Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-11-01
CoLORADo,s THRIVING CITY.
How Denver Impressed n Washing.
ton hoy.

How Denver Impressed washing
ton Roy.
IFS BUSINESS AND IT'S BUrIDINGs-rrs GLORIOUS
cLMArE-THE WATER sUPrLY-NIxEp SCHOOLS
"A POOR PLACE FOR MECHANICS.
Correspondence Of THE EvESrxo STAR
DENVER, Col, October II. 1884.
The ride from Chicago across Illinois and
Iowa is not very interesting. the country being
under cultivation and looking something like
the eastern states. only the farms are on larger
scale We arrived at Omaha about $40 a. M
and had until l1:40 to look around. II is quite
a large place, having a good many wholesale
houses in IL, but did not like it very much
After leaving Omaha we plunge into what ap-
pear to be an endless succession of prairies.
with no signs Of vegetation. except dried up
grass and sage bush. One can look for miles
north. south. east or west without seeing any
sign of house or farm except that occasionally
can be seen dug-out in the midst OF the Vast
plains. forlorn and abandoned. Immense droyes
of cattle roam all over these plains mostly near
the Platte river and at night In some little
gully one can see the smoke arising from the
camps of the herders. For some distance we
ran Though village Of prairie dogs and they
could be seen scampering i'm every direction. In
some places good deal of this prairie land is
enclosed with wire fence. When about sixty
miles from Denver We came I'm sight of the snow
| capped mountains. Along the road are numer-
Gus Water-tanks supplied with water by means
of wind-mills from artesian wells After run
ming to within about twenty miles of the noun
tans we skirt along the edge and. running south
for about an hour, We arrive at Denver had
the opinion before came here that il was COM
pared with our eastern cities. small place. with
abundance OF possibilities in the way of enter
prise, but find that business is already con-
Quoted here on large SCALE The business part
OF Denver cannot be distinguished from that of
any oil our large eastern cities, except that the
| streets are not paved.
FINE BUILDINGS.
The railroad depot is very large stone build-
| ing, OF a light cream color. trimmed with a
darker colored stone and finished off in hand
| some style by large dome 1t is about go
feet long. by60 feet wide. and has all the mod
ern conyeniences of an eastern depot. and is a
much more imposing building than the depot of
| the b. and 2. railroad in Washington Ii
has, however, no covered shed, the dryness
| OF the climate rendering such an affair useless
Street cars run to all parts of the city, | was
| much impressed with the magnitude of the
| wholesale business done here, and the immense
| establishments and business houses. but by far
the most beautiful and ornamental is the Tabor
| block and Opera house. The building is about
| twice as large as the Portland flats in Washing
| ton. and the front is used for offices, and the
rear for the Grand Opera house. 1t is built of
| colorado stone and presents very handsome
| front. South of the city, on Capitol Hill is
situated the aristocratic part of the city. with
many fine residences. costing from 5000 to
100000 each.
| THE DRY CLIMATE, AND THE WATER SUPPLY
| The Climate is excellent. the atmosphere
icing dry, cool and pure. The winters, am
told are never very cold. and the summers not
very hot. 1t may be little warm during the
day time. but is always cool enough at night to
sleep under blankets. 1t rains very seldom.
hut at times they have dust storms The CITY is
| supplied with water by the Holly system from
the River Platte. but of late this water has be-
come impure. The artesian well recently conf
| pleted furnishes an abundance of cool pure
| sweet water, and is used for drinking and Gull,
| nary purposes altogether, being retailed at rs
| cents per month for one bucket full each day.
New wells are being driven. The gas company
! supplies very good quality of gas. The CITY
has complete system of sewerage and drain
age. The Holly is used to water the grass and
| lawns. Water from Cherry creek. which flows
| from the mountains. is kept continually rum
| ming along the cutters and bitches. for the pur-
pose OF irrlgating the trees lining the sidewalks
The soil here, when properly irrigated is very
productive.
| The public school system is excellent and
| thorough. but there are no separate white and
| colored schools as in Washington children of
both colorS being together in school.
BUSINESS INTERESTS
Denver by no means depends upon the min
ing interests of Colorado as a large cattle and
agricultural business exists and is rapidly in
creasng all over the state The five large
Territories lying west Of Colorado depend very
largely on Denver for supplies. and the large
wholesale houses are rapidly extending their
facilities to meet the demand. Every imayin-
apie business is represented. Goods are pur-
chased in large quantities i'm Chicago and New
/ gpp lnf r,nk,snu
AS general rule, fairly cheap prices prevail
Cigar stores and news-stands occupy eyery cor
ner. They bring most of their stock from New
York. the high freghts making their goods very
expensive In reply to the question. How is
business" they all replied Dull" The boom
has passed. and Denver is as settled city in its
methods and business prosperity as any eastern
city. All the business is in the hands of monop-
| oilsts who drive most of the ''small fry out
and those OF this class who remain iniure each
other as they do in the east, by cutting prices
Denver is
POOR PLACE FOR MECHANICS
business being at times so dull that manurac
turers are obliged to discharge all hands for
three or four months at a time. House rents
and ground rents are very high. An ordinary
SIX room house very readily brings SG5 Der
month. Fatahles are about as cheap as in the
eastern states; SO. from combination of circum-
stances poor man with family, having rent
~ I"H' least OQe-IHlln
OF the time has hard time to get along here
OF course Denver as a place of residence an
pears different to different people. Persons who
come here with money can make money. and
they think there is no place like Denver; while
the poor mechanic who sacrifices everything
comes out, works for few months is dis
charged. becomes discouraged, with nothing to
do. high house rents to pas and family to feed.
goes back to the states and curses the place
ana there are many such. / have talked with
har oa1 q all
VINO has nice, comfortable home east does
wrong to sacrifice it on an uncertainty 10y COM
ing out here; but it Is all very well FOR a man
who has nothing to lOse he can lose it here Just
as well as in any other place. III,
Saturday Smiles.
Let none of the great family of Browns be
alarmed II they see ghosts of their relatives this
season. All shades of browns are said to be in
the height OF fashion.-Balingtoa. Free Press
The new reading Ia s.bridp and coacbpoop "