Rocky Ford enterprise., 1900-08-10
COLORADO NOTES.

Forest fires are doing much damage
north OF Gothic In Gunnison county
A tornado caused considerable dam.
age Mt Sterling on the 9Th. II demol.
ished the Catholic church. unroofed
several buildings and Injured many
others.
The comptroller OF the currency has
issued statement showing the condi'
tion of the national hanks OF the state
OF Colorado on June Goth last. showing
the following: Loans and discounts,
$i2.3oi.3 .3l7: money reserve In BANKS:
x..0O1 .s0ei: surplus, S,ri5. ssa': undivided
profits. <i3i.i5O: individual deposits.
$.3.04s.256. Al the time held an aver
age reserve ON hand Of 1888 per cent.
The Rio Grande railroad Inns let the
contract for the construction OF It's line
from Texas creek To Silver Clin 10 Or
man < Crook. Work will be begun nj
once. and the contractors promise that
II will be completed by December LIST.
The contract calls for twcnty.siS miles
OF heavy grading. but the contractors.
II Ii said. viii have few problems TO
solve In its construction. ns most Of the
survey II over level country. The
bridge department Of the road has
gangs Of men now nt work near Texas
creek erecting buildings for the bridge
builders and prcparin. for the begin.
ming OF active work on the road.
Stringent orders have been issued to
train crews ON Colorado roads To bc on
the lookout for train robbers. The
crew was told to carry rcvolvcrs and
to use them II robbers attacked the
train and there was amy prospect OF
killing one OF the bandits without en-
dnn.cring their own lives. The orders
wcro the result Of the robbery Of the
Union Pacific near Huge. Colorado.
early Sunday morning. In which VIII
liam ]. Fay was killed. While II is
realized that the crew would have hnd
no chance. perhaps. to prevent the
Hugo robbery. II II argued that had
the men been armed they might have
shot one Of the robbers.
George Shcppcrl was killed Friday
afternoon while choppinr timber on the
Solomon ranch. a mile AMI half west
Of Greenland. His uncle and cousin
were with him when the accident oc-
curred. Mr.. Shcppcrd was cutting ON
a large log when silver ficw from the
wedge. cutting open one of the large mr.
terics In the right leg above the knee.
The injured mans uncle ran to the
Noes ranch to get MD In caring for the
dying man. but the rcscuinE party re-
turned too late. The man blcl to death.
Some think that sudden death was the
result OF the shock. ns the man was
suffering from heart disease.
Additional plans for the Twin Lakes
reservoir dam have been flcd with
State Engineer McCunc by Secretary
". l.. Hartman Of the Twin Lakes
Reservoir Company. The plans are In
accordance with the original scheme.
u..I le.It eli
way. Mr.. Hartman states that the
reservoir scheme Is nm entire success In
every way and will fully meet all de-
mnnds. The reservoir covers an area
Of l.iOO ncrcs and the water VIII bc
run through the Arkansas. u distance
Of 200 miles. to n point near Rocky
Ford. There II Will bc taken out by the
compnny's ditch and distributed
through the valley. \ test run which
was made from the 10th to the 2sith of
July was most successful. the flow be-
Ing equal TO the estimates.
Gilman. the mining town on Battle
mountain. near Red Clin. suffered n
destructive fire nj an early hour We'd
ncsdiay morning. The entire business
psriion Of the place was wiped out.
Both sides of Main street from the
west end OF the Iron Mask hotel, on
the south side. and TO W. y. Buelis
residence on the north side. was laid
dcsoiatc. Fire was discovered Mt two
o'clock In the upper rooms OF Matthew
I.ackncr's residence. although there
had been no fire In the house since
the evening before. The room wns oc-
cupIcd by Miss Mary Lnckncr and
Frank Martins little child. Both were
slightly burned and We're rescued with
difficulty. The buildings were very
dry, and under strong wind the
flames spread rapidly In the face of
an heroic fight put M by the citizens.
Except the hotel the buildings destroy
town. The Congregational church.
postofiice and severn! residences. n to-
tai OF thirty-three buildings. were de-
stroycd. The estimated loss Is S31.-
400. and the known insurance is ST.
100. About ten business houses We're
burned out and about fifteen families
lost their homes, very little being saw
ed In any case.
The development OF the oil fields of
Routt county will he in full swing
during the month Of August. The
routt County Improvement Company
Of Florence has n complete plant of
boring machinery on the way. A car
load has been sent from Florence,
while more is coming from Pcnnsylva-
mia. The first well IL to be put down
on Elk river, seven miles from Steam
boat Springs. The company has lcas-
ed nearly 1000 acres of patented land
from ranchmcn in that vicinity. They
figure upon having to go down TO a
depth of 1.50O or 1000 feet before the
oil stratum Is struck. Six or eight
miles further and In the vicinity of
the oil springs the Stukcy brothers
have located about 10000 acres of oil
placer land, which is TO be worked by
Hon. B. Clark Wheeler. and he is ex-
pectcd to he III there with machinery
during the month. There Is no uucs. |
ton In the minds of expert oil men
who have been here that oil will be |
struck. At the oil springs n man is |
enabled to dip up several gallons of |