Gilpin observer., 1899-05-25
NEWS FROM THE
WESTERN REGION.

the Reporters office. West. of the 'Le
| land a business section where large
number Of hotels, restaurants and sa-
looms were located, We're destroyed,
within space of twenty-five minutes.
The estimated value of the destroyed
buildings is 100000.
1t has been officially announced that
not single property holder in Santa
Fe owns one foot of ground nor has
the city title to the streets or the
plaza. The courts have decided that
the Santa Fe grant is illegal and that
the city and township are situated on
government land and that the city has
no right to collect taxes levied on
lands. A mass meeting will be held
and the surveyor general will be re-
quested to expend $1,000 appropria-
tion. He is about to return to Wash
ington, d. c., for survey of the
township, and the land office will be
asked to issue small holding titles to
lands occupied by settlers. Under the
present law, however the city cannot
acquire title to the streets and the
plaza, and the courts will be asked to
set the law aside.
Information has been received from
| Special Agent G. b. Abbott that the
log boom, which he has been using
across the Platte river at Fort Steele.
Wyoming, for the purpose of gather
Ing railroad cross ties, has broken and
upwards of 5000 ties have been swept
| down stream. The river commenced to
| rise Saturday and in twenty-four hours
the water raised two and n half feet.
Three wire cables, each an inch in
diameter, broke under the pressure of
the ties and the strong current An eff.
fort Is being made to save the ties at
a n 1, .~l.G
is thought will be successful. The
property is that seized by the govern
ment from Contractor J. C. Teller, who
was accused of cutting it from govern
ment land. The entire number seized
is 47,0OO, scattered at various points in
and along the Platte river from Fort
Steele to Saratoga.
The snow fighters are still at work
with dynamite and shovel on two
branches of the mountain system of
the Colorado and Southern road. Above
Breckenridge, in the direction Of Lead
Vile, two gangs Of men are hammer
ing away on avalanches which left
twenty-five feet of ice and snow in
their track. Two gangs are also ham,
mering at great snow banks in the re-
gion of Alpine pass. The difficulties
are so great that the report of one day
this week showed only twenty-five feet
progress as the result of the entire
days operations. Without the aid of
dynamite 1t Is claimed the banks would
not disappear before the Fourth OF
July, so hard have they become. Ad-
vices last evening gave encouragement
that the line between Como and Cum
nison would be open for traffic tO-mor-
row. Officers of the railway are max
ing no promises. 1t is probable that
oh 1u hn hQfnrp
the snow flies in the fall. Insurance
companies refuse to insure wooden
sheds.
Every mine in the Occur d'Alene dis
trIct closed down Thursday except the
Bunker Hill which employs non-union
miners. II is expected that the new
prison Will be completed Saturday and
In it will he confined 395 prisoners who
are now herded in an improvised cor
raj Two hundred union miners left
Wallace to-day, ms with the present
temper of the district attorney and
military it is hopeless for union miners
to expect work In Occur d'Alene, Gen
eral Merriam's order requires that any
miner working after to-day must Sc
cure a permit. To obtain this permit
he must renounce allegiance to the
union. Only 150 men now working at
the Bunker Hill mine have taken out
these permits. Other mine owners
have not exacted permits; in fact, they
seem to be very lukewarm in the anti
union crusade. The result is that to-
day all those mines had to be shut
down. In the Last Chance $50 men
were turned out. In Canyon Creek 200
men were laid OFF and at Wallace 300
more were discharged.
1t is reported that radical changes in
the curriculum of the Colorado Acri-
cultural College are contemplated. It
is claimed, says the Denver Post. by
those who question the wisdom of the
present administration that while there
has been an apparent advancement in
the institution, the educational stand-
ard has been lowered; that the net re.
suits Of the large expenditure of mon
ey in salaries, apparatus and new
buildings, rs shown in the number OF
graduates turned out, is far from be-
ing satisfactory. They also claim that
while the annual attendance has shown
an Increase 1t has been accomplished
by industrious and persistent drum
ming for new students throughout the
state and adjoining states. and by the
constant admission of students In the
preparatory and sub-fiesnman classes.
who, In fact, by reason OF their ex-
treiHe youti, ure ehtreiy OUT OF place
In such an institution. For instance.
there has for years existed in Fort Col
Inns strong antagonism between the
college and the high school In conse,
quence of constant effort on the part
OF the former to build up It's fortunes
at the expense OF the latter. The insti-
tuition Of n commercial department IL
also commented upon unfavorably as
entirely out of plnce in nm agricultural
college. The number of students at.
tending the preparatory. sub-freshmar.
and commercial departments, accord
ing to the last nnnunl catalogue wns