In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this, the 24th day of Jan., 1861.
[seal] Signed, John Howard.
Signed in the presence of A. Rudd, clerk of District Court.
Per WILBUR F. STONE, Deputy.
CHAPTER XIV.
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
Denver and Auraria were separated by Cherry Creek, at that time a very insignificant stream, which had a flow of water in the spring, from ten to twenty feet wide and about six inches deep. The “high water” continued two or three months, after which it diminished to a silvery, thread like current. The rise and fall of the stream was considered of so little consequence that houses were built close to the water’s brink, and many in the channel itself. Two flattened pine logs with a rough board railing, formed a foot bridge from bank to bank, where Larimer street now crosses. A flour barrel had been sunk at this point, which supplied the citizens with water.
Rivalry between the towns ran high. Society was full of “envy, hatred, malice and all uncharitableness.” “Are you a Denver man or an Aurarian ?” was the one absorbing local question.
On the last week of March, 1860, the citizens held a mass meeting and passed the following:
“Whereas, The towns at and near the mouth of Cherry creek are, and of right ought to be, one; therefore, be it
Resolved, That from this time Auraria proper shall be known as Denver City, West Division, and we hereby authorize the board of directors to change the name on the plat accordingly.”
At the close of the year 1860, there were sixty thousand people in the Territory, and Denver had a population of about four thousand. Even at this early day the young metropolis was fairly supplied with the three great
63
64 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
forces of civilization, to wit: schools, churches and news¬ papers. The pioneers liberally encouraged religion, mor¬ ality and education. With Whittier they believed:
“ The riches of our commonwealth
Are free, strong minds and hearts of health;
And more to her than gold or grain,
The cunning hand and cultured brain.
Nor heeds the sceptic’s puny hands,
While near the school the church-spire stands,
Nor fears the blinding bigot’s rule,
While near the church-spire stands the school.”
The first voice of
one preaching in the
wilderness was that
of George Washing¬
ton Fisher, a Meth-
odist minister, who
was kindly tendered
a saloon to hold
divine service in.
The house was filled
with the old and
young, the giddy
and sedate, the pious and the dissolute. The good man took his stand in front of the bar, and preached from the text, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
Behind him were bottles and glasses in glittering array, and placards adorned the walls,reading, “no trust,” “pay as you go,” “25 cts. a drink.”
LOYALTY. 65
The minister gave a kind and loving lecture, presenting Christ as the cup and the loaf to refresh the Christian soldier and guide him to the new Jerusalem.
Even those who were inclined to laugh at the incongru¬ ity of the scene, bowed in holy reverence to receive the benediction.
Rev. J. H. Kehler arrived in Denver from Virginia on the 17th of January, 1860, and established St. John’s Church in the wilderness.
One gloomy, stormy Sunday morning there were only two persons in the church, Mr. Amos Steck and Col. J. H. Dudley. They thought of course they would be dismissed without a sermon, but Father Kehler, equal to the situation, selected the text, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there will I be, in the midst of them,” and thereupon preached an excellent sermon.
CHAPTER XV.
LOYAL TO THE GOVERNMENT.
In the spring of 1861 the Territory of Colorado was organized. President Lincoln immediately appointed William Gilpin its first Governor, in recognition of his services as an explorer of the “great West.” The people of Denver set about to receive their distinguished executive with every manifestation of pleasure and respect in their power.
To Judge H. P. Bennett was assigned the honor of mak¬ ing the reception speech. To give greater tone to the affair a platform was erected in front of the Tremont house, West Denver, where the reception was to be held,
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66 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
and a large anvil, in lieu of a cannon, was loaded for a welcoming salute. In due time the Governor and his escort, in a spring wagon, which was newly painted and gaily decorated for the occasion, drew up in front of the orator. The Governor thrust his hand in the breast of his closely buttoned coat and assumed, from force of habit, a dignified and striking attitude.
Bennett had prepared a real old-fashioned spread eagle speech, full of solid rhapsodies on our Italian climate and exhilerating atmosphere. But, just as he had launched out with “fellow citizens,” the cannon went off, whether by accident or in a spirit of mischief, was never known; but it certainly did “ spread itself ” in the effort to make its presence known, and gave the speaker a mightier “send-off” than was expected or desired. The enthusiastic crowd scattered in every direction, and the orator was so stunned that he forgot what came next, or what he was there for.
This, mind you, occurred about the beginning of the war. A majority of the people of Colorado were loyal to the Government. A better illustration cannot be cited than that related by Judge Wilbur F. Stone: “Soon after the Territorial organization, two young men, who had been working for a miner at Gold Run, in Summit county, stole a large quantity of gold dust from their employer. They were pursued, captured, brought back to the gulch, tried by a ‘ miners’ court ’ and sentenced to be hanged. In the meantime A. C. Hunt, then United States Marshal for the district of Colorado, learned of the affair while passing through Park county in charge of some prisoners, and at once dispatched to me a warrant for the arrest of the culprits, sending me, at the same
LOYALTY. 67
time, a commission as deputy to execute the warrant. I was then at Buckskin Joe, in Park county, and mounting my horse rode with all speed over the range twenty miles to Gold Run, which I reached just as the crowd of nearly a thousand miners had gathered to see the execution.
“Under a pine tree two graves had been dug, and beside them was placed a wagon upon which the two condemned criminals were standing with ropes noosed about their necks and fastened to a limb of the tree above, looking down upon their open graves, and waiting the signal when the wagon should be drawn from under them. A hollow square of men, with loaded rifles, inclosed the wagon.