  and  natural  grasses,  and  its  very  healthy  though 
disagreeably  moist  and  windy  climate,  had  struck  many 
Englishmen  who  had  visited  the  cheese  factory,  and  so 
gradually  an  English  settlement  sprang  up.  Messrs.  Legard 
Brothers,  Beaumont,  Hunter  Brothers,  Ommanney,  Bowling, 
Harrison  Brothers,  Heneage  M.  Griffin,  and  others,  acquired 
farms  and  raised  hay  in  large  quantities :  the  professional 
squatters  came  here  in  large  numbers,  and  the  entire  vale 
was  soon  taken  up  by  them.  These  useful  people  get  good 
Government  titles — each  160  acres — and  then  sell  them  cheap 
to  people  who  have  some  energy  and  capital.  The  only  occu- 
pation of  the  original  squatter  is  to  look  for  a  purchaser,  and, 
but  for  the  grasshopper  of  the  past  three  years  (now,  happily, 
departed),  this  occupation  in  the  Wet  Mountain  Valley 
would  long  since  have  ceased  to  exist ;  for  naturally  rich 
soil,  composed  of  decayed  vegetable  matter  and  old  beaver 
dams,  drained  by  a  heavy  stratum  of  boulders,  two  to  six  feet 
under  the  surface,  is  only  to  be  had  here  and  along  the 
northern  branch  of  the  Colorado  Central  in  this  State.  Still, 
so  long  as  grasshoppers  ate  the  crops,  even  good  soil  was 
valueless,  and  no  one  bought  it. 

There  are  only  two  large  farms  in  the  Valley — one  Dr. 
Bell's,  of  1600  ;  the  other,  about  half  that  size,  belonging  to 
Messrs.  Legard ;  but  it  is,  in  many  parts  of  it,  possible  to  ac- 
quire tolerably  easily  from  640  to  1000  acres,  or  even  more, 
from  the  original  squatters,  in  adjacent  squares  of  160  acres. 
Five  years  ago,  such  claims  as  these  latter,  well  fenced-in.  and 
in  a  good  part  of  the  vale,  cost  400Z.,  which  also  always 
bought  some  sort  of  a  house  or  shanty  on  the  land.  But 
grasshoppers — which  were  particularly  bad  here,  coming 
three  years  in  succession — forced  all  land  prices  very  low  in 
Colorado,  and  in  1877  about  200Z.  for  each  fenced-in  160  acres 


92  COLORADO. 


might  be  taken  as  an  average  market  price.  Hay  is  the  chief 
and  most  valuable  product  of  the  land — valuable  more  for  its 
extremely  excellent  quality  than  from  its  quantity,  which  does 
not  average  over  three-quarters  of  a  ton  to  the  acre;  but 
there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  very  great  profit  here  during 
grasshopper  years,  even  in  hay,  as  subsequent  figures  even 
show  a  loss  on  such  occasions ;  nevertheless,  it  is  well  to  be 
able  to  point  out  a  locality  where  some  profit  is  to  be  made 
in  Colorado.  I  cannot,  however,  by  any  means  adopt  the 
views  of  highly  honourable  but  extremely  over- sanguine  men 
here,  whose  anxiety  to  get  the  State  well  settled  has  alto- 
gether got  the  better  of  their  discretion  and  common  sense — 
indeed,  I  had  almost  written,  of  their  veracity  ;  for  one  highly 
distinguished  gentleman,  who  has  a  large  interest  in  Colorado, 
but  knows  very  little  apparently  about  it,  taking  me,  I 
presume,  for  a  new  arrival,  commenced  to  talk  about  the 
exports  that  year  of  Colorado — grain  and  hay — and  claimed 
that  the  State  was  really  helping  to  support  the  Eastern  States. 
Railway  returns  prove  this ;  but,  alas !  they  also  prove  that 
Colorado  produce,  being  so  very  superior — raised  without 
rain — ^is  too  good  and  too  expensive  to  be  used  in  the  State ; 
1001b.  of  almost  everything  but  mineral  comes  into  Colorado 
for  lib.  that  goes  out  of  it ;  and,  unless  the  population  of  the 
State  very  much  diminishes,  such  a  condition  of  things  must 
continue  to  exist  in  any  place  where  the  proportion  of  arable 
to  mountain  or  desert  land  is  less  than  1  to  1000. 

The  road  into  this  valley  that  winds  for  thirty-two  miles 
from  the  nearest  railway  station,  through  very  lovely  scenery, 
is  so  much  better  adapted  as  to  gradients  for  tourist  than 
freight  transit,  that  the  carriage  of  baled  and  pressed  hay 
from  the  valley  to  Canon  City  railway  station  costs  26s.  per 
ton  by  bullock  teams ;  whereas  you  can  hire  a  spring  buggy 
and  pair  of  horses  to  drive  four  persons  to  the  valley  and 
back  from  a  livery  stable  near  the  railway  station  for  21.,  and 
no  better  value  is  to  be  had  in  Colorado  for  the  money  in  the 


HAY    CROPS.  9S 


way  of  grand  and  lovely  scenery.  The  charms  of  a  drive 
through  these  lofty,  winding,  massive  canons  on  a  moonlight 
night,  such  as  the  one  on  which  Dr.  Bell  drove  me  back,  are 
not  to  be  excelled,  if  equalled,  in  any  portion  of  the  Eocky 
Mountains. 

The  following  figures,  taken  from  Mr.  J.  B.  Caldwell,  Dr. 
Bell's  manager,  and  from  a  few  gentlemen  in  Colorado 
Springs,  show  that  to  embark  at  present  in  the  hay  business 
in  Wet  Mountain  Valley  would  cost — 

To  purchase  320  acres  fenced    ^400  0  0 

Two  mowing  machines    50  0  0 

Two  pair  of  horses  100  0  0 

One  hay  press,  about  200  0  0 

'  Total ^750    0     0 

A  man  therefore  with  lOOOZ.  could  come  here  and  live  until 
his  crop  came  in.  Now  let  us  see  what  that  would  return 
him.  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  it  would  probably  be 
not,  at  any  rate,  less  than  200  tons — which  to  get  in  in  good 
time,  and  to  get  pressed  ready  to  sell,  would  cost  10s.  per 
ton ;  to  send  into  Canon  City,  11.  6s.  per  ton ;  rail  from  thence 
to  Denver,  14s.  per  ton — total  cost  per  ton,  21.  lOs.  Price  of 
hay  now  in  Denver  per  ton,  3Z. ;  profit  on  each  ton  to  raiser,. 
10s.— total,  lOOZ. 

Dr.  Bell's  profits  were  not  exclusively  derived  from  hay, 
nor  were  his  losses  hay  losses,  the  latter  resulting  chiefly 
from  the  destruction  by  grasshoppers  of  a  very  large  irri- 
gated field  of  oats.  The  hoppers  left  a  good  deal  of  the 
grain  upon  the  ground,  which  Mr.  Caldwell  ploughed  in ;  and 
this  cui'ious  scratch  crop  beat  everything  of  the  sort  in 
the  State,  resulting  in  a  harvest  that  would  gladden  any 
farmer's  vision.  Oats,  before  the  grasshoppers  disappeared 
were  much  more  risky  than  hay,  but  also,  if  successful,  much 
more  profitable;  for  the  very  expensive  long  road  and  rail 
haulage  is  in  one  case  only  for  a  small  proportion  of  the 


94  COLORADO. 


weight  of  the  entire  crop,  whereas  the  entire  bulk  of  the  hay 
crop  has  to  pay  its  21.  per  ton  for  its  200-niile  transport  to 
Denver.  Grasshoppers,  however,  while  they  occasionally  ate 
all  the  oat  crop,  never  got  away  with  half  the  hay,  which  was, 
therefore,  much  the  safest  commencement  for  the  new  set- 
tler. As  to  the  wheat  in  this  valley,  a  good  deal  is  said,  but 
what  I  saw  of  it  was  small-grained,  smutted,  and  altogether 
a  decidedly  bad  crop.  Some  of  this  valley  land  will  not  yield 
good  hay,  and  it  would  appear  profitable  to  put  only  those 
portions  under  cultivation  for  oats. 

For  this  purpose,  the  most  approved  method  of  farming 
appears  to  be  to  break  the  ground  in  spring  not  deeper  than 
two  inches,  so  as  to  divide  the  grass  roots,  and  kill  them ; 
then  in  autumn  it  should  be  ploughed  deeper,  ready  for  next 
spring's  sowing.  The  first  oat  crop  here  yields,  on  an  average, 
35  bushels  per  acre,  the  second  50  to  60,  the  third  60  to  70 ; 
and  even  greater  yields  are  not  unusual.  Oats  here  are  never 
less  than  1^.  per  lb.,  for  there  is  a  large  demand  for  this  grain 
at  the  Kosita  and  other  local  mines,  worked  chiefly  by  horse 
power.  The  hard-riding  mountain  stockmen  also  have  to  buy 
oats  all  the  winter,  for  the  Eocky  Mountain  grasses  will  not, 
as  in  Texas,  keep  their  horses  in  good,  or  indeed  in  any, 
sort  of  condition  for  work.  With  respect  to  barley  here,  I 
have  no  specific  data  to  give,  except  that,  when  previously 
to  the  grasshopper  advent  it  was  grown  here,  the  Denver 
breweries  picked  it  all  up  with  avidity  at  2d.  per  lb.,  its 
freight  to  its  destination — |cZ.  to  Id. — being  paid  by  the 
grower. 

The  valley  being  really  at  a  great  elevation,  though  deeply 
depressed  amongst  surrounding  mountains,  its  grasses  are 
naturally  more  of  an  upland  hay  than  of  a  bottom-land 
character  ;  gramma  grasses,  and  a  dozen  sweet  fine  sorts,  not 
as  yet  even  named,  cover  the  ground,  and  no  coarse  or  noxious 
varieties  have  as  yet  been  discovered.  Most  of  the  meadows 
are  flooded  twice  during  June — the  growing  season — and  then 


HAT.PRES8E8.  95 


great  care  has  to  be  taken  that  the  water  shall  not  lie  too 
long  upon  the  fields.  On  Dr.  Bell's  farm  there  were  1100 
tons  of  hay  in  stacks,  one  of  which  I  measured,  and  foimd  it 
L-shaped,  128yds.  long  one  way  and  67  the  other,  6yds.  wide, 
and  about  15ft.  high.  The  1100  tons  were  that  year's  crop, 
as  well  as  a  portion  of  that  of  the  year  before,  and  were  being 
baled  by  two  American  improved  hay  presses,  one  fixed,  the 
other  moveable,  both  very  fine  and  serviceable  pieces  of 
machinery,  known  as  Dederick's :  they  form  very  tight  rect- 
angular bales,  fastened  by  three  encircling  steel  wires.  The 
pressing  is  horizontal,  the  hay  falling  from  above  by  very 
slightly  assisted  gravity,  and  then  being  forced  forward 
without  any  intermission — one  bale  pushing  the  other  out  on 
the  counter  or  platform.  The  stationary  press  in  the  bam  is 
worked  by  two  horses,  which,  whilst  taking  a  few  steps  down 
an  artificial  descent,  bring  to  bear  the  most  powerful  portion  of 
a  most  powerful  eccentric,  as  a  finishing  touch  to  each  bale, 
reducing  2501b.  of  hay  into  a  rectangle  measuring  24in.  by 
28in.  by  40in.  But  the  portable  press  does  better  than  this ; 
being  worked  by  four  horses,  it  compresses  1201b.  of  hay  into 
a  body  measuring  only  14in.  by  ISin.  by  30in. — a  most  con- 
veniently sized  parcel  to  take  in  your  buggy  for  some  days* 
driving  over  the  passes.  I  give,  of  course,  only  the  average 
size  of  the  bale,  which  varies  with  both  the  character  of  the 
hay  and  the  weather,  the  hay  becoming  more  pliant,  and 
more  easily  compressed  during  moist  days. 

I  have  scattered  the  drawbacks  to  this  valley  over  my 
description  of  it,  but  Dr.  Bell  informed  me  that  for  Colorado 
it  was  an  excessively  stormy  place.  High  winds  with  dry 
weather  are  followed  often  in  summer  by  thunderstorms  and 
heavy  rain  or  hail,  which,  as  crops  approach  maturity,  cause 
great  anxiety  to  the  farmer,  though  only  once  since  the  valley 
was  settled  have  the  crops  been  totally  destroyed  from  this 
cause.  Prudence,  therefore,  will  dictate  hay  as  much  the 
safest  main  crop  here. 


96  COLORADO. 


Both  Dr.  Bell  and  I  got  rather  badly  mired  whilst  trying  to 
ride  across  country  to  see  Mr.  Beckworth,  who  has  a  fine  herd 
of  cattle,  numbering  6000,  in  the  valley  ;  indeed,  for  comfort 
in  riding  about,  the  valuable  irrigation  is  carried  rather  too 
far  here.  Then  we  spent  another  night  at  Dr.  Bell's  most 
comfortable  farm  house,  and  Mr.  Caldwell's  management  of 
the  cuisine  would  do  credit  to  any  yachtsman — the  forethought 
required  to  meet  the  difiiculties  of  provisioning  a  mountain 
ranche  being  very  much  the  same  as  doing  so  for  a  three 
weeks'  ocean  cruise.  A  good  deal  of  very  highly -bred  stock 
was  here,  and  the  farm  horses  were  unquestionably  heavier, 
handsomer,  and  better  fed  than  any  I  had  seen  since  I 
left  Kentucky.  Although  Dr.  Bell  took  me  to  criticise 
his  establishment,  which  is  said  to  be  worked  with  undue 
expense,  I  did  not  think  there  was  an  unnecessary 
man,  horse,  house,  or  fence  upon  the  farm,  and,  had  I  the 
place  to-morrow,  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  deviate  in  any 
particular  from  Mr.  J.  B.  Caldwell's  admirable  manage- 
ment. Dr.  Bell  is  a  successful  theorist,  and  he  is  most  for- 
tunate in  getting  his  theories  put  into  practice — here  by  Mr. 
Caldwell,  in  his  railway  schemes  by  General  Palmer,  and  at 
Manitou  Park  by  Mr.  Cholmondeley  Thornton.  Who  will 
manage  the  San  Luis  valley  lands  when  put  on  the  emigration 
market,  I  know  not ;  but  if  these  semi-deserts  can  be  colonised 
successfully,  my  pen  shall  not  claim  any  of  the  credit,  for  a 
more  unpromising  venture  rarely  falls  to  the  unlucky  lot  of 
a  writer  to  describe.  My  dislike  to  these  lands  may  be 
merely  a  prejudice,  a  sort  of  reverse  of  love  at  first  sight ;  at 
any  rate,  every  gentleman  connected  with  the  Denver  and  Rio 
Grande  Eailway  is  quite  shocked  at  my  want  of  appreciation 
of  these  land  grants.  I  would  willingly  repay  the  courtesy 
with  which  the  company  has  treated  me ;  but,  in  the 
words  of  Mr.  Anthony  Trollope,  they  must  remember  that  I 
am  "  not  as  one  bent  on  making  a  new  career  and  a  fortune 
for  himself  and  his  children,  but  as  an  agent  who  should 


SETTLERS.  97 


busy  himself  exclusively  for  others.'*  So  cruel  is  fate  to  me, 
that,  just  when  I  would  write  pleasantly,  some  angular  fact 
presses  against  my  pen  point,  and,  however  unseemly  or  in- 
opportune its  presence  may  be,  demands  recognition  in  a  due 
amount  of  ink. 

