The Wilmingtonian., 1888-06-23
Denver, The Marvellous.

visited Denver, thus writes
1t is only twenty-one years since was an
unwilling but hospitably-welcomed visitor
in Denver for some weeks, because the noble
red man of the plains and mountains pro-
posed to take toll in the shape of CORY scalps
from all pale-faced sojourners in this region.
One year before the romantic sons of the
Smoky Hill valleys from Denver clear down
to the struggling outskirts of civilization on
the sunset banks of the Missouri river.
Men were murdered, women were consigned
to captivity a thousandfold worse than
death, devastation was next to universal,
and Denver was severed from the East by
hundreds of miles of trackless plains on
which hostile Indians roamed to glut their
savagery in the white mans blood. The
spring following these peculiar exhibitions
OF the humors of. the lords of the Western
domain, General Sherman was in personal
command on the plains, and he announced
that only was the old overland route by
Denver and Laramie open aud safe for trains
and emigrauts, but he declared also that the
Powder River route to Montana was fully
protected. How safe the Platte Valley was
is indelibly impressed upon my recollection
by swoop of hostile Sioux upon Julesburg
when our stage coach entered the little viii
lagc just as the sun was beginning to roll
back from the eastern horizon the darkness
of short summer night; again when saw
station after station burning or in ashes be-
tween the North Platte and Badger Pass
Summit. The safety of the Powder River
route was demonstrated by the appalling
massacre of the garrison of Fort Phil Kear-
ney by the long siege of Fort Reno aud by
the siege of Fort @. F. Smith that was
maintained until the Montana volunteers
came from Bozeman to the reliet Of be.
sieged garrison three times the number of
the force that rescued it. 1t was these san
culinary fancies of the noble red men that
made me fretfully enjoy the hospitality of
Denver twcnty .one years ago for six weeks
and that gave me ample opportunity to study
eisurely the condition and resources of Den
yer and Colorado.
STARTLING CHANGES OF TWENTY YEARS.
What then wrote of Denver and Colorado
after personally inspecting every mining
centre and enjoying daily and intlmatr in
tercourse with the active men of that day of
every shade of aim and interest, was re-
garded by Eastern readers as the widest OF
dreams, inspired by the enthusiasm OF new
people with untold millions Of the precious
metals known to exist in the mountain cliffs
and valleys surrounding them. There were
then about 4, 900 so colled residents in Den
yer, and most of them feeJing as the wind;
now there are fully 100000 of tho most
stable population to be found anywhere be-
tween St. Louis and San Francisco. Then
they were producing In Colorado two or
three millions of silver by the rudest
methods and the most fitful woI kers; now
they are producing nearly $50. 900, 900 by the
most complete and economical methods
common in any legitimate business in the
country. Then there were no railways west
of the Missouri except few miles of the
Union Pacific extending out from Omaha;
now there are fifteen railway lines center-
| ing in Denver, running so passenger trains
every day, and the rude song of the iron
\ horse is h card en- many of the mountain
cliffs from eight to ten thousand feet above
| the sea, as the wonderful wealth of the last
born Commonwealth of the Union is gather
L ed into this eq qually wonderful commercial
/ emporium. Then | could have taken up
scores of acres of land skirting the little
primitive village at $t.25 per acre, and any
hundred dollars thus invested would pay
with million of profit to-day. Then hotels
we're the frailest shanties, with eggs on the
wine list; now they equal the hotels oI
Philadelphia in elegance and comfort and
are vastly more progressive. Then there
was hardly more than the misty sign Of
church or school; now the church and schoo
architecture visible in every section of the
city surpasses Philadelphia in grandeur and
also in extent, considering population. Their
the thriftless Indian lazily wondered in every
street to ply the trade of mendicant or thief
now civilization has sent the few who sur
viye the vices of civilization into the re-
cesses Of the mountains, and the game thai
was abundant of every side, has perishec
from the earth. Then the savage and th,
buffalo dotted the plains from Denver tx
Omaho and Kansas City; now they are uttei
strangers on the thickly- peopled plains, ant
the next generation of this region will learl
Of both only from history and tradition
Such are some of the startling changes il
Western civilization in single score o
years.
aILPIN's DREAM AND FULFILMENT.
was most heartily welcomed yesterday