The Colorado mission

(F.)

./- 7 y 2.

-DOMESTIC MISSIONS,

ferf States of America.

ISSION.

ry Bishop of Colorado.

Kansas, as

was on Governor Gilpin's suggestion that
the name "Colorado " was given, a Spanish
word simply referring to * ' color, " from the
great Colorado River of the West. A few
immigrants led by rumors of gold discoveries
crossed the plains in 1858 and camped near
the junction of Cherry Creek and the Platte
and at other points further south. But 1859
is generally given as the date of settlement,
when there was a large immigration, of
whom many became permanent citizens.
Denver (Auraria, West Denver) was the most
important * ' camp " of that year. It was for
tunate for the success and permanency of the
place that many of the first settlers were men
of great intelligence, foresight, energy and
enterprise. They did not know that in the
straggling village they were building, in
and near what proved afterwards to be the
bed of the Creek, they were laying the foun
dations of a great capital of an important
western State.

Church work was not begun by the sending
out of a Missionary of the Board. The Rev.
John H. Kehler, who had been for many
years Rector of the Parish of Sheppards-
town in Virginia, arrived in Denver the
first week in January, 1860. His first
Services were held in a small log cabin on
what is now Holladay street. So much in
terest was manifested that " St. John's
Church in the Wilderness " was organized
as a parish on January 17th, and regular Ser
vices were established on a self-supporting

ither " Kehler, so he was ever
ly called, retained the rector-
;er his appointment as chaplain

regiment of Colorado Volunteers

in the latter part of 1861. After his term
of service, spent mostly in the field in New
Mexico, he returned to Denver, where he
continued to reside, much beloved, and
serving the Church, as his age and infirmities
permitted, until 1876, when he removed to
Washington, where he died February 21st,
1879. From 1866 to 1876 he was a member
and President of the Standing Committee.

Bishop Talbot, Missionary Bishop of the
Northwest from 1859 to 1865, made his first
visitation, August, 1861. He was surprised
and delighted to find a flourishing parish in
this city of the plains, maintaining regular
worship in a rented building, humble in
character, but well adapted to the Services
of the Church. He spent the entire month
in Denver, and in the mining camps of what
were subsequently Gilpin and Clear Creek
Counties, holding Service and preaching in
Central City, Idaho Springs, Spanish Bar,
Golden, Mountain City, Nevadaville, etc.
Central City was the only point at which in
his judgment a Missionary should then be
stationed.

On the next visitation in the Summer of
1862 more substantial results were accom
plished. St. John's Parish had recently be
come vacant. The congregation, not know
ing whither to look for a Minister to supply
the place of their much loved founder who
had served them most acceptably for more
than two years, were becoming discouraged
and demoralized. They quickly rallied,

(F.)

DOMESTIC MISSIONS,

Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

THE COLORADO MISSION.

V>r o • *

By the Rt. Rev. J. F. SPALDING,' Missionary Bishop of Colorado

COLORADO was admitted as a territory of
the United States on February 26th, 1861. It
had been known previously, while a part of
Kansas, as Pike's Peak, Jefferson, etc. It
was on Governor Gilpin's suggestion that
the name " Colorado " was given, a Spanish
word simply referring to " color," from the
great Colorado River of the West. A few
immigrants led by rumors of gold discoveries
crossed the plains in 1858 and camped near
the junction of Cherry Creek and the Platte
and at other points further south. But 1859
is generally given as the date of settlement,
when there was a large immigration, of
whom many became permanent citizens.
Denver (Auraria, West Denver) was the most
important ' ' camp " of that year. It was for
tunate for the success and permanency of the
place that many of the first settlers were men
of great intelligence, foresight, energy and
enterprise. They did not know that in the
straggling village they were building, in
and near what proved afterwards to be the
bed of the Creek, they were laying the foun
dations of a great capital of an important
western State.

Church work was not begun by the sending
out of a Missionary of the Board. The Rev.
John H. Kehler, who had been for many
years Rector of the Parish of Sheppards-
town in Virginia, arrived in Denver the
first week in January, 1860. His first
Services were held in a small log cabin on
what is now Holladay street. So much in
terest was manifested that " St. John's
Church in the Wilderness " was organized
as a parish on January 17th, and regular Ser
vices were established on a self-supporting

basis. "Father" Kehler, so he was ever
affectionately called, retained the rector
ship till after his appointment as chaplain
of the first regiment of Colorado Volunteers
in the latter part of 1861. After his term
of service, spent mostly in the field in New
yiexico, he returned to Denver, where he
continued to reside, much beloved, and
serving the Church, as his age and infirmities
aermitted, until 1876, when he removed to
Washington, where he died February 21st,
1879. From 1866 to 1876 he was a member
and President of the Standing Committee.

Bishop Talbot, Missionary Bishop of the
Northwest from 1859 to 1865, made his first
visitation, August, 1861. He was surprised
and delighted to find a flourishing parish in
this city of the plains, maintaining regular
worship in a rented building, humble in
character, but well adapted to the Services
of the Church. He spent the entire month
in Denver, and in the mining camps of what
were subsequently Gilpin and Clear Creek
Counties, holding Service and preaching in
Central City, Idaho Springs, Spanish Bar,
Golden, Mountain City, Nevadaville, etc.
Central City was the only point at which in
his judgment a Missionary should then be
stationed.