There  is  a  fine  school  at  Colorado  Springs,  and,  as  the  ten- 
dency of  education,  much  more  here  than  at  home,  is  to  create 
a  disinclination  for  work  of  any  laborious  description,  the  hard- 
working lower  classes  of  Germany  and  England  are  very  much 
prized  here ;  almost,  indeed,  as  much  so  as  the  better  class  of 
foreign  settlers  in  Colorado,  who  so  often  come  to  involuntarily 
spend,  not  earn,  an  income. 


98  COLORADO. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  GARDEN  OF  THE  GODS — UTE  PASS — MANITOU  PARK — TROUT  BREED- 
ING— COLORADO  SPRINGS — CAnON  CITY — WHO  SHOULD  AND  WHO 
SHOULD  NOT  SETTLE  IN  COLORADO  —  CLIMATE  —  IRRIGATION  — 
GENERAL   CONCLUSIONS. 

OETHWARD  my  course  now  lies  through  Colorado 
to  see  for  the  first  time  Manitou  and  Manitou 
Park,  stopping  on  the  way  at  Colorado  Springs, 
where  there  is  some  very  nice  English  society,  and 
where  society  in  general  claims  to  lead  that  of 
the  State  with  no  small  degree  of  well-founded  pretension.  A 
very  few  miles  westward  lies  the  village  of  Manitou,  which  I 
reached  at  night,  and  Dr.  Bell  insisted  upon  his  charming 
villa  being  my  temporary  home.  Next  morning  we  walked 
over  the  place,  and  drank  the  unusually  agreeable  mineral 
waters,  of  which  several  sorts  bubble  from  the  ground  into 
artificial  basins  above  Manitou — the  Shoshone,  a  mild  sulphur 
spring,  always  about  58° ;  the  Navajo,  slightly  alkaline,  and 
highly  charged  with  carbonic  acid  gas,  a  very  curious  com- 
bination, and  much  imbibed  by  rheumatic  patients.  K 
Dr.  Bell  had  not  told  me  of  the  combination  of  diluted  alkali 
and  acid  gas,  I  should  have  imagined  the  arrangement 
chemically  impossible.  Then  we  went  up  towards  the  TJte 
Pass.  The  road  through  here  cost,  for  a  mile  and  a  half, 
6000Z. ;.  but  the  undertaking  has  been  well  done,  and  a 
capital  highway  to  Fairplay  and  South  Park  now  exists, 
which  adds  greatly  to  the  rapid  development  of  those  dis- 
tricts into  which  a  branch  of  the  nice  little  "baby  rail- 
road" of  Colorado  will  certainly  run,  by  this  route,  in  a 
few  years. 


OARDEN  OF  THE  Q0D8.  99 

The  scenery  about  here  is  very  like  that  of  Silver  Plume  ; 
but  here,  in  addition,  are  many  deciduous  trees,  and  the 
rocks  are  much  more  distinctly  red  and  white.  The  Cliff 
Hotel,  second  only  to  the  Manitou  House,  a  very  comfort- 
able-looking one — the  charge  for  accommodation  at  which  is 
only  lOs.  per  day — is  passed,  and  up  Euxton  Creek  we 
readfted  the  Iron  or  Ruxton  Spring,  the  water  of  which  is 
delicious  and  most  invigorating.  I  have  since  heard  this 
termed  the  Iron  Ute.  I  take  every  pains  to  point  it  out,  for 
I  have  never  partaken  of  a  more  tonic  and  agreeable  water, 
and  I  often  go  a  good  deal  out  of  my  way  to  drink  what 
prove  both  bad  and  disagreeable  mineral  waters.  This 
spring  rises  through  granite  close  to  the  babbling,  rushing, 
swift,  clear  Ruxton  Creek.  The  only  mineral  baths  here  are 
those  connected  with  the  soda  spring  ;  but  I  have  no  doubt 
that  baths  of  this  iron  water,  which  is  abundant  and  always 
50°,  would  be  much  more  serviceable  than  soda  baths — of 
which  everywhere  I  have  my  doubts — for  invalids.  All 
these  mineral  springs  are  free  of  access  and  to  use — a 
company  formed  within  the  limits  of  the  Denver  and  Rio 
Grande  Company's  lands  being  the  landowners,  and  wishing 
to  build  up  the  town  of  Manitou  by  being  as  liberal  as  pos- 
sible to  visitors,  some  of  whom,  from  time  to  time,  settle  in 
this  pretty  quiet  mountain-foot  retreat.  The  pines  up  the 
canon  of  Ruxton  Creek  are  very  fine,  and  from  it  handsome 
mountains  extend  west  and  south-west  into  cloudland,  whilst 
a  long  canon  valley  vista  of  red  rock,  red  earth,  white  snow, 
and  green  pines  goes  off  to  the  north-east.  Here  also  Ahies 
picea,  or  Norway  pine — which  in  America  is  extremely  rare 
— grows  naturally.  I  will  now  ask  my  readers  to  walk  with 
^  Dr.  Bell  and  myself  into  the  "  Garden  of  the  Gods,"  near 
Manitou,  only  two  miles  from  Dr.  Bell's  villa,  over  a  hill, 
and,  as  first  seen  from  that  approach,  looking  extremely  un- 
impressive, and  evoking  actual  contempt  for  the  tastes  of  the 
deities  who  made  such  a  bad  selection  for  their  garden.     You 

h2 


100  COLORADO. 


look  down  upon  a  treeless,  stone-strewn,  and  not  very  grassy 
valley ;  but  as  you  draw  nearer,  purple,  pink,  red,  and  white, 
the  thin,  tall,  isolated  rocks  rise  in  solitary  magnificence 
three  to  four  hundred  feet  above  you.  Beds  of  gypsum 
separate  the  white  lime  from  the  old  red  sandstone ;  but  the 
said  red  sandstone  runs  by  imperceptible  degrees  into  the 
pink  and  purple.  Dr.  Bell  and  I  tried  to  get  upon  a  nigh 
white  ledge,  which  rose  like  an  Egyptian  pyramid  from  the 
plain  ;  but  its  top  proved  too  narrow  to  stand  on,  being  in 
fact  in  many  places  sharper  than  any  American  hotel  dinner 
knife.  Seen  from  it.  Pike,  snow-capped,  and  nearer  Cameron, 
pine-clad,  rose  through  a  massive  gateway  made  by  the  two 
red  rocks.  The  stratum  we  were  on  is  horizontal,  but  that  of 
the  red  sandstone  is  perpendicular. 

Glen  Erie,  G-eneral  Palmer's  residence,  lies  to  the  north,  at 
the  mouth  of  a  ravine  through  which  Camp  Creek  runs,  and 
there  all  the  "  old  red  sandstone  "  is  purple  (one  of  nature's 
finest  old  original  Irish  bulls),  a  most  intense  volcanic  heat 
having  altered  the  colour  of  nearly  every  sort  of  mineral 
and  stone  in  various  parts  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Some 
low  small  sandstone  rocks  are  just  here  burnt  quite  like  fire- 
tiles,  whilst  others  near  them  are  so  soft  that  you  can  pick 
them  to  pieces  with  your  fingers.  A  little  beyond  these  I 
discovered  that  what  I  had  taken  to  be  the  southern  red  and 
purple  isolated  rock,  was  in  reality  two  rocks,  each  like  a  mam- 
moth card  with  serrated  border  set  on  edge,  and  inclosing 
between  them  one  of  the  most  sheltered  and  lovely  little 
valleys  possible  to  conceive.  The  extent  of  this  shady  space 
may  be  about  twenty  acres ;  it  has  two  groves  in  it,  one  of 
eight  pines,  and  one  of  six  cedars.  The  red  and  purple  rock 
to  the  east  is  in  many  places  more  than  perpendicular ;  its 
top  is  a  perfect  saw  edge,  yet  one  little  tree  manages  to  grow 
on  it,  and  three  cedars  stick  in  a  singularly  awkward  and 
out-of -place  manner  into  its  face.  I  say  "  stick  in,"  for  really 
you  cannot  imagine  their  growing  out  of  it,  any  more  than 


ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SCENERY.  101 

you  can  a  bouquet  out  of  a  drawing-room  table  vase.     The 
western  rock  is  more  boulder-like,  and  rounder  in  contour ; 
the  few  cedars  on  that  do  not,  therefore,  look  so  much  out  of 
place.      The   Garden  of   the  G-ods  is   not  public  property, 
though  open  in  every  direction  to  a  public  who  have  cut 
their  marks  upon  every  one  of  the  few  accessible  trees — chiefly 
cedar — in  it,  with  a  vandalism  unworthy  of  the  American 
race.     The   consequence   is  that  the  Garden  of  the  Gods 
would  not  at  all  be  worth  stopping  to  see,  if  Manitou  Park, 
the  Ute  Pass,  and  South  Park  did  not  lie  directly  behind  it ; 
and  even  now,  if  one  is  in  the  least  bound  to  time,  it  is  not  a 
place  I  would  deviate  from  the  road  to  Manitou  Park  to  see. 
Indeed,  we  have  all  read  so  much  about  the  easily  accessible 
portions  of  the  Rocky  Mountains — which  include  only  a  very 
narrow  fringe  of  their  eastern  base — that  we  are  disposed  to 
listen  to  the  growls  of  the  hundreds,  and  even  thousands, 
who  annually  come  to  look  at  old  Pike  from  his  worst  points 
of    view,   viz.,    those    afforded    from    the    railway-carriage 
windows,  and  generally  from  the  eastern  side.     These  people, 
if  English,  will  tell  you  Pike  is  very  inferior  to  Snowdon,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  Alps  ;  and  Americans  from  New  York  or 
Pennsylvania  will  say,  "  Give  me  the  White  Mountains  or 
the  Alleghanies  for  real  difficulty  of  ascent,  and  some  sense 
of  achievement  when  we  get  to   the  summit."     People  of 
this  sort,  in  a  mad  six-hour  rush  along  the  base  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  previously  to  a  mad  fourteen  hours*  rush  through 
them  on  the  Union  Pacific,  forget  that  they  have  traversed 
only  the  flattest  and  easiest  portions  of  the  old  Rockies,  and 
not  only  go  home  knowing  almost  nothing  of  the  magni- 
ficent scenery  of  these  grand,  massive,  barren  mountains, 
but  with  positively  false  and  inverted  notions  of  magnitudes 
that  can  only  be  seen  and  appreciated  by  long  drives  or  runs 
over  the  mountain  divisions  of  the  Colorado   Central  from 
Denver,  or  from  Pueblo  over  the  Veta  Pass  in  the  mountain 
train  of  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande.     In  fine,  I  have  no 


102  COLORADO. 


patience  with  persons  who,  having  had  only  the  opportunity 
to  see  the  back  of  a  picture,  will  undertake  the  criticising  of 
the  details  of  its  execution. 

Manitou  Park  has  been  purchased  in  toto  by  Dr.  W.  A. 
Bell ;  its  timber  has  therefore  been  closely  preserved,  and  its 
8500  acres  devoted  successively  to  sheep,  which  were  not  a 
success  there,  and  to  cattle,  which  I  believe  will  be.  I  shall 
leave  until  returning  my  comments  on  the  scenery  of  the 
lovely  TJte  Pass,  through  which  ere  long  will  probably  run  a 
branch  of  the  Denver  and  Eio  G-rande  to  South  Park  and  Fair- 
play  Mines ;  indeed,  the  weather  was  so  bitterly  cold  when 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bell  drove  me  in  their  open  carriage  both  up 
and  down  this  pass  that  my  fingers  refused  to  chronicle  ideas, 
and  but  a  confused  mass  of  towering  rugged  rocks,  water- 
falls, sunshine,  snow,  frosty  starlight,  and  pines  remains 
as  my  souvenir  of  an  enjoyable  visit  to  this  most  bold-con- 
toured and  romantic  locality.  Leaving  Manitou  in  the 
afternoon,  we  ascended  for  fourteen  miles  to  an  elevation  of 
9000ft.,  winding  interminably  between  great  cliffs  and  moun- 
tains, following  the  Fountain  River  up  a  grade  of  about 
150ft.  to  the  mile — an  easily  practicable  one  for  a  narrow- 
gauge  railway  ;  and  the  chief  things  impressed  on  my 
memory  here  were  the  Fountain  Cascade  and  the  tallest  pines 
I  had  yet  seen  in  Colorado,  though  mere  babies  to  those 
in  Eastern  Texas.  Green  Mountain  House  appeared  a  com- 
fortable little  hotel  along  this  route.  Heavy  snow  clouds  cut 
off  the  tops  of  all  the  mountain  summits  at  the  head  of  the 
pass,  and  very  stone-cold  we  were  at  8.45  p.m.  as  we  drew  up 
at  the  particularly  comfortable  Manitou  Park  Hotel.  A 
game  supper  came  in  most  opportunely  at  this  juncture,  and 
the  next  morning  revealed  from  the  breakfast-room  windows 
a  long,  well-stocked,  fairly-gmssed  valley  stretching  away  to 
the  foot  of  Pike's  Peak,  which  from  this  point  of  view  shows 
seven  handsome  summits.  More  game  for  breakfast,  which 
was   admirably   sei-ved,   enabled  us  to  face   with  fortitude 


MANITOU  PARK.  103 


another  very  cold  drive  through  the  park,  but  we  had  a  pair 
of  good  fresh  horses,  who  footed  it  through  the  frozen  snow 
as  though  they  rather  liked  it  than  otherwise. 

