The history of the government of Denver with special reference to its relations with public service corporations

Front matter

1%:

The History of the Government of Denver with special reference to its Bg> Relations with Public Service Cor- Hfe po rations. — KING.

an

Chapter I. Early Settlement and Government

Early settlement: the fur-traders — discovery of gold — the Cherry creek towns — the miners go to the mountains — Denver as an emporium. The evolution of a legal and stable city government : need for an efficient government — no legal State or Territorial government in the region — attempt to get legal government from Kansas and from Congress — a spontaneous provisional commonwealth — it grants a charter to Denver — government by vigilance committees and People's courts — the People's Government — organization of the Territory of Colorado. The first legal charter: the structural plan — powers — stable government 4

Chapter II. A Council Form of Government, 1861- 1868

The social and industrial background: passing of placer mining — other mineral wealth — irrigation — freighting and transportation — railroads — Denver the industrial and political capital of the Territory. The city's government: Denver's influence in the legislatures — special legislation — powers — city versus state control of vice — elective and appointive city officials — centralization in council — council form inadequate — vigilance committees again — government by council inefficient. Public service corporations: period propitious for securing franchises — franchises by territorial legislatures — gas, street railway, and water companies 36

Chapter III. Tendencies Toward a Mayor Form, 1869- 1876

Industrial and social background: mining — irrigation — pioneer railways — results in Denver. The city's government: Denver's controlling influence in the legislature — enumerated powers — changes in governmental form and

vii viii

History of the Government of Denver.

reasons therefor — greater power in mayor's office — decreased prestige of council. Public service corporations: exclusive gaa franchise — the water company and its franchise — the street railway company — character of franchises granted. The constitution and its municipal provision: Denver's paramount influence in securing statehood — and in the constitutional convention — the nature and reasons for the municipal provisions inserted therein — special legislation as to Denver to continue 66

Chapter IV. Party Dominance and State Boards, 1877-1892

The social and industrial background of the period: increased mining activities especially in Leadville — marvelous development in irrigation — in manufactures — effects of climate — titanic railroad construction — unparalleled growth in Denver — industrial optimism runs riot. The city government: the industrial spirit — activities of the Chamber of Commerce — wealth — dominance of the Republican party — Denver's control in party and state legislature — special legislation as to Denver is colored by party interests — liberal grants of powers — judicial interpretations — police courts — bicameral council — increase in the statutory and advisory powers of the mayor — multiplication of city officials — state appointed Board of Public Works — state appointed Fire and Police Board — party control. Public service corporations: the struggle for a street monoply — war for water monoply — gas monopoly — electric monopoly — other public utilities — franchises given away as written by the seekers therefor — perpetual franchises and the twenty year limit — public utilities begin to control the city's governmental machinery .. 93

Chapter V. Decentralized Government and the Movement for Home Rule, 1893-1901

The industrial background of the period: depressing effects of the panic of 1893 — slump in silver mining — farming and horticulture the only constant factors — stagnation and depression in Denver. The city government: Republican party demoralized by free silver — government by party groups ■ — character of state and city legislation — effect on Denver's government — diffused administrative organization — decentral-

Table of Contents.

ix ization in city — continued party influence in the two state boards — tendencies in municipal affairs — governmental structure inefficient. Public service corporations: monopoly in street railway — in water — in gas and electricity — public utilities all allied — influence in governmental affairs — tend to become the government of the city. The home rule movement, due to : clash between state party and local standards in state-appointed boards — the inefficient form of government— unification of school system — greater Denver — public service regulation — the home rule amendment secured 160

Chapter VI. Home Rule, 1902-1911

The industrial background: prosperity in the state — rapid growth in Denver — industrialism rules again. The home rule amendment: greater Denver — consolidated the schools — provisions as to public utilities — merged city and county officials — the city frames its own charter — first charter rejected — the adopted charter. Judicial interpretations: amendment valid — does away with state appointed boards — residual powers — tendencies in judicial interpretation — merging of city and county officers thwarted — the court reverses itself — the present situation. The form of government adopted in the home rule charter: interrelations of city and county — a highly centralized mayor type. Under home rule: peculiar party situation — no real home rule until 1910. Public service corporations: their relations to the city's government — character of franchises granted under the referendum — their interests unified 223