On the next visitation in the Summer of
1862 more substantial results were accom
plished. St. John's Parish had recently be
come vacant. The congregation, not know
ing whither to look for a Minister to supply
the place of their much loved founder who
had served them most acceptably for more
than two years, were becoming discouraged
and demoralized. They quickly rallied,

THE COLORADO MISSION.

however, under the Bishop's earnest, en
thusiastic labors. By his advice, the chapel
of the Southern Methodists, the only place
of worship in town, was purchased and fitted
up for Services, at a cost of $2,500, of which,
according to the Bishop's report, the con
gregation contributed $1,000. It was con
secrated on Sunday, July 20th, 1862. To sup
ply the parish till a rector could be found,
the Rev. Isaac A. Hagar, Deacon, was called
from Nebraska. Mr. Hagar, in addition to
his Services in Denver, officiated occasionally
during his stay at Central City and Golden.
At the former, including surrounding camps,
was a population of nearly five thousand,
at the latter about one hundred. Denver
had perhaps three thousand. The Bishop,
after holding several Services and much per
sonal visiting and intercourse, secured the
organization of St. Paul's, Central City, as a
parish, the earnest churchmen of the place
having obtained subscriptions, which guaran
teed the full support of a clergyman. Soon
after he sent to them the Rev. Francis
Granger, who became and was for two or
three years their rector. The Bishop visited
all the places where he had been the year
before, and also the Clear Creek valley as
far as Empire and Georgetown. He also
made an extensive journey to the South Park,
visiting Tarryal, Montgomery, Georgia,
Buckskin, California Gulch (on which is
the present city of Leadville) and Brecken-
ridge. He returned by way of the Ute Pass and
Colorado City, the first Capital of the Terri
tory, where he held Services. He learned of
small settlements further south on the
Fontaine que Bouille, the Huerfano and other
streams, but his engagement to consecrate
the church in Denver prevented his visiting
them. Back in Denver, for a week or more
he held Services every evening, "lecturing
on the doctrines and principles of the
Church." Six candidates prepared by him
were confirmed.

In 1863, the Bishop made another visita
tion occupying the month of August. He
brought with him the Rev. Wm. O. Jarvis,
and appointed him Missionary at Empire,
Gold Dust and Idaho — a most discouraging
field, for the early promise of growth was
not realized, and after a year of arduous
labor, the Missionary returned to the east.
The Bishop had secured the Rev. H. B.
Hitchings to succeed Mr. Hagar, at Denver,
in the autumn of 1862. His labors had

been so successful, that it became necessary
to enlarge the church, giving it a seating
apacity of over 300. It was opened by the
Bishop August 16th, and on the same day
Mr. Hitchings was instituted as rector.

Bishop Talbot was again in Denver and
officiated on Sunday, November 22d, the
same year, on his return from Utah and Ne
vada. This was his last visit, until the con
secration of Trinity Memorial, Denver, Sep
tember, 1875.

The Church was now firmly established in
the two most important centres, Denver and
Central City. At both these, parish schools
were established. The two rectors held oc-
asional Services at Golden, Black Hawk and
Nevada. Mr. Granger having resigned, the
Rev. A. B. Jennings was secured for Central

ity in August, 1865. Such was the work
done under Bishop Talbot's Episcopate.
It well illustrates the necessity of the
Bishop's presence at the front.

It is a curious fact, illustrative of the
character of new mining communities, that
nearly half of the places visited or men
tioned by the Bishop have not been in ex
istence for the past ten years and more, and
some of the best of these towns are not so
populous now as when he first visited them.
His judgment as to the future of the coun
try has, however, been for the most part veri
fied.

TheRt. Rev. Geo. M. Randall, elected Mis
sionary Bishop in October and consecrated
December 28th, 1865, arrived in Denver,
June llth, 1866. His jurisdiction included
Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. In 1867
Idaho and Montana were assigned to Bishop
Tuttle, and New Mexico was at the same
time given to Bishop Randall. He entered
upon his work with great zeal and en
thusiasm. The Rev. Messrs. Kehler, Hitch
ings and Jennings were in the field. He
brought out the Rev. Wm. A. Fuller,
Deacon, and placed him at Nevadaville, two
miles above Central City. It was here that the
painful scene was witnessed on his entering
the town on a Sunday afternoon, of a man
shot dead in the street in front of a saloon.
By the Bishop's liberal aid and the earnest
efforts of the people, a church and parsonage
were completed ; and on entering the place
again on a Sunday the following year, the
saloons were closed. All was quiet in the
streets ; the sound of the church-going bell
was echoing through the valley, bidding the

TEE COLORADO MISSION.

8

people to prayer. This was long after one
of the Bishop's best illustrations of the
beneficent influence of the Missionary. How
many like instances might be recorded !