First  we  went  to  what  are  called  "the  farms,"  though 
nothing  has  been  this  year  grown  on  one  of  them,  and  but  little 
on  the  other.  These  irrigated  tracts  are  under  fence,  with  two 
canals  in  each,  and  contain  in  the  aggregate  800  acres.  Now 
that  the  grasshoppers  have  departed,  no  doubt  the  visitor  to 
Manitou  Park  next  year  will  see  plenty  of  waving  grain 
in  these  inclosures. 

Some  of  the  700  head  of  improved  cattle  with  which  the 
doctor  keeps  his  grass  down  now  appeared  ;  they  were, 
though  evidently  well  bred,  very  rough-looking,  yet  in  good 
condition.  Indeed,  nothing  but  seeing  cattle  in  these  moun- 
tains will  persuade  a  stranger  that  the  bunchy  and  useless- 
looking  grass  can  support  and  even  fatten  animals.  The 
trees  are  stately  and  graceful  in  this  park  ;  and,  as  there  are 
no  precipices,  or  rivers,  or  ponds,  or  sharp  stones,  or  berries, 
it  is  a  place  where  nursery  maids  would  have  an  easy  life,  as 
they  could  turn  their  charges  loose  without  any  sort  of  risk.  In 
little  over  an  hour,  the  fish  ponds  and  the  residence  of  Dr. 
Bell's  manager,  Mr.  C.  Thornton,  were  reached  ;  and  the 
doctor  and  I  went  over  the  former,  which,  though  not  so 
large  or  on  so  pretentious  a  scale  as  those  of  Mr.  Cushman 
at  G-reen  Lake,  have  nevertheless  been  turned  to  much 
greater  pecuniary  advantage.  The  water  from  the  spring 
here  is  of  nearly  a  uniform  temperature  of  62° ;  the  fish 
house  is  16  yards  long  by  10  yards  wide,  and  contains  a 
number  of  breeding  trays  18in.  square,  each  of  which  holds 
2000  eggs,  and  accommodation  for  hatching  200,000  exists. 
Through  these  trays,  placed  in  rows  each  a  little  below  the 
other,  flows  the  well-regulated  water  supply,  which,  coming 
in  at  the  bottom  of  the  tanks,  rises  through  perforated  trays 
suspended  therein.  On  each  tray  is  a  layer  of  eggs  upon  gravel ; 
the  flow  is  of   course  almost  imperceptible,  and,  though  the 


104  COLORADO. 


spring  which  furnishes  it  is  pure  as  crystal,  it  is  obliged,  for 
fear  of  accidents,  to  flow  first  through  a  layer  of  gravel  and 
charcoal. 

Salmon  are  not  hatched  here,  as  in  Mr.  Cushman's  fish 
house,  for  only  the  Eocky  Mountain  trout,  and,  even  better, 
Salmo  fontinalis  from  the  Eastern  States,  are  found  to  grow 
and  increase  in  paying  quantities.  Dr.  Bell  commenced  very 
bravely  at  this  undertaking,  by  setting  100,000  eggs  of 
8.  fontinalis^  which  he  got  from  Mr.  Seth  Green ;  of  these 
88,000  successfully  hatched,  so  that  the  loss  was  only 
twelve  per  cent.  This  beginning  was  made  in  the  winter 
of  73  and '4 

The  next  summer,  50,000  mountain-trout  eggs  were  hatched ; 
the  next  winter  another  100,000  of  fontinalis  ;  and  since  then 
there  has  been  a  regular  increase  of  the  numbers  produced 
here.  The  Eastern  or  fontinalis  trout  spawns  in  December 
and  January ;  the  Eocky  Mountain  brook-trout  in  April, 
May,  and  June ;  so  two  hatchings  take  place  here  each 
season,  and  one  of  the  two  sorts  of  fish  is  always  in  good 
condition  for  the  table,  which,  in  a  district  cut  off  from  all 
other  fish  supplies,  is  a  most  incalculable  advantage. 

Next  we  visited  the  ponds,  cress-grovni  so  densely  that  it 
was  not  easy  to  see  the  fishes.  The  first  lot  were  three  and 
four  year  old  brook-trout,  weighing  from  three  quarters  to 
one  pound ;  these  were  marked  by  black  spots  all  the  way 
down  to  the  tail.  They  were  long,  brown,  and  rather  thin ; 
and  though  no  doubt  they  would  reach  five  and  six  pounds 
here,  as  they  do  at  G-reen  Lake,  Dr.  Bell  finds  that  they  do 
not  breed  so  well  after  exceeding  one  pound  in  weight.  At 
that  particular  juncture,  therefore,  they  are  transferred  from 
their  mountain  pond  to  the  fishmongers'  shop  windows  at 
Manitou  and  Colorado  Springs.  Of  these,  the  native  seniors 
of  the  settlement,  there  are  300,  and  at  the  head  of  their 
pond  is  a  smart  artificial  race,  which  they  scale  to  reach  the 
spawning  ground ;  the  female  goes  up  first. 


TROUT  PONDS.  105 


The  next  pond  contained  descendants  of  the  Eastern 
fontinaliSj  all  three  years  old,  and  numbering  five  hundred ; 
these  are  readily  distinguished  by  their  white  fins,  as  well  as 
by  their  being  generally  broader.  They  are  a  hardy,  game 
fish,  easy  to  handle  and  rear,  grow  faster,  are  of  a  better  shape, 
and  far  better  flavoured  than  the  mountain- trout ;  besides 
which,  they  are  in  the  best  condition  all  the  summer,  when, 
Colorado  being  full,  the  tourist  demand  for  them  is  at  its 
height. 

A  large  shoal  of  two-year-old  fontinalia,  which  had  been 
turned  out  of  their  pond  into  the  stream,  still  lingered  round 
the  shut  gate  of  their  old  home,  around  which  cling  many 
pleasing  reminiscences  of  bread  crumbs  and  other  dainties. 
30,000  yearlings,  also  fontinalis,  very  tiny,  navigated  the  in- 
terstices between  the  stems  of  another  cress-covered  pond. 
This  cress  is  not  indigenous ;  a  small  sprig  of  it  was  brought 
from  Denver  three  years  ago,  and  since  then  it  has  spread 
everywhere. 

The  reason  why  so  few  large  fish  are  seen  here  is,  that  Dr. 
Bell  has  a  contract  with  Riggs,  a  fishmonger  in  Colorado 
Springs,  to  deliver  to  him  all  he  wants  of  two-year-old  fonti- 
nalis. 21,000  were  to  go  from  here  to  Mr.  Eiggs  a  few  days 
after  I  left  Manitou  Park.  Riggs,  being  also  a  butcher, 
fattens  these  two-year-olds  very  rapidly  on  refuse  meat,  and 
sells  them  for  2s.  per  lb.  Half  of  this  price  he  gives  Dr. 
Bell  for  breeding  and  keeping  these  fish  for  two  years,  which 
— as  the  business  is  conducted  in  conjunction  with  the  grazing 
of  Manitou  Park,  and  consequently  costs  the  doctor  little — 
is  very  remunerative. 

Then  we  walk  down  Trout  Creek,  well  stocked  from  the 
aforesaid  ponds ;  the  fishing  here  will  be  rented  to  rods  by 
the  day  or  week.  Plenty  of  shade  and  plenty  of  rippling 
currents  diversify  this  stream  ;  the  neighbouring  mountains 
are  not  very  precipitous,  though  high  enough  for  all  purposes 
of  view-climbmg ;  and  to  the  American  public,  who  do  not 


106  COLORADO. 


believe  in  working  for  amusement,  this  portion  of  the  park  is. 
commending  itself  rapidly.  Now  Trout  Creek  runs  into  a  rock 
basin,  which  again  opens  into  a  narrow  ten-mile  creek  running 
into  the  Canon  of  the  Platte ;  this  last  named  outlet  Dr.  Bell 
has  dammed  at  its  head  so  substantially,  that  the  mountain 
basin  now  forms  a  lovely  deep  lake  of  fourteen  acres — a  regular 
reserve  of  trout,  21,000  fontinalisj  which  will  be  three  years 
old  next  May,  inhabiting  it.  The  dam  is  100ft.  long,  15ft. 
high,  30ft.  wide  at  the  base ;  it  is  built  of  stone  and  pines^ 
forming  a  neat  quay  for  the  fishing  boats. 

Passing  some  deer  tracts  in  eight  inches  of  snow,  we  as- 
cended a  steep  hill  for  the  sake  of  views,  and  half-way  up^ 
pausing  for  breath,  looked  down  on  the  lake  dam.  A  white- 
snowed  hill  was  in  front ;  a  red  sandstone  hill  at  the  opposite 
side  of  the  lake ;  a  semi-castellated,  red  and  browny  stratified 
series  of  horizontal  rocks  to  the  right ;  and  behind  were  all 
sorts  and  shapes  of  rounded  granite.  No  cactus  grew  here, 
but  all  the  branches  of  the  pines  were  dotted  with  lumps  of 
snow,  which  in  the  bright  sunshine  gave  them  the  appearance 
of  mammoth  cottoned  plants.  Then  we  turned  round  a 
boulder,  lost  sight  of  the  lake,  frightened  a  few  of  that 
most  frisky  and  graceful  little  squirrel,  the  chipmunk,  and 
looked  down  a  canon  of  800ft.  The  opposite  side  is  not  very 
far  from  being  perpendicular,  and  from  the  bottom  of  this 
rocky  cleft  grow  pines  over  a  hundred  feet  high.  To  look 
right  down  at  the  top  of  one  of  these  monsters  of  the  forest 
imparts  quite  a  novel  and  curious  sensation,  as  if  things 
generally  were  turned  upside  down.  To  the  left  is  a  well- 
wooded  steep  hill,  with  a  broken  battlemented  top.  Nature 
does  not  consider  the  glittering  heaps  of  frozen  snow  here 
and  there  brilliant  enough,  for  millions  of  mica  particles 
glisten  and  sparkle — more  than  did  ever  jewels  in  a  crown — 
from  their  massive  granite  settings ;  these  granite  settings  often 
taking  the  forms  of  extraordinary-shaped  boulders,  that  seem 
to  be  miraculously  held  to  the  mountain  sides.     Opposite  is. 


BEAVERS.  107 


a  precipice,  on  the  top  of  which  pines,  growing,  stand  in 
sharp  relief  against  the  clear  blue,  summer-like  Colorado 
winter  sky.  I  can  conceive  no  more  pleasant  week's  or 
month's  amusement  than  to  roam  about  these  parks — North, 
South,  or  Middle,  Este's  or  Manitou — even  if  one  never  saw 
sign  of  game  ;  fish  are  to  be  had  in  all  of  them,  I  believe,  in 
abundance.  Of  Este's  Park,  I  know  only  by  hearsay  ;  but  I 
can  quite  picture  it  as  being  almost,  if  not  quite,  equal  to 
Manitou  Park.  The  reader  will  note  that  Manitou  and  Manitou 
Park  are  entirely  different  places,  the  Ute  Pass  and  twenty- 
five  miles  separating  them. 

The  Douglas  spruce,  which  grows  twice  as  fast  as  pine,  and 
is  much  more  valuable,  grows  around  Manitou  Park  Lake,  on 
which  there  were,  greatly  to  my  surprise,  no  ducks.  Back  to 
Mr.  Thornton's  house  and  Mrs.  Bell's  carriage,  the  doctor 
and  I  wended  our  way  by  the  stream,  which  contained  a  good 
many  beaver  dams.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  beavers  always 
keep  on  the  move,  staying  one,  two,  or  three  years  at  one 
place,  till  all  the  willows — their  favourite  food — are  eaten. 
They  also  make  long  nocturnal  rambles  in  quest  of  the 
quaking  aspen,  of  which  they  are  passionately  fond  ;  this  they 
cut  into  lengths  of  about  two  and  a  half  feet,  and  pull  down 
to  their  dam,  which  is  always  built  of  peeled  twig,  not  for 
ornament  or  neatness,  but  because  the  twigs,  when  cut  down 
and  their  bark  eaten  for  breakfast,  come  in  most  readily  as 
material  for  the  day's  building.  Beavers  are  very  rarely  seen 
working  in  the  day  time ;  but  when  heavy  mountain  floods 
come  down,  the  instinct  to  save  his  home  proves  too  strong 
for  the  little  animal's  natural  bashfulness,  and  Dr.  Bell,  on 
one  of  these  occasions,  witnessed  a  band  of  workers  shovel- 
ling up  the  mud,  and  slapping  it  with  their  flat  tails  between 
the  crevices  of  the  edifice,  smoothing  it  all  over  so  that  the 
rushing  water  should  not  have  anything  to  take  hold  of  and 
tear  away.  To  the  right-hand  side  of  this  stream  can  be  seen 
a  very  handsome  formation  of  sedimentary  rock  over   red 


108  COLORADO. 


granite  ;  all  these  horizontal  layers,  some  eighteen  in  nnmher, 
vary  in  shade,  the  whole  forming  a  most  brilliant  cliff  of  over 
two  hundred  feet  high.     Now  we  are  back  at  Mr.  Thornton's 
little  villa,  which   stands  in  front  of  ricks  of  sweet  hay :  a 
red  and  white  rock-battlemented  hill,  wherein    are    caves, 
guards  the  dwelling  from  the  north  wind,  and  a  low-pined 
highland  breaks  the  gentler  south-wester.     We  pull  a  few 
speckled  beauties  out  of  the  ponds  for  dinner,  and  then  drive 
back  to  the  hotel — thinking,  I  fear,  to  the  full  as  much  about 
dinner  as  of  the  scenery.     We  pass  pine  trees  barked  by  the 
harmless  Ute  Indians ;  this  at  first  looks  like  wanton  mis- 
chief, but  it  is  not  so,  for  the  Utes  make  soup  of  this  pine  bark. 
A  splendid  glimpse  of  old  Pike  is  now  had  as  he  rises  at  the 
end  of  a  flat  snow-covered  vale,  the  monotony  of  which  is 
only  broken  by  tall  isolated  pines.     Old  Pike's  rounded  out- 
lines— rounded  even  to  his  summit — contrast  strikingly  with 
the  sharp-edged  tops  of  the  aristocratic  courtiers  who  crowd 
round  their  hoary  king,  they  being  clear  of  snow,  but  pine  clad, 
each  to  the  very  apex.     Old  Pike  is  covered  with  the  snowy 
mantle,  which  is  so  seldom  lifted  from  his  massive  shoulders  that 
the  boldest  and  hardiest  conifers  dare  not  approach  them.  The 
blue  primrose,  the  white  and  blue  gentian,  and  a  very  beauti- 
ful little  forget-me-not,  are,  with  a  few  delicate  lichens,  alone 
permitted  to  adorn  the  head  of  the  mountain  monarch,  and 
even  they  but  during  the  last  few  weeks  of  waning  summer. 
To  thus  summarise  my  sensations  of  the  view  here  took  me 
all  the  time  occupied  by  the  eight-mile  drive  to  the  hotel,  and 
the  dinner,  of  which  I  much  regret  I  did  not  take  a  specific 
note,  was  simply  exquisite  ;  it  was  of  course  a  special  one, 
but  I  have  no  doubt  that  all  the  dinners  at  the  Manitou  Park 
Hotel  are  veiy  good. 