Chapter VII. Conclusion

The tendencies in Denver's governmental history — the changes necessary for efficiency in existing plan — suggested changes — agitation for commission government — need of divorce from domination of state political organizations — and from influence of public utilities — need for other methods of regulating public service corporations — the city's close relations with the state. 295

Appendix

The Home Rule Amendment — New charters, amendments

of measures 311

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Primary Sources.

The Session Statutes of every Legislature, Territorial and State.

Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention Held in Denver, December 20, 1875. Smith-Brooks Press, Denver, 1907.

State Legislative Manuals.

Revised Ordinances of 1866. Compiled by B. B. Stiles.

The Charter and Ordinances of the City of Denver, 1878. Compiled and Revised by Alfred C. Phelps, Attorney at Law. Denver Publishing House, 1878.

The Charter and Ordinances of the City of Denver, 1881. Compiled and Revised by John L. Jerome, City Attorney. Tribune Publishing Co., Denver, 1881.

The Ordinances of the City of Denver, 1884. Times Steam Printing Co., Denver, 1884.

The Laws and Ordinances of the City of Denver, 1886. Revised, compiled, and codified by Isham White, Corporation Counsel. H. J. Collins, Denver, 1886.

Ordinances and Official Notices of the City of Denver, 1892. W. F. Robinson and Co., Denver, 1892.

Compiled Ordinances and Charter of the City of Denver, 1898. Compiled by Henry J. Hersey, of the Denver Bar. Smith-Brooks Co., Denver, 1898.

The Municipal Code of the City and County of Denver, Approved April 12, 1906. Compiled by Charles W. Varnum and J. Frank Adams, of the Denver Bar. Smith-Brooks, 1906.

Franchises and Special Privileges of the City and County of Denver, 1907. Compiled by Charles W. Varnum and

xi xii History of the Government of Denver.

,). Frank Adams, of the Denver Bar. Smith-Brooks, 1007.

Proposed Charter of the City and County of Denver. Defeated September 22, 1903.

Charter of the City and County of Denver. Adopted March 29, 1904.

Annual Reports of the Auditor of the City of Denver.

Files in the Office of the City Auditor.

The Annual Reports of the Board of Public Works, the Health Commissioner, and Other Department Reports.

Denver Municipal Facts. Issued Weekly by the city since February 20, 1909.

Annual Reports of Denver's Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade.

Biennial Reports of the State Auditor, State Labor Commissioner, and other State Reports.

Documents filed with the Secretary of State.

Reports of Denver's Public Service Corporations.

Census Reports, City, State, and National.

Statistics of Cities Having a Population of over Thirty Thousand.

Files of Daily Newspapers. Especially the Republican and the News.

Secondary Sources.

Smiley, Jerome C, The History of Denver with Outlines

of the Earlier History of the Rocky Mountain Country.

J. H. Williamson and Co., Denver, 1903.

History of Denver, Colorado. O. L. Baskin and Co.,

Chicago, 1880.

Hall, Frank, History of the State of Colorado. Four Volumes. Blakely Printing Co., Chicago, 1889.

Englehardt, George W., City of Denver and the State of Colorado. Published by the author.

Bowles, Samuel, The Switzerland of America. Samuel Bowles and Co., Springfield, Mass., 1869.

Bibliography.

xiii

Bassett, Frank, Colorado, its Gold and Silver Mines,

Farms, and Stock Ranges. E. C. Crawford, 49 Park

Place, New York, 1879.

Blackmore, William, Colorado: Its Resources, Parks and

Prospects. London, 1869.

Lindsey, Ben. B., The Beast and the Jungle. N. Y.,

Doubleday, 1910.

