Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1899-10-23
UN(LASSIfIED.
DENvER's oDDITIES S
And Peculiarities- Some Strik-
ing Features of The Com
monplace Order.

Special Correspondence to the Evening Capital.
There are no cisterns in Denver. The
water is soft and delightful Tor drinking
as well as all cleaning purposes. 1t is
practically melted snow from the mount
aims. The manner OF irrigating the farms
here kas peculiar interest for the Mary
lander, where there is rain in plenty and
irrigation is not needed. There is syn
dicate which operates the irrigating ditch
es. These are run in every direction and
branch off to the various truck farms.
Each farmer has "his day" for irrigatng
his land, and on these occasions the gates
are opened and the land watered, for
which privilege and luxury he pays so
much per inch mot linear, OF course.
Ashes are not gathered up by the gar
bage man in Denver, but each house is
furnished with an ash pit at the rear OF
the back yard. These queer looking ar
rangements lead the stranger to inquire
as to their usefulness, for they have the
appearance of the old-fashioned bake
oven, built of brick and mortar. The
ashes are deposited here, and here they
remain sometimes for six months and
longer, and, even then, on removal. are
often found to be alive. The nature of
the coal here is said to be the cause OF
this. Soft coal sells here for So per ton.
It comes from the mountains in the State
and does not smut, and its ashes are
white.
Referring to the delightful climate. we
were told there is town OF miles from
Denver where but three mornings, from
July to October there was no frost. Every
town has its provincialsms. and Denver
is no exception. We were surprised 10
hear carving-knife called "butcher-
knife" The creeks are called "cricks,
and all baggage is spoken of as "lug-
gage" But the queerest OF all is that a
farm is called "ranch," and there are
numerous jokes on the fastener. who
expects the ranch to be anything else but
what it is. A popular lawyer in Denver
tells story. the truth Of which he vouch-
es for, and being lawyer we dared not
doubt his veracity in the least.
He says gentleman who came ou: to
Denver from Pennsylvania. being pleas
ed with the city, went back for his family
to locate here. He at once became an
object of interest to his acquaintances.
who thought it wonderful that any man
in those early days had crossed the plains
TO that far-away country of the Rockies
and returned alive. He was queried on
all sides, and one fellow who was par
ticularly anxious to know how travellers
lived out there on the plains. what they
subsisted on, &c. The gentleman told
him they were in no danger of starvation
as there was plenty to eat. "How do you
get il, out on those barren plains? was
the inquiry. There are numerous
ranches along the road" was the reply.
Ranches, eh! Do you encounter these
ranches frequently He was assured
that there was ranch at least every hve
or ten miles along the road all the way
across the plains to Denver" Ranch
esl" the fastener again exclaimed with
a puzzled expression. "See here, are
these ranches a very difficult game to
shoot
Visitors that we would call green"
or ebay seeds" East. are here called "pil-
grims" and s'tenderfeet." We fear the
verdancy OF our Eastern innocence has
long since classed us in this category. 1t
took this column some little time to
find out what burro is. We heard
them talked of quite a little before
we realized burro is only another name
for donkey. or Colorado Canary Birds"
as they are called. They are very use
full in climbing the mountains, and must
get their name from the manner in which
they burrow their feet into the mountain
pass or burro trail, and thus take Sc
cure footing. They are safe climbers
and sure-footed. They know every inch
of their ground.