Evening  had  already  begun  to  set  in  ere  we  started  for 
our  return  twenty- five-mile  drive  to  Manitou.  It  was  still 
and  frosty,  and,  as  the  sun  went  down,  the  points  of  Pike's 
Peak  changed  from  dead  white  to  living,  burning  gold.     We 


FLORISSANT  FOSSILS.  109 


descended  a  valley,  and,  though  the  doctor  drove  very  quickly, 
when  we  got  in  a  few  minutes  to  the  top  of  the  next  hill  a 
glowing  purple  had  replaced  the    golden  splendour  of  the 
mountain  top ;  another  valley  and  another  rise  showed  it  pale 
silver  as  we  got  out  of  the  park ;  and  then  a  dull  whitey-grey 
settled  on  the  giant  peak  during  the  remainder  of  our  starlit 
mountain-pass  drive.     I  fancy  when  I  commenced  I  might  be 
able  to  give  some  idea  of  this  pass  scenery,  but  I  find  I 
cannot.     Before  finally  taking  leave  of  Manitou  Park,  I  must 
allude  to    the  wonderful    discoveries    made    this    year    at 
Florissant — one  day's  drive  west  of  the  Ute  pass — just  above 
and  west  of  Manitou  Park,  on  the  edge  of  South  Park,  and 
but  30  miles  from  Colorado  Springs.     There  is  found  a  fine 
siliceous   sandstone,  its   grain  so  minute  as  to   be   almost 
impalpable,  the   stone  resembling  that  of  Solenhofen ;    but 
in  the  stone  at  Florissant,  petrified  insects,  very  much  more 
numerous  than  exist  in  that  of  Solenhofen,  are  found,  as  well 
as  beautiful  petrified  birds.     Trees,  maple  leaves,  leaves  of 
elm  and  willow,  ferns  and  flowers,  all  are  here  petrified,  as 
are  many  grasshoppers,  spiders,  and  several  fish,  their  scales 
perfect  and  their  tails  split  like  pike.     One  butterfly  is  so 
clearly  imbedded  that  the  scales  on  its  wings  are  seen,  and  of 
the  beetles  the  articulations  and  clubs  of  their  antennae  can  be 
distinguished,  like  the  finest  pencil  drawing  on  lithographic 
stone.     This  district  is  now  8500ft.  above  sea  level.     These 
animals  must  have  lived  a  million  or  more  years  ago,  in  ter- 
tiary times,  and,  as  a  petrified  palmetto  leaf  here  testifies,  when 
Colorado  was  tropical  before  being  submarine. 

Professor  Scudder,  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  has  pub- 
lished in  Vol.  TV.  of  the  Bulletin  of  Hayden's  Geological 
Survey  (Washington,  1878,  pp.  519 — 543)  a  full  description 
of  these  wonderful  discoveries,  extending  so  numerously 
over  such  a  large  area  that  fine  specimens  sell  for  3id.  on  the 
ground,  and  two  or  three  people  there  are  growing  compara- 
tively wealthy  by  their  sale  at  even  this  low  rate. 


110  COLORADO. 


One  mile  nortli  of  Florissant  is  Judge  Costello's  house,  and 
above  a  cliff,  with  remains  of  ancient  Indian  dwellings.  Here 
are  a  number  of  holes  4ft.  deep  in  porphyritic  rock ;  these 
were  used  to  boil  water,  the  needful  temperature  being  pro- 
duced by  throwing  in  red-hot  stones.  Dr.  Lamborn,  at 
Colorado  Springs,  also  kindly  showed  me  a  green  porphyry 
hammer  head,  used  in  a  sling  for  mining  by  the  former 
inhabitants  of  Arizona,  sold  to  him  for  a  shilling  in  the 
town. 

I  did  not  remain  long  in  Colorado  Springs.  The  hotels 
there  are  very  inferior  to  those  at  Manitou,  and  23,000  miles 
of  travel  during  the  past  twenty  months  had  made  me  too 
rough  for  the  elite  of  Colorado  Springs,  where  one  is  expected 
to  dress  rather  better  than  in  London,  and  always  to  have 
plenty  of  time  to  do  nothing  in.  I  was,  however,  most 
kindly  received,  and  found  the  El  Paso  Club  a  very  nice 
and  friendly  one,  but  I  had  to  move  onward  through  the 
State  amongst  my  English  friends,  whose  prospects  were 
materially  brightening,  owing  to  the  absence  of  the  detestable 
grasshopper.  I  reached  Denver  by  the  mountain  division  of 
the  Colorado  Central,  without  going  over  which  no  one 
should  leave  Colorado.  In  Denver,  I  met  some  gentlemen 
who  had  vainly  been  looking  for  sport  in  Northern  Colorado, 
and  along  the  line  of  the  Kansas  Pacific ;  these  I  sent  down 
to  my  friend  Potter,  of  Lakin,  on  the  Arkansas,  whither  I 
concluded  the  early  heavy  snowstorms  of  this  year  had  driven 
the  game,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  the  event  proved  that  I  had 
rightly  judged.  The  great  advantage  of  Lakin  as  a  late  shoot- 
ing ground  is,  that  there  is  no  occasion  to  camp  out — always  a 
disagreeable  thing  to  do  in  snow.  Antelope  abound  there  at 
all  seasons  of  the  year;  there  is  up  to  December  a  good 
chance  of  seeing  a  few  buffaloes,  and  even  later  on  an 
occasional  one  pays  the  place  a  visit — for,  save  Potter's 
comfortable  little  hotel,  and  the  telegraph  operator's 
house,  there  are  no  human  innovations  on  the  Lakin  plains, 


GLEN  EYRIE.  Ill 


and  the  wild  animals  are  not  much  disturbed ;  indeed,  the 
-wild  geese  and  ducks  are  almost  too  tame  for  continued  sport 
there  in  cold  weather. 

I  shall  close  my  scenic  descriptions  of  Colorado  with  a 
sketch  of  a  run  I  had  in  the  summer  of  1878  with  the  editors 
of  the  leading  American  German  papers.  The  places  I  have 
previously  introduced  to  the  reader  were  then  nearly  all 
revisited  by  me  with  this  party  of  sixteen  gentlemen  and 
four  ladies  as  guests  of  the  Atchison,  Topeka,  and  Santa  Fe 
Eailroad. 

First,  then,  let  us  drive  from  Manitou  to  Grien  Eyrie, 
■General  Palmer's  residence ;  this  I  have  merely  named 
before,  so  let  me  sketch  it.  You  leave  Manitou  and  drive 
through  the  Garden  of  the  Gods.  Rock  pillars  and  cliffs 
soon  close  in  the  prospect;  then  you  have  to  leave  the 
carriages  after  an  hour's  delightful  drive,  and  are  oppo- 
site the  artistic  and  very  comfortable  wooden  residence  of 
the  gallant  general,  which  you  leave  on  the  left  hand,  turn- 
ing up  the  stream  through  a  long  winding  canon.  Eocks, 
cypresses,  and  cedar  shrubs,  clear  sparkling  waterfalls,  and 
picturesque  vistas  on  all  sides,  beset  and  delightfully  diversify 
the  walk — or  rather  scramble — up  the  rock-bound  banks  or 
walls  of  this  precipitous  mountain  stream.  At  length  further 
ascent  becomes  impossible,  in  consequence  of  a  large  basin, 
called  the  Devil's  Punchbowl,  being  formed  by  a  cascade  of 
considerable  height,  which  has  cut  and  filled  the  bowl,  a  deep 
reservoir  from  side  to  side  of  the  rock  cleft.  Round  this 
bowl  are  several  admirable  vantage  stand-points,  from  which 
the  most  charming  views  can  be  had,  and  a  heavy  flood 
existing  when  we  were  there  caused  so  much  difficulty  in 
getting  to  the  Punchbowl,  that  we  appreciated  it  all  the  more 
when  at  last  we  stood  on  its  brink. 

Next  our  run  was  to  Canon  City,  and  thence  on  to  the 
Grand  Canon  of  the  Arkansas.  I  do  not  imagine  anyone 
will  differ  in  opinion  with  me  when  I  say  that  this  will  be  by 


112  COLORADO. 


far  the  most  magnificent  railway  pass  in  the  world  when  the 
railroad  is  completed  through  it ;  so  let  me  proceed  to  give 
just  two  sketches  of  its  scenery,  as  we  saw  in  June  the  silvery 
Arkansas  winding  like  a  thread  under  the  lofty  walls  of  the 
Eocky  Mountains.  This  silver  thread  is  imbedded  in  purple, 
white,  and  red  rocks,  amid  which  grow  all  sizes  of  little  green 
shrubs.  Such  at  least  they  appeared  to  us  from  the  top,  as 
we  adventui'ously  crept  out  to  the  outer  boulders  of  the  vast 
two-thousand-feet-high  precipice  ;  but  these  little  shrubs  ^re 
lofty  pines.  Look  behind  them  and  back  eastward  there 
you  see  a  vista  of  the  vast  unbroken  plain  that  fur  seven 
hundred  miles  stretches  away  to  the  Missouri  Eiver.  Un- 
broken? Well,  it  is  indeed  getting  very  much  broken  by 
South  Kansas  settlers,  chiefly  most  industrious  Germans ;  but 
the  plain  of  which  we  catch  a  glimpse  here  has  only  been  broken 
by  art.  Nature  intended  it  possibly  for  a  bowling  green 
or  a  billiard  table  for  the  Eocky  Mountain  gods,  who  have 
their  garden  so  near  Dr.  Bell's  at  Manitou.  Look  westward ; 
a  hundred  snowy  peaks  rise  in  grand  relief  against  the  clear 
cloudless  blue  sky,  which  looks  so  high  that,  despite  our 
elevation  of  nearly  ten  thousand  feet,  heaven  appears 
further  off  than  ever.  We  stand  in  a  green  little  valley; 
but  on  all  sides  rises  nigged  nature,  arid,  sandy,  stony,  and 
rocky. 

"Was  fiir  eine  Untemehmung  fiir  eine  Eisenbahn!"  ex- 
claimed one,  and  echoed  many,  of  our  G-erman  editors ;  and 
then  they  shook  hands  in  a  congratulatory  way  with  the 
cheery  foreign  agent  of  the  Atchison,  Topeka,  and  Santa  Fe 
Eailway,  and  we  all  drank  success  to  the  enterprise  in  many 
glasses  of  lager  beer,  as  we  sat  round  our  rug  tablecloth  on 
the  walls  of  the  amazing  bed  of  the  Arkansas.  Now  we 
go  to  another  point.  A  few  little  dot-like  specks  far  down 
the  canon  are  pointed  out  to  us  as  the  tents  of  the  engineering 
staff.  South,  tower  the  magnificent  summits  of  the  Sangre 
de  Cristo  range,  and  an  occasional  giant  of  the  same  family 


GRAND  CAMON.  113 


further  removed  appears  S.W.,  between  the  nearer  10,500 
peaks.  A  point  of  rock  jutting  out  over  the  canon  is  our 
last  objective  point,  and  thither  we  drive ;  but  the  storm 
king,  who,  in  conjunction  with  Pluvius,  very  constantly  asserts 
his  right  over  Colorado  in  June,  here  intervened,  and  until 
the  said  Boreas  and  Pluvius  had  asserted  their  prerogative 
we  had  only  to  huddle  together  in  our  carriages  and  make  the 
best  of  the  inevitable.  At  length  the  still  spirit  of  windless 
mountain  Colorado  reigned  once  more,  and  down  to  the  point 
of  rocks,  all  glittering  and  dripping  in  the  level  evening  rays 
of  the  b  m,  we  scrambled  and  stumbled.  The  canon  walls 
were  here  more  than  perpendicular,  grand  and  rugged ;  and 
from  here  one  could  see  how  very  often  the  railway  will  have 
to  cross  from  side  to  side  of  the  mighty  chasm  in  order  to 
remind  the  travelling  public  that  straight  lines  have  not  alto- 
gether ceased  to  exist. 

I  heard  a  tourist  here  say  that  the  Grand  Canon  was  a  sight 
that  no  one  would  care  to  see  more  than  once,  and  the  remark 
brought  Cowper's  lines  at  once  into  my  mind — 

How  mtich  a  dimce  that  has  been  sent  to  roam 
Excels  a  dunce  who  has  been  kept  at  home. 

