The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1902-05-09
FROM DENVER

us in touch as it does with the daily
happenings of your city, we will give
little account Of this section as it
appears 20 US.
After enjoying the growth and pros
perity of your city from the grasshop-
per times up to Oct. 16, 1900, we were
practically driven from it by force of
circumstances over which we had no
control. We then started for the
southwest and located at Denver,
Col, which is 500 miles south and 1, 300
sou thwest of Mankato. on the eastern
border of the great Rockies. The
country is as yet sparsely settled be-
tween central Nebraska and this point
But thousands upon thousands of
| cattle are feeding upon the ranges,
and many thriving little towns are
located along the line of railways.
| Denver lies at the foot of the
Rockies on the Platte river. The view
from it is grand one, with the snow
clad mountains pieroing the clouds.
The city has about 200, 900 people, in
Guiding transients, as there are from
twenty to thirty thousand tourists and
others coming and going all the time.
Everybody going west, stops off here,
as Denver is about 700 miles from any
/
! City being $50 miles west San Fran
Kansas City and st. Louis 700 miles
| east.
For it's size Denver is wonderful
city and for an inland city has had
rapid growth 1t is in fact the Chicago
of the west There is more manu-
featuring done than in any place of
the size 1 have ever been in, and at
present it is enjoying an immense
building boom. there being from
$50 to 600 buildings under construction
all the time. Building goes on in the
winter the same as in the summer.
All buildings are constructed of brick
or stone, no wooden buildings being
| allowed.
The city is well supplied with
hotels, remarkable for their size and
beauty. The climate is simply lovely,
! it is SO nice and even, and the atmo-
sphere is dry. The soil is peculiar,
consisting of fine sand magnesia and
lava float. never muddy, and we have
| the finest roads you ever saw. The
temperature seldom drops below 20
degrees above zero, or rises above 80
degrees, and when it is warm it does
not cause you to feel suffocated nor
perspire. The evenings and nights
are always cool and for this reason
grain and vegetables do not grow as
they do in Minnesota.
Denver is noted for its beautiful
residences, lawns and shade trees, and
is veritable flower garden in the
summer time. It is also noted as the
greatest bicycle and automobile city,
there being over 60, 600 bicycles in use
here and over 800 automobiles. 1t has
a fine park system on a large scale.
The city park contains nearly 500
acres, of which about $50 are in shade,
walks, drives lawns and flowers, and
also two beautiful lakes. -....... b..
Denver, Pueblo and Colorado Springs
are noted for their mineral products,
Ismelters and iron works. The i'm
mense smelters here are wonder,
representing as they do millions of
dollars.
The scenery in the mountain passes,
canyons and gorges is grand and while
standing in the midst of this, imagine,
if you can, the powerful forces it took
to lift these immense blocks, covering
many acres, from many feet below, to
an elevation near and in the clouds
landing them in all kinds of shapes.
l have wished many times that every
] body could come and see these great
scenes for themselves.
Colorado is not what you would call
an agricultural state, although every
thing grows here in abundance, when
cultivated. Different products are
raised in different sections of the
state. Seventy five miles north OF
Denver is where the Greeley potatoes
are raised, thousands of acres being
cultivated, They are the finest potatoes
in the market, yielding from 400 to
900 bushels per acre. In the south
,eastern part of the state grain is rails
ed in large quantities, while in the
western part, abound Grand Junction
it is fruit In fact fruit does well
anywhere. It is also great sugar
beet and melon. state. Sugar beets
yielded from 90 to So per cent last
year. There will be large number
of factories erected this season
| Colorado is a mineral state. It's
wealth in that line is unreasonable.
It seems as though the mountains
were simply filed with precious
metals, and tie balance with ccal and
Ioil Just now we are having an oil
boom The oil excitment is attract
ing much attention and the immigra,
tion here as result, is likely to be
greater than ever known before
| find money is something of drug
here first class loans ranging from
4 to per cent. There are said to be
more millionaires in Denver than in
any other city of its size in the world.
The city suffered much from the panic
of 1893, and only began to recover in
1899.
In the face of the building boom
values have advanced but little, but
rents hold very high. The city is very
liberal with its water system, which
is the main reason for its beautiful
lawns, trees and flowers. One can
sprinkle all day and all night. The
city water is brought from the noun
tains. 65 miles distance through q
large canal, and is purified by fltering
through coal filters.
The board of public works recently
ordered 70 miles of side walk to be
put down, of stone and cement, prin-
cipally of stone They have also or
dered eleven miles of asphalt paving
to be put down this summer The
city has experimental. with all kinds
of paving and prefers asphalt. Last
year they laid two miles of crushed
and screened granite, screened from
} the size of peas to medium sized
marbles. This was mixed with lava
sand and rolled down, and makes a
fine street in the residence part of
the city. But everybody here seems
to prefer asphalt. 1t is easily re-
paved, and easily kept clean, and is
durable.