Gilpin observer., 1899-04-27
NEWS FROM THE
WESTERN REGION.

sf N-
miles Of the track of this road will be
followed into Canon City. The trip is
not to take longer than one hour and
thirty minutes, and the fare Is not to
be greater than 81 for the round trip.
The road will be operated by steam.
The principal shareholders are T. JEFF
ferson Coolidge, Major Tuttle, George
Volney Meyar. Henry B. TwOmbley
and George II. Proctor. The general
manager of the road is \. II. Crocker,
formerly with the Burlington, o. II. &
N, and A., L. & S. r. railroads.
The Colorado Board of Agriculture
met at Fort Collins on the 25th. The
minutes of the December meeting
We're disapproved and the clause re-
appointing DR.. Aston Ellis as presi-
dent of the State Agricultural College
was rescinded, on motion of Governor
Thomas, by vote of 3 to 4. p. F.
Sharp of Pueblo was elected president
of the board by a vote of to 4. T.
NJ. Hawley of Canon City was elected
secretary of the board, and G. A.
Webb of Fort Collins treasurer. The
matter of the election of n successor
to DR.. Ellis was deferred until the
evening session. The candidates dis
cusscd are Rev. Barton Aylesworth,
Rev. Bayard Craig, Chancellor Nc
Dowell of Denver, Professor l.. q.
Carpenter of Fort Collins and Profess
sor johnson of the Longmont College.
AT the evening session Chancellor Will
lam f. Mcdowell of the University OF
Denver was elected to succeed Presi-
dent Ellis. 1t is not known whether
Chancellor Mcdowell will accept or
not.
An explosion, by which five miners
fhr LET IN,
the Cook & White coal mine at Madrid,
New Mexico. The men We're coming
up out of the mine for dinner when the
explosion occurred. The explosion
damaged the machinery and five men
were left in the mine. For three hours
nothing could be learned of the fate IF
the entombed men. Several attempts
were made by the miners to descend
the shaft, but they We're driven back
by the poisonous atmosphere. When
the mine was finally entered the five
men were found dead, death resulting
evidently from suffocation. as no
marks of external violence were Wis
ible The men were Poles. 1t Is
claimed by the mine management that
the men violated orders by carrying
open lamps into the mine. Open lamps
were found near the bodies of the dead
them into the miIe. Orders that none
but safety lamps be used by the miners
were very strict. and because of this
fact the coroner's jury. at an inquest
later in the day, held the mine man
ayers blameless for the accident.
The movements and prospective op-
erations of the Burlington company
in Wyoming are being watched with
great interest, not only by the public,
but by other railroad companies. 1t ia
reported on fairly reliable authority
that the company is now negotiating
for the purchase of the Cheyenne X
Northern branch of that system. If
this is secured branch will be extend
ed westward from Horse Creek station
to the coal lands owned by the Bur-
lington company. in Carbon county. 3
distance of about sixty miles. With
this branch the coal could be market
ed. by almost straight lines of road, in
the Black Hills of South Dakota and in
Omaha. The ownership of the Chey-
enne & Northern, taken in connection
with the Cheyenne & Burlington line.
would give the company access to the
interior of the live stock regions OF
Wyoming and enable it to control
much live stock business now going to
other liEes. The activity of the Union
Pacific in railroad building and the
evident intention of the Burlington to
get into Wyoming territory makes it
certain that the present year is going
to be one of unprecedented railroad
construction in the state.
A dispatch from Aspen says: Noun
tain sheep. at the head of Conundrum
gulch and Maroon creek. have suffered
terribly from the rigors of the last
winter. Rich Thomson and David
Saunders, two young trappers, who re-
turned from Maroon lakes Sunday, re-
port having found the body of one
sheep dead in snowslide and brought
its horns out as evidence of their
find. A short distance away were two
more, buck and n eve, SO nearly
starved that they made no attempt to
get away at the approach of the boys.
They We're snow-bound in little
gulch and had eaten Off cottonwood
saplings an inch or more in diameter.
The young men lifted the sheep from
the snow and took them some distance
to spot where the sun had melted the
snow from the mountain, and cut some
brush for them TO eat. The animals
they said. We're little more than living
skeletons. but We're able to walk about.
Another trnpper in that section reports
having found several dead sheep and
is of the opinion that a greater part of
them in that section have perished.
At the head of the gulches. south of
Aspen. there have been known to ex-
list several bands of sheep, of from
twenty-five to forty each, or about
100 in ALL
A surveying party of eight men has
been dispatched from Denver by the
Colorado Fuel & Iron Company to
Badger. 40 miles north of Cheyenne.
where the Cheyenne Northern reaches
the North Platte river. The Cheyenne
Northern belongs to the Colorado IL
Southern. From Badger the surveyors