In  my  opinion,  anyone  who  has  once  seen  the  Grand  Canon 
would  never  wish  to  lose  another  opportunity  of  seeing  it, 
and  would  find  new,  fresh,  and  grander  beauties  in  it  each 
time  he  gazed  down  the  fearful  abyss,  or  looked  upwards 
from  the  bottom  on  those  grand  walls,  compared  with  which 
all  the  most  massive  fortifications  reared  by  man  fade  into 
contemptible  insignificance.  . 

Describing  such  scenery  as  is  here,  is  utterly  beyond  the 
power  of  any  pen.  Such  writers  as  have,  in  their  own  opinion, 
fully  pourtrayed  all,  or  even  most,  of  its  features  upon  paper, 
show  conclusively  that  they  have  never  appreciated  or  under- 
stood them.  To  my  readers,  then,  I  commend  the  Grand  Canon, 
as  soon  as  they  hear  that  a  railway  runs  through  it ;  even  in  the 
railway  course,  the  speed  must  necessarily  be  slow,  so  none 

I 


114  COLORADO. 


of  the  views  will  be  lost,  and  to  a  masterpiece  of  nature  will 
be  superadded  a  grand  display  of  engineering  art.  Let  us 
now  drive  back  to  Canon  City,  twelve  miles  through  the 
waning  twilight,  and  then  ascertain  at  the  Sanderson  Hotel 
that  our  train — the  only  passenger  one  out  of  Canon  City — 
leaves  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  This  extraordinary 
arrangement  is  disgraceful  in  the  extreme  to  the  leading 
tourist  line  of  Colorado,  and  should  not  be  maintained  for 
a  day  longer.  In  the  opinion  of  every  tourist  whom  I  have 
ever  met  in  Colorado,  such  blundering  management  is  not, 
however,  likely  to  be  continued  now  that  the  Atchison, 
Topeka,  and  Santa  Fe  railroad  has  leased  the  Denver  and 
Rio  Grande. 

I  will  conclude  this  account  of  my  Colorado  experiences 
with  some  advice  as  regards  emigration  to  that  State.  With- 
out a  question,  life  is  far  more  enjoyable  there,  and  nearly 
everything  said  of  its  charms  is  true ;  but  who  is  making 
money  in  the  State  ?  and  where  is  it  being  made  ?  Does  any 
English  settler  there  ever  expect  to  be  able  to  do  more  than 
live  comfortably?  To  live  comfortably  in  a  climate  so 
exquisite  that  you  would  scarcely  wish  the  character  of  a 
single  day  changed* ;  to  live  a  good  deal  in  English  society, 

*  As  to  the  weather  in  Colorado,  no  one  need  change  his  standard  ideas 
of  excellent  climate.  Colorado  suits  everyone — the  Chinaman,  the  negro, 
the  Indian,  and  every  European  race,  thrive  and  improve  in  it.  You 
seldom  see  people  very  thin  or  very  stout  there  ;  you  see  many  invalids, 
but  they  are  all  sojourners  from  other  States  and  countries.  Rains  in 
Colorado  come  only  in  their  due  seasons,  when  they  descend  smartly  and 
have  done  with  it ;  and,  mountainous  as  is  all  the  State  east  of  Denver, 
it  is  singularly  windless.  I  have  seldom  had  any  difficulty  in  lighting  my 
pipe  out  of  doors  with  a  lucifer  match  in  Colorado — a  very  difficult  feat  to 
perform  in  Kansas  or  Nebraska.  Another  advantage  in  Colorado  is  that 
for  the  farmer  no  such  event  as  a  drought  can  ever  possibly  occur,  for  all 
farming  is  there  done  by  irrigation ;  the  hotter  the  summer,  the  more 
the  snow  melts,  and  snow  is  a  crop  that  has  never  been  exhausted,  and 
never  will  be,  on  the  mountain  walls  of  the  birthplaces  of  the  Arkansas 
and  the  Platte. 


ENGLISH  SETTLERS.  115 


and  to  feast  your  eyes  daily — aye,  and  often  nightly — on 
scenery  which  cannot  be  surpassed  for  magnificence  and 
variety  in  the  world  :  that  of  course  has  its  attractions,  and 
very  great  they  are.  Had  a  recent  writer  in  The  Field  been 
correctly  informed,  and  could  you  make  36  per  cent,  of 
money — viz.,  18  per  cent  interest  to  the  banks,  and  18  per 
cent,  profit  in  Colorado,  then  it  would  indeed  be  Utopia,  and 
almost  Paradise.  My  visit  to  Colorado  extended  altogether 
over  six  months,  and  I  have  been  in  correspondence  for 
fourteen  months  with  English  gentlemen  in  that  State.  In 
1877,  I  found  almost  every  settler  down  the  favoured  valley 
of  Plum  Creek,  willing,  if  not  anxious,  to  sell  his  ranche; 
similarly  minded  were  the  ranchers  along  the  Boulder  valley 
district.  Splendid  farms  were  offered  to  me  in  the  valley 
west  of  Saguache  for  lOOOZ.,  and  the  only  Englishmen  that  I 
could  hear  of  really  making  money  in  the  State  were  Dr. 
Bell,  who  commands  a  great  deal  of  English  capital,  and  has 
at  least  a  dozen  railway  and  other  irons  in  the  fire,  besides 
his  agricultural  and  pastoral  pursuits,  and  Messrs.  T.  J.  and 
James  Livesay,  who  have  invested  more  than  30,000Z.  in  land 
and  sheep.  Mr.  Barclay,  M.P.,  for  Aberdeen,  in  lending 
money  from  10  to  12  per  cent.,  benefits  both  his  company 
and  the  State  of  Colorado ;  but  all  these  enterprises  are 
nearly  altogether  outside  of  emigration  proper.  Of  Colorado 
this  at  least  can  be  said,  that  you  can  live  with  the  maximum 
of  comfort  on  a  minimum  income,  which,  with  light,  pleasant, 
healthful  labour,  you  can  to  some  extent  increase.  You  can 
start  in  Colorado  on  a  ranche  with  lOOOZ.  and  live  in  mode- 
rate plenty,  but  with  little  chance  of  ever  being  worth  5000Z. 
In  South  Kansas,  with  the  same  capital,  you  live  not  nearly 
so  comfortably  or  enjoyably,  but  it  is  certainly  very  healthy, 
and  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  your  becoming  actually 
wealthy,  by  enlarging  your  operations  year  after  year — the 
thing  that  it  is  so  very  hard  to  do  in  Colorado,  where  you 
cannot  extend  the  size  of  valleys,  except  by  putting  soil  on 

i2 


116  COLORADO. 


the  adjacent  rocks.  To  him  who  says,  "  I  have  three  or  foiir 
hundi'ed  a  year.  I  cannot  afford  to  live  in  England.  I  do 
not  want  to  suffer  any  privations,  social,  or  otherwise.  I 
want  a  little  shooting,  and  a  little  fishing,  and,  as  long  as  my  . 
capital  is  not  broken  in  upon,  I  rather  like  something  to  do 
in  the  way  of  farming  or  stock  raising ;  in  fact,  I  want  to  get 
to  some  healthy  place  where  I  can  get  all  my  amusements 
for  nothing,  and  spend  my  income  exclusively  upon  neces- 
saries of  life  and  for  my  children's  education  at  home ; "  to 
him  (and  he  represents  a  large  class  of  people),  I  say  "  go  to 
Colorado."  To  the  celibate,  the  young  dashing  fellow  full 
of  energy  and  life,  or  to  the  man  who  says,  *'  I  will  work 
hard  for  ten  or  fifteen  years,  and  then  I  must  get  home  to 
enjoy  the  last  half  of  my  life  with  plenty  of  money ;  mean- 
while I  don't  care  how  I  live  or  how  I  rough  it,"  I  say 
"  go  to  North-west  or  West  Texas  sheep  farming  on  free 
ranges,  or,  to  be  quite  secure,  farm  and  fatten  cattle  in 
South  Kansas." 

To  actual  capitalists — ^to  men  with  10,000Z.  and  upwards 
— probably  every  western  State  offers  nearly  equal  ad- 
vantages, but  none  nearly  so  great  for  residence  as  Colorado. 
Money  makes  money  with  amazing  rapidity  in  Western 
America  ;  few  local  bankers  in  either  Texas,  Kansas,  or 
Colorado  now  draw  less  than  50  per  cent,  on  the  capital  they 
originally  invested,  and  so  great  is  their  political  influence  that 
they  may  be  said  to  govern  the  country.  Those  at  home  whol 
say  that  money  governs  England,  know  little  of  the  way  in  / 
which  the  vox  populi  in  America  is  drowned  in  the  coffers  ofj 
the  National  Banks.  There  are  few  large  schemes,  however 
legitimate,  in  Colorado,  that  have  not  had  to  pay  what  can- 
not be  considered  other  than  black  mail  to  the  National 
Bank  in  Denver,  to  be  permitted  to  either  enter  on  existence, 
or  to  continue  in  it.  Peep  inside  the  melancholy  history  of 
the  Maxwell  grant,  the  Sangre  de  Christo,  or  St.  Luis  Valley 
grant,  and  the  misfortunes  of  the  Terrible,  and   shoals   of 


IRRIGATION  SCHEME.  117 


splendid  mines  in  which  for  ever  have  been  millions  of  English 
and  Dutch  money  lost,  and  the  English  capitalist  can  see  that 
all  is  not  gold  that  glitters  towards  the  setting  sun.  Neverthe- 
less there  are  in  Colorado  enterprises  that  do  not  glitter  very 
much,  but  still  are  good,  though  they  may  be  like  the.  noto- 
rious Kansas  Pacific,  which  even  with  all  the  advantages  of 
the  rising  States  through  which  it  runs,  will,  imless  honestly 
managed,  never  pay  any  appreciable  dividends  to  people  who 
are  fools  enough  to  invest  in  enterprises  over  which  they  can 
exercise  no  control. 

In  Colorado,  many  unusual  conditions  novel  to  the  English 
farmer  exist,  which  I  wish  to  state  in  reference  to  a  very  large 
(chiefly  English)  imdertaking  which  has  been  several  times 
attempted  to  be  floated  in  London,  and  which  would  irri- 
gate over  700,000  acres  round  and  to  the  north  of  Denver.  This 
speculation  deserves  more  than  a  passing  notice ;  and  nothing 
but  bad  or  dishonest  management  is  likely  to  mar  its  success. 
But  of  both  bad  and  dishonest  management  there  has  been 
so  much  in  Colorado,  that  I  sincerely  trust,  not  only  for  the 
sake  of  the  shareholders,  but  for  that  of  the  most  enjoyable 
state  of  the  Union,  this  irrigation  business  will  not  fall 
among  thieves.  One  real  success  of  any  farming  sort  would 
make  Colorado  almost  an  English  colony,  and  interest  would 
rapidly  then  recede  from  18  to  5  per  cent.  One  of  the  pro- 
moters of  this  business,  I  presume,  knows  my  judgment  of 
him  too  well  to  wish  me  to  express  any  opinion  on  it; 
but  out  of  evil  good  may  come,  as  he  is,  though  a  pro- 
moter, only  one  shareholder,  and  the  management  is  to  be 
English,  whereas  the  design  and  engineering  have  wisely  been 
left  in  able  Colorado  hands.  The  greater  portion  of  the  land 
has  been  agreed  for  at  a  moderate  price,  viz.,  7s.  per  acre,  from 
the  Denver  Pacific,  the  Kansas  Pacific,  and  Government.  The 
ditch  will  be  taken  from  the  Platte,  and  run  through  the 
foot  hills  in  a  tunnel.  This  seventy  odd  miles  of  canal  will 
be  30ft.  wide  at  the  bottom  and  6ft.  deep,  and  will  irrigate 


118  COLORADO. 

fifteen  times  as  mucli  land  as  is  at  present  under  ditch  in 
Colorado.  When  it  is  remembered  that  no  irrigation  scheme 
in  that  State  has  ever  failed ;  that  irrigated  G-reeley  has  been 
the  only  settlement  there  that  has  weathered  the  grasshopper 
storm ;  and  that  the  average  wheat  yield  of  irrigated  ground 
in  Colorado  has  been  thirty  bushels,  and  its  average  price  3s.  6d. 
-per  bushel,  everything  looks  bright  for  the  new  canal  pros- 
pects. The  cereals  of  Colorado  have  no  equals  in  America ;  but 
they  have  been  so  out  of  all  proportion  heretofore  to  the  wants 
of  the  State,  that  but  few  emigrational  enthusiasts  have  talked 
at  all  to  me  about  crops,  or  held  out  any  hope  of  profit  to  the 
the  settler  other  than  what  he  could  derive  from  stock,  horse 
raising,  and  hay.  The  idea,  of  course,  is  to  sell  the  irrigated  lands 
to  emigrants  from  the  east  for  about  11.  per  acre,  and  charge 
them  besides  a  moderate  water  rent.  Big  fish  will  eat  little 
fish  to  the  end  of  time,  and  the  opinions  of  settlers  on  this 
new  property  are  rather  in  favour  of  high  taxation  to  enable 
the  company  to  pay  a  profit ;  but  no  doubt,  if  good  manage- 
ment is  practised,  English  shareholders  and  English  settlers 
will  alike  be  benefited,  no  less  than  the  promoters  and  the 
State  of  Colorado.  What  a  blessed  consummation  I  have 
drawn!  Let  us  hope  that  the  dream  may  come  true,  and 
that  the  future  stream  of  American  water  there,  induced  by 
English  capital  to  leave  its  native  golden  sands,  may  nourish 
waving  grain  where  since  the  Flood  only  cactus  and  burrs 
have  grown,  and  drown  in  countless  myriads  the  next  gene- 
ration of  grasshoppers,  which  past  experience  has  shown  may 
again,  sooner  or  later,  come  southward  on  a  tour  of  inspection 
and  devastation.  The  bare  mention  of  the  word  "  irrigation  " 
quite  frightens  farmers  at  home,  but  here  it  is  wonderful  how 
soon  they  invert  their  ideas  of  drainage ;  for  irrigation  is 
merely  the  converse  of  draining,  one  caiTying  off  the  water  in 
ditches,  the  other  putting  it  on  by  exactly  similar  means. 
Nevertheless,  irrigation  is  nice  work,  and  requires  to  be  done 
with  the  greatest  care  and  judgment  to  an  exact  degree,  else 


CONCLUSION.  119 


jour  crop  will  be  drowned  out,  or  partially  burned  up.  The 
Mexicans  and  some  Mexican  Indians  are  the  most  successful 
irrigators  in  this  continent,  and  appear  to  know  to  a  drop 
what  amount  of  moisture  will  best  develop  com,  wheat,  or 
onions.  Independently  of  this  large  agricultural  scheme,  a 
great  quantity  of  the  best  land  in  Colorado,  along  the  Colorado 
Central  main  line  between  Boulder  and  Fort  Collins,  can  be 
easily  and  rather  cheaply  irrigated.  This  land  is  the  plain 
that  runs  from  the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  along  the 
Platte  river,  and  may  roughly  be  said  to  be  twenty  miles 
wide,  the  good  part  of  it  being  over  thirty  miles  from  north 
to  south.  As  the  Colorado  Central  Railway  was  only  opened 
last  year  to  Cheyenne,  this  land,  costing  11.  per  acre,  is  not 
very  extensively  taken  up  yet. 