Hollister, Olvando J., The Mines of Colorado. Samuel

Bowles and Co., Springfield, Mass., 1867. Hayes, A. A., New Colorado and the Santa Fe Trail. Harper

and Bros., 1880.

Smith, J. Alden, State Geologist, Report on the Resources

of Colorado, 1881-2. Cham and Hardy, Denver, 1883. Summering in Colorado. Richards and Co., Denver, 1874.

Cases Cited.

Adams v. Longmont, 42 Colorado, 102.

Aldermen v Darrow, 13 Colo., 460.

American Water Works Co. v. Farmers Loan and Trust Co., 20 Colo., 203.

Board of County Commissioners of Arapahoe County v. The

Denver Union Water Company, 32 Colo., 382. Boulder v. Niles, 9 Colo., 415.

Brophy v. Hyatt, 10 Colo., 223.

Brown v. Denver, 3 Colo., 169, and 7 Colo., 305. Carpenter v. People, 8 Colo., 116.

Carter v. Durango, 16 Colo., 534.

Central and Georgetown Road Company v. People, 5 Colo., 39.

Central v. Sears, 2 Colo., 588.

City v. Bayer, 7 Colo., 113.

Cofield v. McClellan, 1 Colo., 370.

County Commissioners of Arapahoe County v. Denver Union

Water Co., 32 Colo., 382.

Curran Bill Posting Co. v. Denver, 47 Colo., 221. Darrow v. People, 8 Colo., 417 and 426.

XIV

History of the Government of Denver.

Deitz v. Central, 1 Colo., 323.

Denver City Ry. Co. v. Denver, 21 Colo., 356.

Denver v. Adams County, 33 Colo., 1.

Denver v. Bach, 26 Colo., 530.

Denver v. Bottom, 44 Colo., 309.

Denver v. Coulehan, 20 Colo., 471 and 476.

Denver v. Denver Union Water Co., 26 Colo., 413, and 41

Colo., 77.

Denver v. Dumars, 33 Colo., 94.

Denver v. Dunning, 33 Colo., 487.

Denver v. Dunsmore, 7 Colo., 328.

Denver v. Frueauff, 39 Colo., 20.

Denver v. Hallett, 34 Colo., 393.

Denver v. Hindry, 40 Colo., 42.

Denver v. IlifT, 38 Colo., 357.

Denver v. Kennedy, 33 Colo., 80.

Denver v. Kent, 1 Colo., 336.

Denver v. Londoner, 33 Colo., 104.

Denver v. Mullan, 7 Colo., 345.

Denver v. U. S. Security Co., 40 Colo., 281. Denver v. Vernia, 8 Colo., 399.

Denver Ry. Co. v. Denver, 30 Pac. Rep., 1048. Durango v. Pennington, 8 Colo., 257.

Durango v. Reinsberg, 16 Colo., 327.

Evans v. Denver, 26 Colo., 193.

Ex parte James D. Stout, 5 Colo., 509.

Greeley v. Hamman, 28 Pac. Reports, 460. Hallett v. Denver, 46 Colo., 487.

In Re Appointments by the Governor, 21 Colo., 14. In Re Extensions of the Boundaries of Denver, 18 Colo., 288. In Re Fire and Excise Commissioners, 19 Colo., 482. In Re Penitentiary Commissioners, 19 Colo., 409. In Re School Districts, 23 Colo., 499, and 26 Colo., 136. Jackson v. Denver, 41 Colo., 362.

Keese v. Denver, 10 Colo., 112.

Bibliography.

xv

Leadville v. Leadville Sewer Co.

Leadville v. Matthews, 10 Colo., 125.

Leiper v. Denver, 36 Colo., 110.

Lewis v. Denver City Water Co., 19 Colo., 236.

Londoner v. People, 15 Colo., 246.

Martin v. Election Commissioners, 126 Cal., 404.

McClelland v. Denver, 36 Colo., 486.

Mclnerney v. Denver, 29 Pac. Rep., 516.

McMurray v. Wright, 19 Colo., App,, 17.

Metcalf v. People, 30 Pac. Rep., 39.

