The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-07-22
LL2A&1E

cay. The bottom has been reached
in many places, and the foundation
is unstable. Two years ago 10000
people claimed Leadville Tor home
today, q census would show less
than half that number in the
city and surrounding mines; two
years hence, estimating from
present appearances and lndt-
cations, the famous carbonate
camp will be stalking ground for
ghosts. It will have history, but
little else. It's story has been that
OF all mining camps, only magnlfied
and briefer. Colorado will ever De
not only a pleasure resort and
charming state in which to resldes
but it is licking in those natural
resources necessary to the continu-
ance Of the unexampled prosperity
and development that have marked
its course tor the past fifteen years.
| sincerely hope that my estimate
and foreboding of this wonderful
young city may prove erroneous and
wild in the extreme, and that Den
yer will go on in her seemingly mad
and reckless career, ever growing
and always thrifty, prosperous and
progressive as now. l would dislike
to see Salt Lake undertake to follow
her example and jump suddenly into
greatness and Importance, for cities,
like water, will certainly find their
level, be the settling process brief
or protracted. The slow, steady,
certain progress Of Salt Lake is
preferable to the speedy movement
of Denver. The foundation upon
which the Utah capital is being
erected is firm and everlasting,
whatever that of Denver may he.
When we advance the ground is
covered for good and all j; when Den
yer goes ahead step 80 uncertain
is her feothoId that any moment
she is liable to fall back beyond the
point Of beginning.
Any mention Of Denver is
incomplete without a refer
ence to Ex-Governor Tabor, of
so much and SO many kinds Of noto-
riety. This fellow seems a strange
combination Of ittleness and great
ness, of consistehcies and eXtraYa-
gances, Of wisdom and Tecklessness,
of brutalities and the finer human
sentiments, of grossness and refine.
ments, of financial caution and
monetary impTovidence; in word,
a cross between the better and the
worse. the good and the bad. One
side of his character is noble and
cOmmendable in the highest degree,
the other low and execrable
in the extreme. He has done
more for Denver than any half
dozen other men who can be named.
He has opened here che finest opera
house in America; he has built one
Of the most magnificent hotels; he
has put up bloc after block of
beautiful reSidenc and substantial
stores and business places, His
millions that came so easily have
been permanently if not always
wisely invested, and if the town
has given him name and fame he
has done more than any other to
help it to greatness and perman-
ency. On the other hand, Tabor
has been guilty Of childish, shame
less. even disgracefula actions, which
mlIk him as the man of low prln-
ciple and base instincts. We can
commend the pride that induces
him TO put 100000 into a theatre
that can never, in the very nature
of things, be made to return even
nominal interest upon the money
invested; again, we must despise
him for turning from the wife of
his youth and of his manhood,
from the woman who shared with
him The pains and struggles and
trials of poverty, and VINO cid as
much, if not more, than he to
acquire the enormous wealth that
afterwards cane to him; we say,
we cannot do otherwise than de-
spise him for turning against this
woman, aged and uncOuth as she
may be. and sharing his fortune
with lady who at best can be
little else than an adventures.
The worst fault e Tabor seems
to have been his inordinate desire
for Office and notoriety. If he had
been content To live Within his
sphere, and had managed his mil
lions as he seems, when in his
right mind, disposed TO manage
them, his name must have been re-
Yered IN Denver and throughout
Colorado, and respected by the
CO Intry generally. Since he has
chosen to rise above his station
socially, to buy offices, not because
he thought himself qualified to ill
them, but merely for the titles and
notOriety they gave, he ought moi
to complain if the press and public
sport with his name, and say
unpleasant things of him. Rt
invites contempt and offers himself
a target for the masses. There is ont
great thing in Tabor's favor, anC
which covers a multitude Of sins anC
indiscretions; he made his money
in Colorado, and is spending i
there, and not like so many have
doHe, carrying it away to enrich
other places and communities
Some of the men who have fOunC
fortunes in Utah mines would b.
respected more and liked better il
they had not carted their money
out Of the territory.
Railroad riding is rarely enioya-
BILE. and then only when journey!