The  wealthy  men  of  England,  who  sit  at  home  at  ease, 
iiiay,  however,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  take  care  of  their 
own  interests  here  if  they  can ;  my  business  is  with  the 
emigrant,  and  it  is  only  with  his  capital  and  with  himself 
here  to  look  after  it  that  I  wish  to  deal.  I  have  now 
summed  up  all  the  experiences  of  Colorado  which  I  have  up 
to  this  time  gained  by  continual  travel, — in  a  comparatively 
limited  area,  it  is  true.  It  is  up-hill,  and  sometimes  dry  and 
tedious,  work  for  a  stranger  to  put  up  with  the  almost  uni- 
versal rudeness  of  subordinate  railwaymen,  and  to  master 
details  of  western  life  and  practice;  and  no  one  who  has 
undergone  the  discomforts  and  climatic  annoyances  of  travel 
in  the  region  lying  between  the  Union  Pacific  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  in  the  widely  ramified  interests  of  home 
emigration,  can  feel  insensible  to  words  of  commendation, 
no  matter  how  little  merited.*  If  I  have  saved  even  one 
poor  fellow  seeking  a  home  in  a  foreign  land  from  being 
swindled,  or  being  induced  to  settle  in  some  place  where 

*  This  is  an  aUusion  to  a  complimentary  letter  which  appeared  in  The 
Field  respecting  the  author's  writings  to  that  paper. 


120  COLORADO. 


he  could  do  nothing  but  live  with  a  Vjroken  constitution, 
and  die  of  hope  indefinitely  deferred;  if  I  have  been  in- 
strumental in  helping  materially  even  one  emigrant;  then 
my  one  and  only  object  in  American  travel  will  have  been 
attained. 


INDEX. 


Arkansas  river,  2,  4,  9,  76 
Atchison,  Topeka,  and  Santa  Fe 
Railway,  5 

Bale's  Station,  14 
Bark  soup,  108 
Barley,  price  of,  94 
Battlefield  of  the  Gods,  68 
Beaver  settlements,  57,  90,  107 
BeU,  Dr.,  88,  91,  96 
Blackhawk,  26 
Black  Hill  miners,  48 
Bogardus,  Capt.,  44 

Camping  out,  29 

Canon  Bridge,  6 

Central,  61,  74 

Cheyenne,  48 

Clear  Creek,  25,  61 

Climate,  7,  9,  19,  29,  46,  51,  53,  95, 

114 
Coal  banks  at  Canon,  86 
Coal  mine,  Ralston,  75 
Cold,  extreme,  51,  53 
Coldstream  mine,  64,  6Q 
Colorado  Springs,  110 
Copper  Gnlch,  7 

Deer  shooting  locality,  15 

Del  Norte,  16 

Denver,  24,  42,  44,  50 

Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railway,  4 

Denver  Pacific  land  grant,  50 

Devil's  Gskte  Pass,  6 

Devil's  Punchbowl,  111 

Divide  Station,  24,  81 

Dry  air,  9 

Dump  Mountain,  80 

Education,  97 
Eight  Mile  Park,  6 
Elkhom,  21 


Emigrants,  advice  to,  59,  60,  82, 

114 
Empire,  71,  72 
Empire  Pass,  71 
English  settlers,  8,  15,  16,  20,  52, 

58,  59,  66,  73,  75,  76,  81 
Exemption  of  goods  from  seizure,  17 

Farming  operations,  94 
Flies,  plague  of,  41 
FossUs  at  Florissant,  109 

Gales,  49 

Gambling  den  at  Cheyenne,  48 

Garden  of  the  Gods,  99 

Garland,  79 

Greorgetown,  62 

Glen  Erie,  111 

Golden,  25 

Gold  lode,  72 

Gold  mine.  Bobtail,  75 

Gold-washing,  26 

Goodnight,  76 

Granada,  2 

Grand  Canon  of  the  Arkansas,  4, 

111,113 
Grant's  farm,  visit  to  Mr.,  51 
Grasses,  94 
Gravel  storms,  48 
Greeley,  47 
Green  lake,  68 
Guns,  36 

Hay  business,  cost  of,   93  ;  good 

quality  of,  92 ;  presses,  95 
Haystack  farm,  52 
Height  of  peaks,  19 
Hercules  and  Roe  Mine,  87 
Honey-producing  industry,  86 
Horses,  want  of  vice  in,  55 

Idaho  Springs,  62,  73 


122 


INDEX. 


Indian  antiquities,  110 
Indians,  40 

International  Press  party,  1 
Irrigation,  15,  84;  scheme,  117 

Kansas  Pacific  Railway,  3 

Lakin  as  a  shooting  ground,  110 

Las  Animas,  3 

Livesay,  Messrs.,  76,  81,  84,  85 

Manitou,  98 

Manitou  Park,  102 

Mexican  camp,  5 

Mine  "  jumping,"  71 

Mineral  waters,  58,  62,  98,  99 

Miner's  life,  10,  12,  13 

Mines  dishonestly  managed,  87 ; 
richness  of,  64,  66,  70 

Mining  titles  systematically  ques- 
tioned, 63 

Modoc  Eanche,  20 

Mountain-rat  thieving,  67 

Negro  loquacity,  56 
New  Zealand  for  sheep,  83 
Nolan  grant,  83 
Norway  Pine,  99 

Oat  crop,  93,  94 

Ojo,  79 

"  Oregon  BiU,"  27 

Peaks,  heights  of,  19 

Pike's  Peak,  3,  20,  23,  89,  108 

Pleasant  Valley,  8 

Poison  weed,  8 

Pole-braces  for  hill  work,  65 

Post-office  salaries,  21 

Prairie  waggons,  3 

Press,  courtesy  to  representatives 

of  the,  28,  45 
Prices  at  Denver,  42 
Pueblo,  3 
Puncho  Pass,  14 

Rare  birds,  &c.,  34 
Rio  Grande  del  Norte,  17 
River  front  lots,  84 
Rockyford,  3 


Rocky  Mountains,  sport  in  the,  33 

35  ;  in  winter,  54 
Ruxton  Creek,  99 

Saguache,  15 

Salmo  fonilnalis  reared,  104 

Salmon  monstrosities,  69 

Salmon  rearing,  67,  69 

Sangre  de  Cristos  range,  89 

San  Luis  lakes,  20  ^ 

San  Luis  Valley,  15 ;  unpromising 

lands  of,  96 
Servants,  English,  67 
Sheep  ranges,  84,  85 
Shooting  excursion,  28,  37 
Siberian  squirrel,  67 
Sierra  Blanca,  19 
Silver  and  gold  working,  74 
Silver  mines,  10,  11,  63 
Silver  Plume,  63,  65 
Spanish  Peaks,  78 
Sport,  estimate  for  outfit,  31 
Sportsmen,  advice  to,  31 
Squatters,  professional,  91 
Stage  coaches,  4,  5,  6,  19 
State  lands,  39 
Stock- feeding,  54 

Taxes  in  Pueblo  County,  85 
Taylor's  Museum,  Denver,  44 
Terrible  mine,  61 
Texas  Creek,  8 

Tourist's  erroneous  views,  101 
Trapper,  a  good,  72 
Trout    in   the    South   Platte,   40; 
rearing,  70,  104 


Ute  Pass,  107 

Vermont  Merinos,  85 
Veta,  78  ;  Mountain,  79, 
80,  81 


80 


Washington  Territory  for  cattle, 

84 
Water-hole  lots,  84 
Western  States,  Germans  and  Irish 

in  the,  51 
Wet  Mountain  Valley,  88 
Wildfowl  at  Denver,  42 
Wool,  price  of,  85 


LIST    OF    BOOKS 


PUBLISHED   AT 


ic 


THE  FIELD"  OFFICE,  346,  STRAND, 

LONDON.    TNT.O. 


♦»•  Orders  for  any  of  the  following  worlcSf  viUh  postage  stamps  or  post-cffi.ce  order  for 
the  amount,  should  he  sent  to  Mr.  Hoeace  Cox,  Pvhlisher,  346,  Strand,  W.C,  or  they 
may  be  obtained  by  order  of  any  bookseller. 


Chap. 
L- 


A  MANUAL  of  YACHT  and  BOAT  SATLING.    By  DIXON 

KEMP,  A. LN.  A.,  Author  of  "Yacht  Designing."  This  work  contains  exhaustive 
information  upon  the  subjects  of  Yacht  and  i3oat  Sailing  and  Boat  Building,  and 
is  profusely  Illustrated,    buper-royal  8vo.,  with  full-page  Drawings,  price  £1  Is. 

Chap. 

ZYIL— Kew  Brighton  Beach  Boats  and  Mer- 
sey Canoes. 
XVm.— Windermere  Yachts. 
XrX.— Itchen  Boats. 
XX.— Clyde  Sailing  Boats. 
XXI.— Penzanc«  Luggers. 
XXIL— Double  Boats. 
XXm.— Seamanship. 

This  chapter  contains  complete  information 
as  to  the  Making  and  Taking  In  Sail,  Sailing 


— Oiyes  in  a  popular  manner  instmctlon 
as  to  the  Displacement.  Buoyancy,  and 
of  Yachts  and  Boats. 


Propulsion  by 


Stabilit- 
IL— Lateral 
HL— Centre  of   Effort  and 


IV.— The  Action  of  the  Budder  and  Steering 

Efficiency. 
▼.—Sail-carrying  Power  and  Spaed, 
VI.— Besistance  and  Speed,   and    the   In- 
fluence of  Thames  Measurement. 

yjIL  I  Ballast  and  Spars. 

IX.  ■)  Selecting  a  Yacht.  Examining  a  Yacht 
X.  >    before  Purchase,  Building  a  Yacht, 
XL)     Tables  of  Scantlings,  &c. 
XIL— Equipment  of  a  Yacht,  Including  com- 
plete information  as  to  rigging. 
Xm.  Centre-board    Boats,  their  history  and 
generai  form  ;  Boat  Sails. 
This  chapter  Includes  designs  for  Centre- 
board Boats  for  Bowing  and  Sailing.    The  sec- 
tion on  Boat  Sails  gives  varieties,  with  working 
drawings  of  the  Balance  Lug,  Chinese  Lug, 
Sprit   Sails,  Ounter    Sprit    Sails,    Falmoaui 
Luggers.  Lateen  Sails,  &c. 
XTv.- Brighton  Beach  Boats,  with  designs. 

XV.— Centre-board  Sloop,  with  designs. 
XVI.— Una  Boats,  with  designs. 


by  the  Wind,  Sailing  by  the  Wind  in  a  Heavy 
Sea,  Off  the  Wind.  Hunning  before  the  Wind, 
Tacking,  Gybing,  Lying  To,  Anchoring,  Getting 
Under  Way,  &c.  It  also  gives  complete  infor- 
mation as  to  the  Management  and  Sailing  of 
Open  Boats. 

XXIV.— The  General  Management  of  a  Yacht, 
Including  Duty  and  Discipline  of  the 
Crew. 
XXV.— Yacht  Baolng. 

Appendix.     Contains    complete  in- 
struction as  to  Practical  Boat  Build- 
ing. 
This  section  is  arranged  Alphabetically  in 
the  form  of  a   Dictionary    and  embodies    a 
variety  of  information  connected  with  Yachts, 
Boats,  &c. 

Fvl\1  instruction  is  given  as  to  the  building 
and  management  of  every  boat  described. 


THE  ANNALS    of  TENNIS.    By  JULIAN  MARSHALL. 

The  work  will  be  found  very  complete,  and,  it  is  thought,  justly  entitled  to  take 
its  place  as  the  standard  work  on  Tennis.  It  has  cost  its  author  much  laborious 
reseaxch;  and,  independently  of  its  great  value  to  tennis  players  and  aU  lovers  of 
the  game,  it  is  trusted,  from  the  vast  amount  of  curious  lore  it  contains,  the  volume 
will  be  found  not  unworthy  of  a  place  on  the  shelves  of  the  scholar.  The  author, 
himself  a  well-known  amateur,  is  fully  competent  to  speak  with  authority  on  the 
game,  having  had  the  opportunity  of  studying  the  play  of  the  best  Continental,  in 
addition  to  that  of  the  best  EInglish,  masters,  and,  therefore,  may  be  taken  as  a 
safe  guide  by  learners.    Crown  4to.,  printed  on  toned  paper,  price  25s. 

THE  SHOOTER'S  DIAB.Y  containa  Forms  for  Register- 
ing Game  killed  during  the  Year,  either  by  a  Single  (ion  or  by  a  Party, 
or  off  the  whole  Estate.  A  List  of  Shooting  Stations  throughout  the  World 
is  also  given.    Post  4to.,  price  U  6d    post  free,  2d.  extra. 


WORKS  PUBLISHED  AT  ''  THE  FIELD''  OFFICK. 


Price  .£3  3s.,  in  Imperial  folio. 

Y-A^CHT      DESIGNING. 

By  DIXON   KEMP. 

Associate  Institute  Naval  Architects. 