Orahood v. Denver, 41 Colo., 77 and 173.

Packard v. County Commissioners of Jefferson County, 2

Colo., 338.

Palmer v. Way, 6 Colo., 106.

Parsons v. People, 32 Colo., 221.

People ex rel school dist. No. 2 v. County Commissioners,

12 Colo., 89.

People v. Adams, 31 Colo., 476.

People v. Commissioners, 6 Colo., 220.

People v. Curley, 5 Colo., 412.

People v. Goddard, 8 Colo., 432.

People v. Jobs, 7 Colo., 475.

People v. Johnson, 34 Colo., 143.

People v. Lang, May, 1910.

People v. Londoner, 13 Colo., 303.

People v. May, 8 Colo., 485.

People v. Orr and Martin, 19 Colo., 566. People v. Osborne, 7 Colo., 605.

People v. Rucker, 5 Colo., 455.

People v. Sours, 31 Colo., 369.

People v. Union Pacific, 20 Colo., 86.

Perry v. Denver, 22 Colo., 93.

Phillips v. Denver, 19 Colo., 179.

Platte Co. v. Dowell, 30 Pac. Rep., 68.

Platte Co. v. Lee, 29 Pac. Rep., 1036.

Pueblo v. Robinson, 12 Colo., 593.

xvi

History of the Government of Denver.

Slater v. Fire and Police Board, 43 Colo., 225.

Smith Canal Co. v. Denver Ry. Co., 2 Colo., 673.

Swansea Ry. Co. v. Denver Ry. Co., 2 Colo., 673.

Railroad v. Lee, 5 Colo., 192.

Raymond v. People, 30 Pac. Rep., 504.

Rogers v. The People, 9 Colo., 450.

Sorensen v. Greeley, 10 Colo., 369.

Spalding v. Denver, 33 Colo., 72.

Sullivan v.. Leadville, 11 Colo., 483.

Tibbets v. People, 31 Colo., 461.

Tracey v. People, 6 Colo., 151, and 7 Colo., 72.

Tramway Company v. Londoner, 20 Colo., 150.

Trimble v. People, 19 Colo., 187.

Tripp v. Overocker, 7 Colo., 72.

Trumble v. People, 19 Colo., 187.

Union Depot and Ry. Co. v. Smith, 16 Colo., 361.

Valverde v. Shattuck, 19 Colo., 104.

Venner v. Denver Union Water Co., 15 Colo. App., 495.

Vinsonhaler v. People, 1910.

Wellengel v. Denver, 20 Colo., 552.

Williams v. The People, 38 Colo., 497.

Wood v. Denver City Water Works Co., 20 Colo., 253.

HISTORY

OF THE

GOVERNMENT OF DENVER.

INTRODUCTION.

From out the heart of the fabled American Desert, from the borders of a vast mountainous territory theretofore practically unexplored, has sprung a city that already, though but half a century old, ranks as one of the twenty-five largest cities in the United States. Forging out solutions for a physical environment that old industrial methods and customs could not conquer, Denver has become the Queen City of the Plains, and the Metropolis of the Mountains; wide circled by lands made rich in harvests though once desert, and by mountains fat with wealth and rich in power, she bids fair to become one of our greatest cities. How she has governed herself first as a village, then as a city, the structural plan of city government she has evolved, the various stages in the evolution of that plan, the forces that have been and are the motive power for her governmental machinery, are the problems with which this volume has to do.

The two phases of municipal government that can best be differentiated are the policy-forming and policy-expressing phases. The forming of municipal policies is the vital part of municipal government. The policies framed and their methods of formation depend upon the industrial and political needs of the city, the character of its citizenry, and the general spirit that guides and enfolds its activities. These policies, when formulated, are given expression through the 2 1 city's governmental machinery, its structural plan of city government. The actual government of the city is the sum total of the policy-forming forces of the city; the structural plan of the city's government, usually called "the city government," is but the machinery through which actual government finds expression. To study the structural plan only, is to study the things already done, not the things that are in the doing; is to study the finished structure, not the processes of construction. The guiding, formative agency in government is not the machinery of government but the inward frame of mind of the community at large. This is not by way of saying that the study of the structural plan by which a community is governed is not important, for it is, and hence is undertaken, but by way of emphasis upon the equal value and need of a study of policy-forming agencies.

