St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-06-08
WESTWARD H0. ".

the fall OF ~ the only line from the
Missouri river to the Pacific coast
was the Union and Central Pacific
The former extended from Omaha 70
Ogden and the latter from Ogden to
San Francisco. In 20 years the
great West has been gridironed by
railroads and there are now six
through lines from the interior
states to the Pacific coast, besides
numerous shorter railroads which
connect with these transcontinental
lines at all the important points.
One would naturally think that the
limit Of railroad extension had been
reached, but railroads will be built
over mountains and across prairies
as long as Eastern capital holds out.
Today Denver has four lines extend
ing westward, two of which run
clear through to the Pacific coast.
But another is contemplated and the
Denver Chamber of Commerce is
discussing plans for road to Salt
Lake City that would be several
hundred miles shorter than the two
railroads that now connect Denver
with the Mormon capital. The two
rival roads that now extend through
Colorado, the Denver & Rio Grande
and Colorado Midland, do an i'm
mense freight business and the latter
road received a million dollars last
year from one mining town. A tun-
mel FIVE miles long would be one of
the features of the proposed Salt
Lake line, and it is estimated that
this could be constructed for less
than 100000.
Colorado is called the Silver state
because of her rich mines, and it
therefore is surprising to learn that
the products of the mines are not
Colorado's leading industry. Manu-
features ranked first last year, agri-
culture second and mining third.
Denver is great manufacturing
center and there are small factories
scattered all over the state. Colo
RADIO ranches and fruit farms have to
be kept fertile by constant irrigation,
while Merino sheep and Hereford
cattle are bred on the plains and
fattened in Indian territory and
Kansas. Yet Notwithstanding the
absence of rain and alluvial soil,
Colorado exported $60,000,000 |
worth of agricultural products last
year. The development of the min
eral resources of the state is yet in
its infancy, and 24S different miner
ais have been found and identified.
In the snow-capped mountains are
rich veins of lead and silver, OCCASION
al deposits of gold and copper and all
kind sand colors of marble and lime
stone suitable for building purposes.
1t is the mineralogist's paradise and
many varieties of quartza are brought |
into Denver to be polished up as
souvenirs for tourists. Indeed so
extensive is this industry that in the
watering place Of Manitou there are
Is stores which sell only mineral
souvenirs and photographs.
While waiting for train at Glen
wood Springs fell into an interest
ing conversation with a miner. He
informed me that those who worked
for the big companies were we'll paid
and also we'll fed. He claimed that
many of them made So a day and
the anticipation of making rich
find kept them at work. OF course
only one in thousand does get rich,
but every miner tolls patiently
away, confidently expecting that
sometime he will be as rich as Sena-
tor Tabor, or the discoveries of the
rich mines at Creole and Cripple
Greek. Many miners do not hire
out to any corporation, but spend
their time developing little claims of
their own. If they are not rich
enough to spend their winters in
some mining town, and few of them
are, they pack burro with canned
goods, cooking utensils and kit of
tools and start for the mountains.
There they build a little dug out"
and live through a long and hard
winter, hunting for silver, lead or
gold ore. Such life is fraught with
hardships and dangers, and few
miners now choose it unless they
can get no work elsewhere. While
the miner is waiting for his fortune