The Bishop during his first summer visited
all the points seen by his predecessor and a few
others on the Arkansas and its tributaries.
Going east for the winter to secure men and
means, he came back in the spring with the
"army of one" he had succeeded in "re
cruiting," the Rev. F. Byrne. He met on
his way back the "first army," the Rev. Mr.
Fuller, returning. This was the Clergyman
who made so narrow an escape from the
Indians when they attacked the stage-coach
in the Platte valley. Soon after, however.
1867-69, he secured a few additional clergy
men — the Rev. Messrs. Lynd, for Golden,
Whitehead, for Black Hawk, and Winslow,
for Empire and Georgetown.

On April 1st, 1869, the Rev. Mr. Hitchings
having resigned, the Bishop assumed the
rectorship of St. John's, Denver. Here he
greatly needed, and for much of the time em
ployed, an assistant. Still he was able to spend
most of his Sundays in the city. On Sun
day afternoons he was in the habit of driving
ten miles to hold Services alternately at Lit
tleton and Baldwinsville. For these little
Missions he ultimately built chapels.

In 1868 and onwards the work was con
siderably extended. Its progress will best
be seen by the names and dates of the
churches consecrated: Christ, Nevada, Sep
tember 17th, 1867; Emmanuel, Empire, Sep
tember 18th, 1867; St. Mark's, Cheyenne,
August 23d, 1868 ; Calvary, Golden, Septem
ber 23d, 1868; St. Peter's, Pueblo, June 27th,
1869; Calvary, Idaho, July 15th, 1869; St.
Matthew's, Laramie, September 21st, 1869;
St. Paul's, Littleton, April 2d, 1871 ; Grace,
Georgetown, May 9th, 1872; Heavenly Rest,
Baldwinsville, March 29th, 1873. Missions
were established at Greeley, Canon City
(where an unfortunate attempt was made —
not the fault of the Bishop — to found a
school), Ula and Trinidad. In Pueblo,
Georgetown, Cheyenne, Central City, Golden,
parish schools were carried on for a time,
until the public schools became so good as
to render them impracticable.

No sooner had the Bishop entered upon
his work than he began to make plans for
the establishment of schools of a higher grade
for the youth of both sexes. In the autumn
of 1866 he purchased a small house in the

outskirts of Denver with a view of opening
therein a girls' school. In the following
year this plan was abandoned, on the citi
zens of the city subscribing the money to
purchase five lots in a more central location.
On these he erected in 1867 the central part
of the present Wolfe Hall, at a cost, for the
building itself, of $18,000. Mr. John D.
Wolfe gave the most largely towards the
enterprise, and the school was called by his
name. The Bishop with his family took up
his residence in the school and opened it in
the autumn of 1868 with seventy pupils. In
1873 he added a wing costing four or five
thousand dollars. Even in his day the
school was a most important accessory to
the Missionary work, and was mostly self-
supporting.

While building Wolfe Hall he was also
planning for a school for boys and young
men who might be looking to the Ministry.
His purpose was in 1866-67 to accept a large
block of land on Capitol Hill in Denver
that had been offered him, and build upon
it a Clergy and Bishop's house, a school for
boys with a training school of theology and
a cathedral chapel, extending the buildings
beyond the chapel in the centre, as the
needs should require. His plan, as detailed
in his reports of 1866 and 1867, was well con
ceived. The location was the best possible.
There is no block in that part of Denver
that is not now worth at least $1QO,000.
We can now conceive no good reasons, as
then existing, for changing it. But we find
him in 1868 accepting a deed for school pur
poses of twelve acres in the vicinity of
Golden conditioned on a collegiate school
being maintained thereon; and beginning
the erection of a building seventy-two by
thirty-five feet, two stories high, with Man
sard roof, to contain living apartments,
school-room for thirty, recitation-rooms, and
alcoves for twenty pupils. Misfortune seems
from the first to have attended the under
taking. On the early morning ' of Thanks
giving Day, November 24th, a terrible hurri
cane blew off the roof, and the walls fell to
the ground a mass of ruins. The Bishop dur
ing Service in Denver heard of the disaster.
The benediction given, he drove hastily
twelve miles to the spot. Standing in the
midst of the ruins, in no way discouraged,
he said, "We must rise and rebuild." He
wrote appeals to his friends. He went east
as usual to spend the winter in solicitations.

THE COLORADO MISSION.

Mr. George A. Jarvis, who had previously
given $5,000, on which it was named Jarvis
Hall, added $2,000; Mr. John D. Wolfe
gave $1,000; a lady, $500; Citizens of Den
ver, $450. So the gifts came in, sufficient
for the purpose. The ruins were nearly val
ueless. The cost of building and rebuild
ing was $17,873.42. On September 17th,
1870, the school which had been carried on
by the Rev. Win. J. Lynd in a rented house
in Golden, was opened on " College Hill "
with appropriate Services. Its patronage
was not so large as had been expected.
Never in Golden was it self-supporting.

In 1870 the Bishop obtained from the
Territorial Legislature $3,872.45 for a School
)f Mines. It was built that year near Jarvis
Hall, was about half its size, and cost
$4,500. A professor was employed, but the
school was little more than a scientific de
partment of Jarvis Hall.