The forces motivizing changes in policy lie mainly in the social and industrial life of the community. For this reason these phases of the city's life are discussed introductory to each of the various periods into which the city's governmental history has been divided. The city's industrial life has been pre-eminently dependent upon the industrial life of the state, and hence this introductory statement notes the changing industries of the state as well as of Denver. The most vital policy-forming agents in the city's history, as in other cities, have been extra-legal, the chief of which have been the political party and the Chamber of Commerce. The place and influence of these institutions have accordingly been noticed. The leading institutions through which the city has governed itself, or voluntarily or involuntarily, has been governed, have been the state legislature, the state judiciary, and the city's government proper. The statutes of the legislature, the decisions of the courts, and the evolution of the city's plan of government have accordingly been given their wonted share of attention.

For nearly two decades and a half, the city's public utilities have been a vital factor in her government, at times, indeed,

Introduction.

they have been, in effect, the government of the city. Any study of the city's actual government must give due consideration to the governmental influences of these corporations. It was in the actual government, not the plan of government that they interested themselves. They "used" the governmental plan in force, and interested themselves in advancing their own ends, not the city's. It is in the policy-forming field, not in the field of the structural plan of government, that their influence has been most pronounced.

Denver is in many respects a typical American city. Her citizens come from every state and every country. She has her share of the recent immigrants, but only the most progressive of them have reached her boundaries. Her citizenry is resourceful, well-educated, prosperous, and energetic. She does not suffer from a provincialism that inhibits the acceptance of everything new. She has had her share of political and corporate corruption, but not such an untoward share as have some other American cities of her size. The needs, defects, and activities of her government are characteristic of the needs, defects, and activities of the government of the average American city. She affords an excellent and typical field for a definite and concrete study of American municipal conditions.

Chapter I. Early Settlement And Government

Early Settlement.

The first definite information about the vast region of which Denver was to become the metropolis came from the fur traders. During the first two decades of the nineteenth century, they had exploited the plains that reached to the foot-hills. In the third decade they pressed into the foothills, revealed the sources of the Platte, pushed onward to South Pass, crossed the continental divide, and were relating stories of their adventures in these regions where nature has wrought on so vast a plan. The Mexican Revolution of 1821, by weakening Spain's control of the West, made possible organized trading companies with permanent posts. A systematic trade which averaged in value $130,000 per year was thus made possible. From this trade developed permanent trade routes, the chief of which were the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails, the former clearly marked by 1822, the latter by 1833. Both started from the same trading post, Westport, Missouri, but from this point took different directions, the Santa Fe Trail going southeasterly across Kansas to the Arkansas river, up this river to La Junta and thence southwesterly to Santa Fe; the Oregon Trail led northwesterly from Westport to the Platte, up the Platte and its North Branch via Fort Williams, now Laramie, Wyoming, to the South Pass, from whence one branch led to Oregon via the Snake River, another went southwesterly to California. The trails, at the two posts where they came nearest to Denver, La Junta and Fort Williams, were two hundred and fifty miles apart. It was within this triangle of territory, the objective point of neither Trail, that Denver and Colorado were destined to take their rise and growth.