THIS  WORK  has  been  compiled  to  give  information  upon  the 
practical  application  of  the  scieniiflc  principles  upon  which  the  art  of  Yacht 
Designing  is  based.  A  complete  system  of  construction  is  provided  for  the  guidance 
of  the  inexperienced,  together  with  all  necessary  information  relative  to  the  primary 
subjects  of  buoyancy,  stability,  resistance  and  speed. 

The  text  is  amply  illustrated  by  diagrams,  and  a  very  valuable  collection  of  plates  of 
the  lines  of  about  thirty  celebrated  rawjing  yachts  of  the  period,  including  such  small 
craft  as  10-tonners,  5-tonners,  sailing  boats,  boats  for  rowing  and  sailing,  and  sailing 
canoes.  Some  of  these  plates  are  nearly  4ft,  in  length,  and  all  are  on  scales  adapted 
for  working  drawings. 

Every  calculation  which  it  is  necessary  to  maiie  in  determining  the  value  of  a 
design,  or  the  elements  of  a  vessel  are  given  in  detail,  and  the  rules  by  which  such 
calculations  are  made  are  sufiBciently  explained  to  render »their  application  easy  by  the 
inexperienced. 

The  Contents  of  the  Wokk  are  as  under  : 
Chap.  I.  Explanation  of  Principles. 

II.  Description  of  Various  Rules  and  Formulte  of   Use   in   determining   the 

Qualities  of  a  Yacht 
IIL  Application  of  the  Foregoing  Rules. 
IV.  Calculation  of  the  Stability  of  a  Yacht. 
V.  The  Effect  of  Shifting  and  Removing  Weights  on  Stability— The  Longitudinal 

Meta-centre— Alteration  of  Trim — Pitching  and  Scending  and  Rolling. 
VL  Power  to  Carry  Sail— The  Impulse  of  the  Wind  as  a  Propelling  Power- 
Table  of  Velocity  and  Pressure  of  Winds. 
VII,  Resistance   to  Vessels    moving   in  Water — Stream    Lines — The  Wave-line 
Theory— Relative  Lengths  of  Fore-body  and  After-body  for  Speed  in  Knots 
per  Hour. 
VIIL  Surface  Friction— Calculation  of   the    Immersed    Surface— The  Immersed 
Surface  in  Relation  to  Lateral  Resistance. 
IX.  Value  of  the  Wave-line  Theory— The  Fore-body— The  After-body— Form 

Area,  and  Position  of  the  Midship  Section. 
X.  Nystrom's  System  of  Parabolic  Construction. 
XI.  Calculation  of  Probable  Speed. 
XII.  Construction  Drawing. 
XIIL  Laying  off— Taking  Off. 
XIV.  Ballast  and  Spars. 

XV.  Resistance  Experiments  with  Models,  whereby  the  Resistance  of  the  Yacht 
from  that  of  the  Model  can  be  calculated. 

Opinions  op  the  Press, 


"  A  really  scientific  work  on  yachting  was 
wanted  when  Mr.  Dixon  Kemp  took  the 
matter  in  hand.  In  a  clear  and  concise  man- 
ner Mr.  Kemp  gives  us  all  the  principles  and 
necessary  calculations  for  yacht  designing— a 
Btudyin  which  he  is  evidently  thoroughly  <(» 

fait Mr.  Kemp  prefaces  his  work  with  a 

few  sound  remarks  upon  yacht  designs,  and 
we  are  glad  to  find  that  he  places  so  much 
Importance  upon  stability  as  to  lay  down  as 
an  axiom,  in  which  we  most  heartily  concur, 
that  nearly  all  the  failures  in  yacht  designing 
are  traceable  to  the  want  of  exact  knowledge 
on  the  part  of  the  designer  of  the  laws  by 
which  the  stability  of  fioating  bodies  is 
governed;  or  that,  if  these  laws  are  under- 
stood, the  means  for  quantitatively  proving 
their  operation  in  sailing  yachts  have  not  been 

exercised Mr.  Kemp's  book  will  mark  a 

new  era  in  yacht  building To   men 

capable  of  understanding  and  valuing  the 
scientific  reasons  for  every  successful  altera- 
tion and  improvement  in  their  vessel,  such  a 
book  as  that  now  before  us  will  be  a  perfect 

godsend Mr.   Kemp  has   gone    most 

thoroughly  into  the  whole  subject  of  yacht 
design,  including  laying  off,  and,  above  all, 
has  devoted  a  considerable  amount  of  his 
space  to  the  consideration  and  calculation  of 


stability.  This  work  will  be  invaluable  as  a 
text  book  to  owners  making  improvements  in 
their  y&chts."—E»iii>iee>;  Deo.  22, 1876. 

"  The  majoxity  of  the  works  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  naval  architecture  are  far  too  abstruse 

to  suit  the  mind  of  an  amateur Dixon 

Kemp  is  therefore  to  be  congratulated  upon 
having  simplified  the  subject,  so  as  to  render 
it  tolerably  easy  of  comprehension.  .  .  .  There 
is  one  feature  in  the  work  deserving  of  special 
mention,  and  that  is  the  magnificent  plates."— 
A'mij,  Jan.  27, 1877. 

"  The  standard  work  on  yacht  designing.  .  ,  . 
The  work  may  truly  be  called  a  complete  one. 
....  A  complete  builder's  t.arfejnecM7H."—^eZi's 
Life,  Jan.  18, 1877. 

"A  comprehensive  and  practical  work  of 
interest  to  all  connected  with  yacht  building 
or  sailing.  We  bespeak  for  this  work  (coming 
from  such  an  excellent  authority)  a  liberal 
patronage  from  the  American  public."— iVew 
York  A'aiitical  Gazette. 

"  The  arrangement  of  the  matter  is  excel- 
lent, commencing  with  the  underlying  {>rin- 
ciples,  and  following  the  natural  order  in  which 
one  portion  of  the  subject  leads  on  to  the  next, 
until  the  whole  has  been  explained.  The  book 
is  indispensable."— AVw  York  Yachting  Circular, 
Jan.  1877- 


WORKS  PUBLISHED  AT  "  THE  FIELD"  OFFICE 


SPORTING    SKETCHES    with    PEN    and    PENCIIi.      By 

FRANCIS  FEANCIS  and  A.  W.  COOPER  Demy  4to.,  with  12  fuU-page  iUustra- 
tions,  some  of  which  contain  Portraits  of  Sporting  Celebrities,  and  24  vignettes. 
Price  £1  Is. 

Contents. 


The  First  of  September. 

A  Day  in  a  Pont 

Mark  Cock! 

Trouting. 

Long  Tails  and  Short  Ones. 

Paying  the  Pike. 


Rabbit  Shooting, 
Boaching. 
Grouse  Shooting. 
Salmon  Fishing. 
Snipe  Shooting. 
Grayling  Fishing. 


THE  BARB  and  the  BRIDLE:  a  Handbook  of  Equitation 

for  Ladies,  and  Manual  of  Instruction  in  the  Science  of  Biding,  from  the  prepa- 
ratory suppling  exercises  on  foot  to  the  form  in  which  a  lady  should  ride  to 
hounds.    By  "  VIEILLE  MOUSTACHE."    Post  8vo.,  price  5s. ;  post  free,  5*.  5<L 

"  Long  experience  enables  '  Vieille  Mous-  1  whether  for  the  promotion  of  health  or  as  a 
tache '  to  know  the  principles  of  equitation  to  means  of  the  most  intense  enjoyment  to  be 
a  nicety,  and  to  lay  down  rules  certain  to  be         had."— Bell's  Life. 

useful  to  every  damsel  who  mounts  a  horse,  j 

THE    ROWING    ALMANACK     and     OARSMAN'S    COM- 

PANION,  1879,  contams :  A  Calendar  with  Space  for  Memoranda,  and  EQgh 
Water  Table,  with  a  Table  of  Tidal  Observations ;  Eecord  of  all  Begattas  and 
principal  Club  Baces  in  1878,  with  a  copious  Index;  a  Beview  of  the  Bowing 
Season  of  1878 ;  an  Itinerary  of  the  Biver  Thames  from  Oxford  to  Putney,  showing 
all  the  points  of  interest,  with  Hotels,  &c. ;  a  Bowing  Directory ;  the  Lengths  of 
the  different  Bacing  Courses ;  the  Laws  of  Boat  Bacing ;  the  Bule  of  the  Road  on 
the  Biver;  and  Tables  of  Winners  of  all  the  principal  Baces  and  Begattas; 
together  with  Advertisements  from  Biverside  Hotel  Keepers  and  Boat  Builders. 
Price  Is.,  by  post  Is.  Id. 

REPORT  of  the  "  FIELD"  TRIAL  of  12,  16,  and  20  BORE 

GUNS,  held  at  Wimbledon,  April.  1879.  CompUed  from  the  "  Field  "  of  May  3  to 
June  14.  The  handbook  is  printed  in  large  quarto  form  that  the  table  of  results 
may  be  easily  referred  to  and  compared-    4to.,  price  la. 

The  REPORT  of  the  "FIELD"  TRIAL  of  EXPLOSIVES, 

GUNS,  &c.,  held  at  Wimbledon,  in  1878.  Compiled  from  the  "  Field  "  of  April 
29  to  May  25.  The  handbook  is  printed  in  large  quarto  form  that  the  table  of 
results  may  be  easily  referred  to  and  compared.    4ta,  price  Is. 

THE  FARM:  being  Part  I.  of  the  Second  Edition  of  "The 

Farm,  Garden,  Stable,  and  Aviary."  Valuable  to  country  gentlemen,  farmers, 
&c.  Vol.  IIL  of  "  The  Field  "  Librabt.  Large  post  8vo.,  price  5s.  cloth ;  post 
free,  5*.  id. 

THE  GARDEN:  being  Part  II.  of  the  Second  Edition  of 

"The  Farm,  Garden,  Stable,  and  Aviary."  VoL  IIL  of  "The  Field"  LiBRABt. 
Large  post  8vo.,  price  5s.  cloth ;  post  free,  5s.  id. 

THE  STABLE:   being  Part  III.  of  the  Second  Edition  of 

the  FABM,  GABDEN,  STABLE,  and  AVIABY.  Large  post  Svo.,  price  5*.;  post 
free,  55.  3d. 

A  YEAR  OF  LIBERTY ;    or,   Salmon  Angling  in  Ireland. 

By  W.  PEABD,  M,D.,  LL.B.  VoL  IV.  of  "  The  Field"  Libbaey.  Price  5*.  cloth ; 
post  free,  os.  5d. 

PRACTICAL    FALCONRY;     to  which  is   added,    HOW    I 

BECAME  A  FALCONEB.  VoL  VIL  of  "  The  Field"  Libeaet.  ByGAGEEABLE 
FBEEMAN,  M.A.  ("Peregrine,"  of  " The  Field ").  Price  5s.  cloth;  post  free, 
5s.  dd 

THE  FIELD  DUPLICATE  JUDGING  BOOK  faciUtates  the 

work  of  the  Judges  at  Poultry  and  other  Shows,  by  a  very  simple  method  of 
entering  and  preserving  a  duplicate  judging  list.  Price  Gd, ;  or  2s.  6d.  the  half 
dozen. 


WORKS  PUBLISHED  AT  ''THE  FIELD''  OFFICE. 


The  ENGLISH  GAME  of  CRICKET  :   comprising  a  Digest 

of  its  Origin,  Character,  History,  and  Progress,  together  with  an  Exposition  of  its 
Laws  and  Language.  By  CHARLES  BOX,  author  of  "The  Cricketers'  Manual," 
"  Reminiscences  of  Celebrated  Players,"  Essays  on  the  Game, "  Songs  and  Poems," 
"  Theory  and  Practice  of  Cricket,"  &c.  4to.,  bevelled  boards,  gilt  edges  (500  pages), 
with  appropriate  illustrations,  price  One  Guinea ;  by  post  22s.  3d 

OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS, 

on  the  essentially  '  English  Game  of  Cricket.' " 
—Morning  Pout. 

"The  best  work  on  cricket  that  has  yet  come 
under  our  notice." — Nottingham  Journal. 

A  capital  school  prize  for  young  cricketers, 


"The  most  complete  and  interesting  work 
on  cricket  ever  published.  No  expense  has 
been  spared  in  making  that  which  is  really 
useful  a  very  handsome  volume."— Be^^'s  Life. 

"We  welcome  with  heartiness  a  writer  like 
Mr.  Charles  Box,  who  has  so  pleasantly  united 
in  the  splendid  volume  before  us  the  old  order 
(of  cricket)  with  the  new."  —  Sporting  and 
Vramatic  News. 

"This  work  will  prove  interesting  to  all 
lovers  of  cricket."— Times. 

"  The  volume  is  a  very  handsome  one  indeed, 
destined,  doubtless,  to  become   an  authority 


being  as  it  is  so  very  intelligible  and  attrac- 
tive."—TAe  Qneen. 

"  A.  Sterling  work,  and  worthy  the  attentive 
study  of  all  cricketers."— Dai?;/  Bristol  Times  and 
Mirror. 

"  A  handsome  well  got-up  volume,  the  author 
being  the  man  of  all  others  qualified  and  in  a 
position  for  compiling  such  a  work."— JTent 
Herald. 

SHIFTS  and   EXPEDIENTS    of   CAMP    LIFE,   TRAVEL, 

and  EXPLORATION.  By  W.  B.  LORD,  Royal  Artillery,  and  T.  BAINES, 
F.RG.S.  The  work  is  written  expressly  for  the  use  of  Military  and  Naval  Officers, 
Missionaries,  Travellers,  and  any  who  may  be  obliged  to  "  rough  it "  in  Foreign 
and  Savage  Countries ;  and  it  is  believed  that  the  "  Shifts  and  Expedients  "  here 
gathered  together  will  be  found  of  the  greatest  service  to  all  such.  The  work 
contains  above  700  pages,  and  nearly  400  Illustrations.  New  and  cheaper  Edition, 
with  additions.    Price  30s.,  cloth  gilt. 

Now  ready,  Part  L,  price  2s.  6c?. 

THE      HUNTING     COUNTRIES     of    ENGLAND:    their 

Facilities  of  Access,  Requirements,  &c.    By  BROOKSBY,    Containing : 


The  Belvoir. 

The  South  Wold. 