The training of young men for the Ministry
on the ground where they were to labor was
always an object dear to the Bishop's heart.
There were some students in Jarvis Hall
looking to the Ministry. His appeals for
means for his boys' school were also, if not
primarily, appeals for a school that would
educate young men to become Candidates
for Holy Orders. And they were every
where exceedingly effective. In 1870 Mr.
Jarvis sent him $10,000, as an endowment
of Jarvis Hall with the special object of ed
ucating young men with a view to the sacred
Ministry of the Church, the income to be
used for this object, only after it should
reach the value of at least $20,000. Con
cerning this noble gift, Bishop Randall says
in his report for 1870: "The thanks of
the whole Church are due to George A.
Jarvis, Esq., who generously gave $5,000, at
the outset of our undertaking, towards the
erection of the edifice, together with $500
to aid in furnishing it. On hearing of the
destruction of this building he added $2,000
to his first gift, and now that the Hall is
nearly finished he has crowned his previous
benefactions by an endowment of $10,000
for the benefit of the institution. This sum
is to be invested for the purpose of accumu
lation until it shall amount to at least
$20,000, when the income may be used for
the benefit of the school." The Bishop also
secured a theological library of over 2,000
volumes, from the Rev. Ethan Allen, D.D.,
the Jarvis family, the Rev. Samuel Babcock,

D.D., and others. Full of the idea of a
Divinity school, but not knowing whence
were to come the means, he attended the
General Convention in Baltimore in 1871.
It was there that Nathan Matthews, Esq.,
pledged him $10,000 for the building of
Matthews Hall. It was erected in 1872,
and opened September 19th, with an able and
learned professor, the Rev. R. Harding, and
six or seven students. There were rooms for
twelve or fourteen students, for chapel,
library and recitations. The three schools
nade an imposing appearance as seen on
the hill east of the village and from the
railway. They seemed the beginning of a
University.

But the location was unfortunate. There
was no water, and no means of getting water
for irrigation. The deep wells were dry
four months in the year. In so bleak a place
it was not easy to create a home-like feel
ing. The schools could not here be made
adequately successful. Their removal would
become a necessity, and yet, to remove them
would be to forfeit them under the condi
tions of the title. The good Bishop grew
rapidly old under his accumulated burdens.
In the summer of 1873, while enlarging
Wolfe Hall and building an Episcopal resi
dence, he made two of his longest and most
tedious and hazardous journeys, through
New Mexico to La Messilla and El Paso, in
the south, and through Wyoming to the
Shoshone Indian Agency in the north.
In the latter he narrowly escaped being in
an Indian massacre at Lander City. Wearied
and exhausted he came home to install his
fifth principal of Jarvis Hall, to open his
schools, and then, if possible, to get a little
rest. But the rest for him was not here;
not in Wolfe Hall; not in the Bishop's
house, nearly completed. He was very ill,
and growing worse. Typhoid pneumonia set
in. There was no help, no respite. The
rest was to be in Paradise. A great man, a
great Bishop, a great Missionary was fallen.
He made some mistakes. Who does not?
He was over-sanguine about the growth of
the country and its towns. But it was this
sanguine temperament that gave him en
thusiasm in his work. He entailed tremen
dous burdens of responsibility upon his suc
cessor. But all must bear heavy burdens
who would do the work of CHRIST. He did
in his day a great work which will live to
praise him and to biess many generations.

THE COLORADO MISSION.

An old man when sent, ever youthful in
spirit, ever working at a rate that would be
appalling to most, young or old, he is an ex
ample the Church ought not to forget. His
biography should be written for the instruc
tion and inspiration of the young Mission
aries of the future.

Bishop Spalding, consecrated Decem
ber 31st, 1873, arrived with his family
in Denver, February 27th, 1874. A cor
dial welcome greeted us in the city and
in all parts of the jurisdiction. Every
thing was done that could be to make us
feel at home. My first official act was to
meet and confer with the vestry of St.
John's, and next, on the first Sunday, to
preach and confirm a class of sixteen, and
administer the Holy Communion in St.
John's Church. The following week, an
appeal to the churchmen of Denver was
prepared and circulated for a church to be
called Trinity, as a memorial to Bishop Ran
dall, for which I had received $1,000 dollars
from Miss Abby R. Loring, of Boston. This
appeal brought in at Easter about $1,600,
and the church was built during the summer.
Jarvis Hall was visited and a change made
in the principalship, and then was under
taken my first systematic visitation of the
jurisdiction.

The work was greatly suffering for the
want of oversight. The strong hand that
had controlled every detail of school and
other management having been withdrawn,
there could not but be many things requiring
attention. Of the Clergy these only were
at their posts: the Rev. Walter H. Moore at
Denver, the Rev. L. H. Strycker at Golden,
the Rev. R. Harding, Deacon, Instructor in
Matthews Hall, the Rev. Francis Byrne at
Nevada and Idaho, the Rev. M. F. Sorenson
at Colorado Springs, the Rev. H. M. Hoge
in Pleasant Valley, and the Rev. J. A. M.
La Tourrette, Post Chaplain at Fort Lyon ;
and the three last were not yet transferred
to the jurisdiction. All other Missions were
vacant. All the work was in a limited area
on this side the main range of the mountains.