Eakly Settlement and Government. 5

It would have been better for this territory had its resources and possibilities been made known solely by traders. The descriptions heralded abroad by two of its earliest visitors, Majors Pike and Long, deterred rather than aided its development. Pike reached the mountains in the winter of 1806- '07, made an unsuccessful attempt to climb the peak that bears his name, and returned homeward, giving a cold, desolate picture of the mountain region, none of which he had actually been over. Major Long likewise learned nothing of the possibilities of the mountain country, into which he did not try to go, nor could he see any of the possibilities of the great plains country to the east of the mountains. On the contrary, he painted in lurid lines a picture of this plains country as "The Great American Desert," a land "almost entirely destitute of woodland, scarcely a tree, bush or even a shrub, making its appearance."1 With the eyes of one used to a wooded country, he concluded that such a land could be fit for nothing but a great barrier between the Indian tribes and the habitable portion of the United States. He admitted that "buffaloes, wild goats, and other wild game" in great "multitudes," found "ample pasturage and subsistence upon it," yet this fact did not lead him to reflect upon the fertility of the plains soil or upon the possibilities of the mountain regions into which these animals must have retreated to find "ample pasturage," when such was wanting on the plains. Of the mountains he could only say that they consisted "of ranges, knobs, and peaks variously disposed" and were called the Shining Mountains by the Indians, because they were perpetually covered with snow.2 Such a description would never entice settlers, for certainly no one would venture on a long and perilous trip through a

» "Western Travels," XVII; 137 and 147.

2 On July 4, 1820, Long camped near the present site of Denver. He describes the place as "on the Platte, thirty-two miles below the point where it issues from the Rocky Mountains," meridian 48° 10'; latitude 39° 57' 40". Ib., p. 256.

desolate desert solely for the pleasure of looking upon "ranges, knobs, and peaks," however " variously disposed" they mighl be. This picture of the plains-region as a great deseri burned itself into the minds of the^American people, and long inhibited its settlement. Such a picture the traders would never have drawn, as they were conversant with its possibilities.

Near the present site of Denver arose not fewer than four defensive trading posts which served as centers for the dissemination of more accurate information pertaining to the district. These posts were Fort William, now Laramie, Wyoming, erected in 1832; Louis Vasquez, five miles northeast of the present site of Denver, erected in 1832; Fort St. Vrain, erected in 1838; and Fort Pueblo, erected in 1842. The services of these posts in creating a new conception of the west were aided by the reports of travelers on the transcontinental trails. In the first years of the " forties," the Oregon home-seekers wended their five months' journey to the Pacific by way of the Oregon Trail. Along this same Trail trudged the Mormons in 1847 to the Salt Lake Basin. Two years later came the rush of the gold-seekers for California. Most of these gold-seekers used either the Santa Fe or the Oregon Trail. A few of those that started on the Santa Fe Trail left it at La Junta and moved northward along the base of the foothills to the Oregon Trail. Through these various channels, by 1850, the concept of the plains as a desert and of the mountains as a desolate waste was beginning to break down, and the settlement of the great stretch of territory between the two trails awaited only some event that would attract popular attention to the possibilities of the region.

It was the discovery of gold that first focused popular attention upon the resources of this territory. Stories about finding gold nuggets therein had been heard and told by the earliest traders. By the " thirties' ' such stories were quite persistent. William Gilpin, later Governor of Colorado, declared at Independence, Missouri, in 1849, that during his expeditions into the mountains, he had seen unmistakable evidence of the existence of gold, silver, and copper.1 Piqued by such stories, the California gold-seekers that moved across the territory, prospected for gold along the various branches of the Platte. They found the metal in Cherry Creek, a branch of the Platte,2 but not in quantities sufficient to stay their rush for the fabulous gold beds of California. A party of Cherokee Indians, likewise bound for California, found gold in Cherry Creek in this same year. In 1856 and in 1857, two distinct columns of federal troops found gold in the same creek. There were other rumored finds in 1857. In the spring of 1858, a group of Cherokee Indians heard of the Cherry Creek discoveries from the returning Cherokees. Under the leadership of W. Green Russel, and accompanied by several other white men, they started for the vicinity of Cherry Creek, arriving at the present site of Denver on June 24. 3 Few traces of gold were discovered at first, and most of the party returned. Those that remained ultimately made some rich " finds" in a dry creek about seven miles below where Cherry Creek joins the Platte.4