The  Brocklesby, 

The  Burton  and  the  Blankney, 

The  Fitzwilliam. 


The  Quom. 
The  Cottesmore. 
The  Puckeridge. 
The  Old  Berkeley. 


ANGLING.       By   FRANCIS    FRANCIS.      Author    of    *' A 

Book  on  Angling,"  &c.  Its  contents  are  Bottom  Fishing,  Mid- Water  Fishing, 
Surface  or  Fly  Fishing,  Trout  Fishing  with  Bait,  Fly  Fishing  for  Trout,  List  of 
Trout  Flies,  Grayling  Fishing,  Salmon  Fishing,  Salmon  Flies,  On  Tackle  Making. 
Price  5s.,  by  post  5s.  M. 

THE  RAIL  and  the  ROD ;   or,  The  Tourist-Angler's  Guide 

to  Waters  and  Quarters.  In  Parts,  paper  wrapper,  price  Is.  each;  in  cloth,  Is.  6d. 
post  free,  2d  extrsu 

No.  4.  South-Eastern  Rmlwat. 

^^  \  Great  Eastern,  London  and  North- Western,  Midland,  and 
j2~  «  f        Great  Northern  Railways. 

FACTS    and  USEFUL  HINTS  relating  to    FISHING  and 

SHOOTING;  being  a  Collection  of  Information  and  Recipes  of  all  descrip- 
tions of  the  greatest  utility  to  the  general  Sportsman,  to  which  is  added  a  series  of 
Recipes  on  the  Management  of  Dogs  in  Health  and  Disease.  VoL  I.  of  "The 
Field  "  Library.  Third  Edition.  Large  post  8vo.,  price  7s.  Qd.  cloth ;  post  free, 
7s.  lOdL 


BY  LAKE  and  RIVER :  an  Angler's  Rambles  in  the  North 

of  England  and  Scotland.    By  FRANCIS  FRANCIS,  Author  of  "A  Book  on 
Angling,"  &c.  &c    Post  8vo.,  price  8s.  6d. ;  post  free,  9s. 

THE  ANGLER'S  DIARY,  wherein  the  Angler  can  register 

his  take  of  Fish  throughout  the  year.      An  extensive  List  of  Fishing  Stations 
throughout  the  World  is  added.    Post  8vo.,  price  Is.  M. ;  by  post,  Is.  M. 


WORKS  PUBLISHED  AT  ''lUE  FIELD"  OFFICE. 


PHEASANTS  for  COVERTS  and  AVIARIES  :  their  Natural 

History  and  Practical  Management.  By  W.  B.  TEGETMEIER,  F.Z.S ,  author 
of  "The  Poultry  Book,"  "Pigeons,"  "The  Homing  Pigeon;"  Editor  of  the  Poultry 
Department  of  "  The  Field,"  &c.  Illustrated  with  numerous  full-page  Engravings 
drawn  from  life  by  T.  W.  Wood.    Royal  4to.,"  bevelled  boards,  gilt  edges,  price  12». 

Mr.   Tegetmeler's    magnlflcsent    work    on 


"Mr.  Tesretmeler's  Intelligent  and  finely 
illustrated  work  on  Pheasants."— iawcef. 

"  An  excellent  monoRraph The  lUus- 

tratioas  are  simply  exquisite."— Carifejt. 


A   sine    qua    non   in  the   library  of  eTcry 
country  gentleman."— £«»!/'«  Magazine. 


THE    CATTLE    OF    GREAT     BRITAIN:    their   History, 

Management,  &c.    Edited  by  J.  COLEMAN.    Price  18s.,  in  imperial  4to.,  bevelled 

boards,  gilt  edges,  with  eighteen    full-page  engravings  by  Harrison  Weir,  toned 

paper,  illustrating  each  Breed  of  Cattle. 

PART  I.— Breeding  and  General  Management ;  Principles  of  Feeding— Nature  and 

Value  of  Different  Kinds  of  Food ;  Buildings,  and  the  Manufacture  of  Manure ;  Dairy 

Management,  the  Milk  Trade,  &c. 

PART  II.— THE  BREEDS  OF  CATTLE  :— Shorthorns,  by  J.  Thornton ;  Herefords, 
by  T.  Duckham ;  Devons,  by  Capt;  Tanner  Davey ;  Longhorns,  by  Gilbert  Murray ; 
Sussex  Cattle,  by  A.  Heasman;  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  Red  Polled  Cattle,  by  T.  Fulcher; 
Polled  Galloways,  by  Gilbert  Murray;  Polled  Angus  or  Aberdeenshire ;  The  Asrrshire 
Breed,  by  Gilbert  Murray;  West  Highland  Cattle,  by  John  Robertson;  The  Glamorgan, 
Pembrokeshire  or  Castlemartin,  and  Anglesea  Breeds,  by  Morgan  Evans ;  The  Kerry 
Breed,  by  R.  O.  Pringle ;  The  Aldemey,  Guernsey,  and  Breton  Breeds,  by  J.  C.  W, 
Douglas  and  others. 

The    SHEEP    and    PIGS     of    GREAT    BRITAIN  :      their 

History,  Management,  &c.    Edited  by  J.  uOLEMAN.    Price  ISs.,  in  imperial  4to., 
bevelled  boards,  gilt  edges,  with  numerous   full-page  engravings  by  Harrison 
Weir,  toned  paper,  illustrating  the  various  breeds  of  Sheep  and  Pigs. 
PART  L— General  Management  of  Sheep;  Preparations  for  Lambing;  from  Birth 
to  Weaning ;  from  Weaning  to  Market ;  on  Wool. 

PART  II— THE  BREEDS  OF  SHEEP :  — Leicesters,  by  the  Editor;  Border 
Leicesters,  by  John  Usher ;  Cotswolds.  by  the  Editor;  Long-woolled  Lincoln;  Devon 
Longwools,  by  J.  Darby ;  Romney  Marsh  and  Southdowns,  by  the  Editor ;  Hampshire 
or  West  Country  Downs,  by  E.  P.  Squarey ;  Shropshires,  by  the  Editor ;  Oxford 
Downs,  by  Messrs.  Druce  and  Hobbs ;  Roscommon,  by  R.  O.  Pringle ;  Negrette 
Merino;  Exmoor,  Black-faced  or  Scotch  Mountain  Sheep;  Cheviots,  by  John  Usher; 
Dorset  Horned  Sbeep,  by  John  Darby ;  Welsh  Breeds,  by  Morgan  Evans ;  Herdwick 
Sheep,  by  H.  A.  Spedding. 

PART  III — Sheep  Farming  in  Queensland,  by  John  Sidney. 

PART  IV.— General  Management  of  Pigs;  The  Berkshire,  Black  Suffolk,  Black 
Dorset,  Large  White,  Small  White,  and  Middle  White  Breeds. 

THE    IDSTONE    PAPERS.        A    Series    of    Articles    and 

Desultory  Observations  on  Sport   and    Things   in    general.      By  "  IDSTONE." 
Second  Edition.    Large  post  8vo.  price  7s.  6c?. ;  post  free,  7s.  lid. 

Now  ready,  post  8vo.,  with  Frontispiece,  price  7s  6d,  pp.  500. 

MOSS  FROM  A  ROLLING  STONE  ;  or  Moorish  Wanderings 

and  Rambling  Reminiscences.     By  CHARLES  A.   PAYTON,    "Sakcelle,"  of 
"The  Field,"  "The  Country,"  <fcc.    Author  of  "The  Diamond  Diggings  of  South 
Africa." 
"  The  author  writes  with   skill  and  point 

about  all  sporting  matters.     He  has  a  keen 

eve  for  the   picturesque   in  out  of  the  way 

pifcces.  and  very  much  of  that  artiessness  In 

narrative  which  is  the  perfection  of  art."— 

York  Herald. 


"  The  volume  is  rich  in  picturesque  descrip- 
tion of  scenes  and  people,  in  prosperity  or  in 
misery,  in  and  around  the  towns  of  Kabat, 
SafiB,  Mogador,  &c.,  districts  reputed  dangerous 
In  parts,  but  safe  enough  apparently  for  the 
universally  popular  chasseur."- The  Graphic. 


RAMBLES  AFTER  SPORT  ;    or.  Travels  and  Adventures 

in  the  Americas  and  at  Home.  By  "OLIVER  NORTH."  Contents— A  Week's 
Duck  Shooting  at  Poole,  That  Sheldrake,  Quail  Shooting  in  California,  Bear 
Hunting  in  Mexico,  Bear  Shooting  in  California,  My  First  Elk,  My  Last  Bear, 
Round  Cape  Horn,  Valparaiso,  Santiago;  Shooting  in  Chile,  Andacollo,  Lima,' 
Panama,  Jamaica ;  Country  Sports  and  Life  in  Chile,  Two  Days'  Pishing  in  Chile 
"Toling"  for  Ducks  in  California,  Up  the  Sacramento,  the  White  Elk  of  Astoria, 
Sport  in  the  Coast  Range  Mountains.    Large  post  Svo.,  price  6s. ;  post  free,  6s.  4rf. 


WORKS  PUBLISHED  AT"  THE  FIELD"  OFFICE. 


The    DOGS    of   the    BRITISH    ISLANDS.      Edited    by 

"  STONEHENGE"  (with  the  aid  of  several  experienced  breeders).  Third  Edition. 
Completely  re-written,  with  new  full-page  engravings.  In  one  volume,  bevelled 
boards,  gilt  edges,  price  15s.,  by  post  15s.  lid. 

Also  in  parts,  as  follows: 

PAET  L — Book  I.  Management  of  Dogs  in  Health ;  Book  IL  Drugs  commonly  used 
for  the  Diseases  of  Dogs,  and  their  Modes  of  Administration;  Book  III.  The  Ordinary 
Diseases  of  the  Dog,  and  their  treatment ;  Book  IV.  Judging  at  Dog  Shows  and  Field 
Trials.    Price  3s.  6d. 

PART  IL— DOGS  USED  IN  SPORT.— Book  I.  Dogs  Used  with  the  Gun ;  Book  II. 
Hounds  and  their  Allies.    Price  6s. 

PART  III. -NON-SPORTING  DOGS.— Book  I.  Watch  Dogs  ;  Book  II.  Sheep  and 
Cattle  Dogs;  Book  III.  Terriers;  Book  IV.  Toy  Dogs;  Appendix.    Price  6s. 

MODERN  ATHLETICS.      By  H.  F.  WILKINSON,  of  the 

Amateur  and  London  Athletic  Clubs.  Third  Edition,  revised  and  corrected. 
Contents:  I.  Ancient  Athletics.  II.  The  Rise  and  Progress  of  Modem  Athletics. 
III.  The  Management  of  Athletic  Meetings.  IV.  Training.  V.  Walking.  VI. 
Running.  VII.  Jumping.  VIII.  Throwing  the  Hammer,  and  Putting  the  Weight. 
IX.  The  Laws  of  Athletics.  X.  Statistics.  XI.  The  Athletic  Directory.  XII. 
The  Best  Performances  on  Record.    Price  Is.  6d.,  by  post  Is.  8d. 

BOAT-RAGING;    or,    the   Arts  of   Rowing  and    Training. 

By  E.  D.  BRICKWOOD.  Containing  the  history  of  racing  boats  and  the  sliding 
seat,  instructions  on  rowing,  coaching,  and  steering;  the  organisation  and 
administration  of  boat  clubs ;  the  modem  system  of  training  for  races;  the  quali- 
fications of  amateurs;  together  with  historical  records  of  boating  from  the  earliest 
times  to  the  present  date ;  and  the  new  laws  of  boat-racing ;  thus  forming  a  com- 
plete manual.    Now  ready,  price  5s.,  by  post  5s.  4d. 

THE      RURAL      ALMANAC      and     SPORTSMAN'S 

ILLUSTRATED  CALENDAR.  Its  contents  comprise  Information  of  the  greatest 
utility  and  interest  to  the  Sportsman  and  Country  Gentleman.  Illustrated.  Pub- 
lished annually.    Price  Is. ;  by  post.  Is.  2c?. 

THE    COURSING    CALENDAR   AND    REVIEW.      Edited 

by  "STONEHEN(JE."  Published  half-yearly.  Fcap.  8vo.,  price  10s,  6d.  cloth, 
post  free,  10s.  lOdL 

THE    LAWS    of    LAWN    TENNIS,    as    adopted    by    the 

Marylebone  Cricket  Club  and  the  All-England  Croquet  and  Lawn  Tennis  Club. 
Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall.    Price  Qd. ;  by  post  6^d 

THE  FIELD  '^LAWN  TENNIS"   SCORE  SHEET  BOOK. 

Adapted  for  the  use  of  Umpires  and  Players.  As  used  at  the  Championship 
Meetings.    Price  6d,  by  post  7d. 

SKETCHES  of  LIFE,  SCENERY,  and  SPORT  in  NORWAY. 

Vol.  VIII.  of  "The  Field"  Library.  By  the  Rev.  M.  R.  BARNARD,  B.A. 
The  work  is  admirably  adapted  for  use  as  a  Sporting  Tourist's  Handbook, 
while  it  is  of  absorbing  interest  to  the  general  reader.  Price  6s.  6d. ;  post  free, 
6s.  lOd: 

A  MANUAL  of  the    LA.W    of   SALMON    FISHERIES  in 

ENGLAND  and  WALES,  with  a  copious  Index,  By  SPENCER  WALPOLE, 
one  of  Her  Majesty's  Inspectors  of  Salmon  Fisheries.    Price  2s.  6d.,  by  post  2s.  8d. 

REPORTS  on  SALMON  LADDERS,  with  Original  Drawings, 

Plans,  and  Sections.  By  FRANCIS  FRANCIS.  In  post  4to.,  price  2s.  Gd. ;  by 
post,  2s.  7  c?. 

ALL  ENGLAND  CROaUET    CLUB.— Regulations  for  the 

MANAGEMENT  of  PRIZE  MEETINGS.    Price  6d. ;  post  free,  7d. 


LONDON  :    "  THE  FIELD  "  OFFICE  346,  STEAND,  W.C 


.5 


¥^'tgr>jf^ 


v«; 


if 


.'^..^' 


4<^ 


fWJfei