Denver had a population of about 12,000;
Colorado about 40,000. The financial panic
struck the East just before my consecration.
It reached Colorado the following year. It
prevailed here till 1878. The working of
mines depending upon outside capital, the
development of the physical resources of the
country went on but slowly. During part of

this time the plague of locusts devastated
the farms, making agriculture very precari
ous. Little advance could be made in
Church work. So much was to be done in
securing what had been gained and strength
ening the foundations already laid, that it
was best, as generally, to "make haste
slowly." Still there has been no year of the
ten years past without its substantial gains.
It would be interesting to note the pleasant
incidents connected with the extension of the
Church into new regions where it had been
unknown, and the marked benefits attend
ing our Missionaries' labors. Our limits
allow only a summary. In 1874 the stone
churches at Central City and Colorado
Springs, costing each about $10,000, were
completed, with Trinity Memorial, Denver.
In 1875 Fort Collins, the capital of Larimer
County and of a fine agricultural district,
was permanently occupied, and the Church
at Greeley, a town of like character, built.
In 1876 we built Christ Church, Canon City,
having compromised amicably a great diffi
culty about a large building for church and
school in the vicinity of the town, by its
abandonment and use toward the church in
the city. Work was begun in North Denver,
and also at Rosita and church buildings
undertaken. In 1877 we entered with a
Missionary the San Luis Valley and estab
lished Services at Saguache, Del Norte, and
Lake City, and at the last two places secured
chapels. Emmanuel, West Denver, was also
completed. In 1878 I visited Silver Cliff
and Leadville and began more permanent
work at Boulder, placing the present Mis
sionary in charge. In 1879 churches were
built at Ouray, Silver Cliff and Boulder. In
1880 a Mission was planted at Rico, and
churches built at Leadville andManitou, and
the cathedral of Denver commenced. I had
secured the lots for the cathedral in 1876.
In 1881 we rebuilt All Saints, Nortfi Denver,
and occupied Durango and Gunnison and
Longmont, and built, or began to build,
churches, and had a Missionary at Brecken-
ridge and Pitkin. In 1882 we organized at
South Pueblo, Alamosa, Buena Vista and
Alma, and built in 1883 at South Pueblo,
Fort Collins, Villa Grove and Alamosa, and
began work at Silverton. During the first
five years we gained three, and the last five
years twelve parsonages.

Our most important work of church
building was the Denver Cathedral It was

G

THE COLORADO MISSION.

begun in July, 1880. The corner-stone jwas
laid on St. Matthew's Day. The opemng
Service was held on November 8th,
It is built of brick and stone in Romanesque
style, with porch, nave, transepts, aisles
and chancel. We needed a large church
and Gothic seemed beyond our means. The
old parish had still seven of five hundred
and fifty city lots not yet sold, and from
these $25,000 was realized. Had these city
lots been vested in the Bishop and his suc
cessors, we should still have had most of
them, and a foundation for a cathedral and
all needed endowments. They are worth
now about two millions. The building,
with its ample grounds, including organ and
gifts of expensive memorial windows, cost
about $115,000. It is liberally seated for
1,200. The basement, entirely above ground
except at the east end, contains a chapel
seating 200, a large Sunday-school room,
Bible-class rooms, rooms for choir practice,
etc. The congregation fills the church on
Sundays. The Sunday-school and Bible-
classes are large. Unfortunately there is a
debt of $16,000, which it is hoped will soon
be paid. It is surely a blessed thing that
we have been enabled in GOD'S good provi
dence to build up in the capital and See city
such a centre of work and influence. Trin
ity Memorial Church soon felt the impulse
of this grand success and was enlarged in
1883 to more than double its former capacity ;
and already there is a call for the building
of a church on lots secured some seven
years ago in a location that will be nearly
as good as that of the cathedral — the lots
are now worth $10,000 or $12,000 — where, if
only a church could be erected, a strong
self-supporting congregation would soon
be gathered. In no way could church
work be so strengthened now, as by a me
morial gift that would secure this church so
long waited for and so certain, if built, of
success.

Another very important work of the last
few years was the founding of St, Luke's
Hospital, Denver. "We had long felt the
need of such an institution. Many invalids
come to Colorado as a sanitarium. Many
come, alas, too late. Their funds exhausted,
often without friends here, the county alms-
house is almost their only resource. There
are also the many accident cases on the rail
ways and in the mines, in which surgical
treatment and the best nursing are required.