The news of this discovery spread rapidly, gaining force as it spread, and soon several companies were on the road to " The Pike's Peak Gold Region." A Kansas company was the first to arrive on the scene, having started early in the spring of 1858. They had learned independently, it appears, of the possibilities of the region through two Delaware Indians who had also found gold in the vicinity. They arrived in the summer of that year, and on September 9, at a place about six miles above where Denver now stands, they laid out a town, which they called " Montana City." They built

1 Smiley, "History of Denver," p. 179.

2 Harper's Magazine, XLI; 373.

8 Smiley, " History of Denver," p. 185.

* See Smiley, " History of Denver "j Bancroft's " Works," Vol. XXV; Hall's "History of Colorado," Vol. I, and Hollister's "The Mines of Colorado."

eighteen or twenty cabins on their new town site, and a few of them passed the winter there. Some of them, however, surreptitiously moved down into what is now East Denver, and. on September 24, laid out another town site, naming their town St. Charles. The purpose of these early town sites, of course, was to get possession of real estate that could be sold to incoming gold-seekers. But the lots would not sell, gold digging was found to be unprofitable, and the founders of St. Charles, including the leader in the venture, returned to Kansas.

Late in the autumn of 1858, however, other companies that had heard of the Cherry Creek discoveries began to arrive in the Cherry Creek neighborhood. Foremost among these were two Iowa companies, one arriving on October 10, the other on October 20. They encamped on the west side of Cherry Creek in what is now West Denver, and, on October 30, laid out a town site of twelve hundred acres. Their town they named Auraria. There were already two or three cabins on this site. Others were built at once and before the end of the winter Auraria could boast of one hundred and twenty-five houses. In a fortnight after the organization of St. Charles, a party arrived1 from Leavenworth, Kansas. Perceiving the advantages of the east side of the Creek in its relation to the routes of travel, the Kansans " jumped" the town site of St. Charles,2 organized a town company, and began to "boom" their real estate, all within twenty-four hours after their arrival. Their town they named Denver in honor of General James W. Denver, then governor of the Territory of Kansas. Another six days and Denver had a full set of city officials,3 and its vigorous pro-

1 On November 16. With W. H. Larimer as their leader.

2 When its founder returned from Kansas the next spring, he did the only thing left for him to do — he quietly took shares in the Denver Company.

3 President, E. P. Stout; Treasurer and donating agent, Gen. Wm. Larimer; Secretary, H. P. A. Smith; Recorder, P. T. Bassett.

moters were setting forth the advantages of Denver over Auraria. Newcomers joined one or the other of these towns, as Montana City had been abandoned in the spring.

News of the gold discoveries was, in the meantime, spreading farther and farther eastward, infecting men with the gold fever as it spread. The first printed account of the discoveries, a pamphlet entitled "The Pike's Peak Guide and Journal," was published in Pacific City, Iowa, late in the autumn of 1858. Other accounts and "guides" appeared. Newspapers everywhere gave currency to the reports. That the reports were not unfounded was evidenced by the appearance in Omaha, on January 5, 1859, of several quills filled with gold dust. The hard times following the panic of 1857 and the fabled success of the "forty-niners" caused people everywhere to lend eager ears to the news. With the advent of the spring of 1859, thousands from all parts of the United States set out for the gold regions. Capitalists and laborers ; collegians and clerks; abolitionists and slaveholders; men seeking economic justice and men fleeing from civil justice; from north and south and east and west; from every state in the Union, and from every grade of social and economic life/men of every kind and class, leaving wives and daughters behind, rushed across the plains for the wealth they fancied could be picked up from the bottom of a stream.

The foremost in the scramble reached the Cherry Creek towns in March. By April ten hundred to twelve hundred had arrived.1 In the succeeding weeks, thousands came. Each newcomer tried his luck at "panning out" the sands in the nearby creek bottoms only to find that the gold did not "pan out" in paying quantities. Discouragement grew apace. Then followed misrepresentations, incriminations, counter-incriminations and civil disorder.2 In despair and chagrin, about mid-April, sixty to seventy men started homeward, spreading a doleful and disparaging tale of the "finds"