If a good Church hospital could be
once started, we felt that it would be
in large measure self-supporting and grow
with the growth of the city and country.
There was no Protestant hospital, none of
any kind except that of the Roman Catholic
Sisters and the poor-house. But the more we
felt the need, the more difficult seemed the
undertaking, multiplying and pressing as
were the calls of other work. At last Prov
idence opened the way and an occasion for
action. A lady residing in Denver had be
queathed a small property worth $1,800 for
a hospital to be under the control and man
agement of the Episcopal Church. She
died in January, 1881. A sermon in the
cathedral soon after excited quite general in
terest. The Board of Managers, all church
men, was organized February 12th. After
various ineffectual efforts to secure a site by
gift or purchase with a view of building, the
Grand View Hotel and block of four acres,
on the Boulevard, a principal street in
North Denver, was purchased at $7, 900, $900
being for the furniture. $2,400 was raised
by subscription and paid down. Two notes
of $1,500 and $4,000 were given, bearing in
terest at seven per cent. The first has been
paid, so that the debt is but $4,000. The
hospital was opened the last of June of that
year. During the first year, some $2, 300 was
raised and expended in repairs and furnish
ings. Three free cots at a cost for each of
$300 a year have been, till the present year,
provided, mostly by eastern friends. More
than 700 patients have been treated. A
Ladies' Auxiliary composed of the church-
women of the Denver congregations is inde
fatigable in its exertions for the support and
good management of the Hospital. At least
six free cots are required by the demands of
charity, and would insure self-support, as
all patients pay who can. Efforts are mak
ing for two endowments of $3,000 each.
This work of charity undertaken in faith,
needs and richly deserves liberal aid. The
hospital property is worth $12,000.

The Church schools have from the first
laid upon me the weightiest of all my bur
dens of care and responsibility. After
Bishop Randall's death, discipline was re
laxed and patronage became small. Debts
had accrued and were accumulating. For
two years, Wolfe Hall and Jarvis Hall fell
far short of meeting expenses, as had indeed
always been the case with the latter. From

THE COLORADO MISSION.

1876 to 1882, however, Wolfe Hall was
brought up to so high a state of excellence,
that its earnings were of large assistance in
enlargements made in 1879-80, costing
$18,000 — as much as the original buildings.
Annual gifts, of $1,500 from Miss Wolfe
and smaller offerings from others, enabled
us to make these great and necessary im
provements without debt. The school has
this year, under Miss F. M. Buchan as Prin
cipal, been brought up to a much higher
standard than ever before, intellectually,
morally and religiously. It is more true
of it now than ever that it is among the
very best and most effective of our Mission
ary agencies.

The schools in Golden never met the ex
pectations of their friends. The School of
Mines was in 1874 given back to a Board

$8,903.72. On Matthews Hall, $6,430.51.
On the Library, $989.34. Total, $16,323.57.
It is a question whether we could have
secured more, had the amount of insurance
been greater. The best part of the library
had been removed to Denver. The com
panies had the option to pay or rebuild.
The agent appointed to estimate the loss
was of opinion that the buildings could
be put in as good condition as before for
about the sum they were insured for. But
he recommended payment, and the money
was worth more to us than the buildings.
The next year, with the approval of all the
largest benefactors of the schools and the
Clergy and laity in Convocation, it was de
cided to remove them to Denver.

The cost of the present Jarvis Hall build
ings and grounds was $13,740.85. This in-

WOLFE HALL.

of Trustees of the Territory created by the
Legislature to receive it. We were without
the large means necessary to make it a real
school of mines, such as was demanded by the
mining interests. The placing it in the
hands of a Board that would have the ample
resources of the State to make it a success
met with general approval. The Territory
remunerated us iu part for what it had cost
beyond the sum appropriated from the ter
ritorial treasury.

In 1874 Matthews Hall had seven students,
but only two of the scholarships that were
relied on to support them could be secured.
There were no funds for the professor's sal
ary. Five of the young men were ordained.
The professor went east. Thenceforth the
few theological students were teachers in
Jarvis Hall.

On the 4th and 6th of April, 1878, Jarvis
and Matthews Halls were destroyed by fire.
The insurance received on Jarvis Hall was

eludes heating apparatus and some furni
ture. There are two buildings, one brick,
the other frame. Having learned by experi
ence that "brick and mortar " in a building
does not make a school, we sdught a central
location and built according to the probable
needs of the first years. I also secured by a
fortunate purchase some land for the future
requirements of the school, the value of
which is now said to be about $40,000.
With the man at the head who can make a
school, and there are not many good teachers
who can do it, the means will doubtless be
forthcoming for the new buildings that will
be requisite. And we trust we have found
the man in the Dean of the cathedral. He is
a born teacher. He has had years of success
ful experience. He knows how to manage
boys, while securing their esteem and affec
tion. He is ably supported by W. H. Smiley,
B.A. (Harvard), a splendid teacher, and other
competent assistants.

8

THE COLORADO MISSION.

Matthews Hall has been rebuilt on ground
contiguous to the cathedral and Jarvis Hall,
under an arrangement which makes it the
residence of the Bishop in his capacity of
President of the Divinity School and Pro
fessor of Theology. One student is a teach
er in Jarvis Hall. Two others who expect
to study for the Ministry will live at their
homes, and come to Matthews Hall for as
signment of studies and recitations.

The Jarvis Hall endowment was supposed
at first to be an endowment of Jarvis Hall.
Its object was afterwards denned in a letter
of the donor published in our Journal of
Convocation for 1 878. This having been sub
sequently thought to be too indefinite, the
donor's wish has been scrupulously regarded,
and its income is considered as only appli
cable to candidates for Holy Orders and
students of theology. It was found in 1874
to be in real estate and notes vshich on fore
closure gave us the real estate that secured
them. Much of this land is scarcely more
valuable now than when purchased twelve
years or more ago. But fortunately that
part of it situated on Capitol Hill has greatly
appreciated. Strong pressure was brought
upon the Bishop to sell, at a time when the
lots were worth but $400 each, and again a
year or two after when they had increased to
$1, 200. At the risk of incurring displeasure
no effort was made to sell, and they are now
worth from $2,500 to $3,000 each. Taxes
on these lands for 1882 were $835. 72. They
are more for 1883. We have always had one
or more theological students needing aid.
Four lots sold some years ago have enabled
us to pay taxes, and to afford what aid was
necessary in theological education. One
or two constant friends east have assisted
in this cause, so that no worthy postulant
has been rejected. We could easily find
abundance of candidates on the promise of
gratuitous theological education. But we
want none but the best. They must be able
and thoroughly educated young Ministers
who would succeed in this Western country.

It remains to give some statistics of ten
years' growth and then some plans for the
future.

In 1873 the number of Church families
reported was 360; in 1883 it was 1,921;
increase, 433 per cent. The number of souls
for whom the Clergy were caring was, at the
respective dates, 620 and 13,141; increase,
2,019 per cent. The infants baptized were,

in 1873, 117; in 1883, 390; increase, 233
per cent. Of adults, in the years respec
tively, 17 and 61; increase, 258 per cent.
In 1873 there were confirmed 48; in 1883,
127. Since June 1st, 20 more have been con
firmed, making the number for the last year
147; but these are not counted, not being
yet reported. Without these the increase is
164 per cent. In the ten years previous to
1874, 466 were confirmed. From then to
June 1st, 1883, 1,081 ; increase 131 per cent.
The gain in the number of communicants is
also especially gratifying. There were re
ported in 1873, 550; in 1883, 2,112— an in
crease of 284 per cent. So of Sunday-school
teachers and scholars: In 1873 the report
gave 658; in 1883, 2,082— a gain of 216 per
cent.

My ordinations to the Priesthood and
Diaconate number 32. There had been pre
viously ordained in and for Colorado, 13 —
an increase of 146 per cent. I found here
12 churches; we now report 32 — increase,
166 per cent. Three of those built before
1874 are unused ; none built since are as yet
unserviceable. It must be expected that the
usual proportion — not greater than in eastern
dioceses — will, in time, from the decay of
towns and changes of population, become
useless. There were, ten years ago, two
rectories, omitting one that was subsequently
alienated and lost by the vestry ; there are
now 1 6 — a gain of 700 per cent. The number
of sittings in our churches at the former
date was 1,600; at the latter date, 8,281—
an increase of 417 per cent. I found seven
clergymen at work in the jurisdiction.
There were two or three others not belong
ing to us or not employed. We report now
28 — a gain of 300 per cent. The number of
parishes and Missions was 19. It is now 53
— per cent, of increase, 179. The offerings
for all purposes in the jurisdiction have in
creased in much greater proportion. They
were, 1873, $5,086; in 1883, $52,509— a gain
of 932 per cent. The value of churches and
rectories was, at the first date, $26,300; at
the present $249,350; increase, 848 per cent.
The Episcopal residence, including the
lots, was worth $9,000. Its value now is
$25,000; increase, 177 per cent. Wolfe
Hall, building, grounds and furniture, was
valued at $30,000. Its value now is $80,000
— an increase of 166 per cent. Jarvis Hall
had cost for building and rebuilding, with
its furniture and apparatus $19,781. Its

TUB COLORADO MISSION.

estimated value in 1874 was $12,000. Not
withstanding the disastrous fire, which
left us only the insurance of $8,903.72,
the value of its present lands and build
ings is $50,000 — an increase of 316 per
cent. Matthews Hall, at Golden, cost $10,-

trict, just entering upon its first stage of
growth, there would be ample work to em
ploy their energies, and noble results would
crown their self-denying labors. With our
present resources we are almost powerless to
penetrate into these ' ' regions beyond. " Our

000 Matthews Hall in Denver is worth | present Missions require all of the appropria-
$15,000; increase, 50 per cent. Jarvis Hall
Endowment for Theological Education, in

real estate, was estimated in 1874 at $13,000.
Nine years later its value is $75,000 — an in
crease of 477 per cent. This and all our
property is in real estate, not producing in
come, and most of it is taxable. The increase
in value of all our school property is from
$73,000 to $220,000—201 per cent.

Such have been some of our gains. It is
a fair showing. It gives good ground for
encouragement and confidence as to future
growth and prosperity. There is much that
cannot be gathered from statistics. The
great results for which we should be, above
all things, solicitous, the coming of CHRIST'S
spiritual kingdom, the souls gathered in and
saved in CHRIST, and built up in Him and
edified, the fulfilling of the number of His
elect — no figures can tabulate these more
substantial gains.

We may not speak too confidently of the
future of the work. There are many dis
couragements which those long on the
ground only can appreciate, peculiar to a
mining country. "There are many adver
saries." But there are four things in our
mind as essential to be done, in which the
whole Church can aid us.
First, as to our Missions:

There are portions of Colorado now open
ing up to settlement many times as large as
the whole field of 1873. The North Park,
the Middle Park, and the whole vast country
west of them to Utah, the Ute Indians hav
ing been removed, are attracting investments
and population. In the northwestern quar
ter, as in the southwestern quarter of the
State, there are vast areas of irrigable land
at comparatively low altitudes. There are
immense ranges of the finest pasturage.
There are vast bodies of ore believed to be
rich, in many locations, awaiting develop
ment. It would be enough to do to enter
and cultivate these new fields, if we were
free of all other labor and responsibility. If
the western one-third of Colorado were
made a separate jurisdiction, and a Bishop
and a corps of Clergy sent to this new dis-

tion the Board can make. We cannot
abandon these Missions. Nor, so far as they
are in mining towns, as many of them are,
can we reasonably expect them to become
self-supporting. Indeed, three that were
strong parishes are now Missions requiring
aid. The obstacles, from lack of means and
men, to Church extension into new regions
which are likely to be better and more en
couraging than the old, seem at present in
surmountable. It is the saddest of all possi
ble experiences to see fields lying fallow or
worse, that we ought to occupy and cultivate
to GOD'S glory and the salvation of souls!
What is essential then? It is ESSENTIAL that
we should have MEANS, first, to employ an
EXTRA force of Missionaries ; secondly, to aid
them in building churches and parsonages.
May the LORD send us MEANS and MEN !
Second, as to our Church Schools:

They have good foundations. They are
doing noble Christian work. Wolfe Hall is
now again — it was not last year — self-sup
porting. Jarvis Hall is carried on by the
Principal at a sacrifice, its patronage being
as yet insufficient. Wolfe Hall is now
"down-town," almost in the business part
of the city. The taxes for street improve
ments seem to us enormous, when we are
without the means to pay them. In the near
future we must move out to what will be
permanently the residence portion of the city.
We ought to secure now, during the ' ' hard
times," when the price of such real estate is
not advancing, a block for the new Wolfe
Hall site. It will cost from $12,000 to
$15,000. We need help to secure this, and
having secured it, to accumulate a fund for

the new building ; and
ought to be $50,000.

this building fund
If we can keep the

old site, it will be a valuable endowment.

Jarvis Hall has already a new site about
five hundred yards from the Cathedral Block.
As soon as the school shall have outgrown its
present quarters, it is hoped that the Divin-
ty School may be enabled to purchase them

for its uses and for a
Clergy. The valuation

home for Mission
is about $15,000.

That sum doubled, $30,000, would build

10

THE COLOR.

SI ON.

the central part of the new Boys' School.
If Matthews Hall could receive now a gift of
$15,000 and Jarvis Hall a gift of $15,000,
our way would be clear to a grand develop
ment of school and Missionary work. These
plans commend themselves to all here as
wise and practicable. May they commend
themselves to some to whom GOD has given
ample wealth, who will see that we lack not
means to realize them ! They are Bishop
Randall's earliest and maturest plans. Are
there not some who revere his memory who
would feel it a privilege to consummate,
after all these years of deferred hope, the
chief aim of his Episcopate?
Third, as to the Hospital:

It is hindered in its work by the debt of
$4,000, and by inability to support the
patients who come to us who cannot pay and
cannot be rejected. $3,000 endows a free
cot permanently; $300 for one year. We
have had three annual endowments thus far,
until the present year, and now we have but
one and part of another, and the demands
for free beds are increasing with the growing
stringency of the times. The debt on the
property and the debts we are compelled to
incur by the behests of charity require now
to be provided for. And we ought soon to
obtain a more convenient site within the city
on which ultimately to build, so as to use
the present hospital building for some other
charitable purpose.

Fourth, as to Endowments:

The time has now come when we ought to
have adequate endowments for the support
of the Episcopate and for the support of Mis
sionaries. The latter is quite as necessary as
the former. It is to be feared that these en
dowments cannot for some time to come be
raised here, in this frontier, fluctuating,
mining country of (in 1880) 194, 000 popula
tion. It is surely reasonable to expect that
aid for these essential objects and con
ditions of success and growth, should be ex
tended, from some whom GOD hath blessed
in the older and more settled communities.
Let none fear that we shall fail to do what
we can to put responsibility upon our peo
ple and to teach them to give and work for
CHRIST and His Church. They have done
and are doing nobly. But if they are to do
ALL that must yet be done in the Church
for Christian education and for Christian
charity and for the endowments that are
essential to the permanency and success of the
work in so peculiarly and permanently a Mis
sionary diocese, the Church must wait
patiently for the results so many are in
clined to look for immediately. Let prayers
arise from all devout hearts in. the Church
that, in whatever way it shall please GOD, the
early promises of the jurisdiction, as shown
by this brief, imperfect sketch, may be fully
realized to the praise of the Glory of His
Grace.