The Elbert County tribune., 1909-03-18
GEN. WILLIAM ]. PALMER DIES
AT HIS HOME IN GLEN EyRIE
Great Soldier Railroad and Empire Builder Founder Of Cities Cene
and Far Seeing PhIanhrops SuCCumbs 10 Effects Of
Injuries Received Two Years Ago

Of the barren and uninviting country
traversed came to be understood, the
people at large. Interestingly overlook
ing the scenes of his operations and
the procession of great consequences
which followed in the wake Of his en-
gineers and tracklayers through deep
canons and gorges-began to see that
new and prodigious force had come
among them for universal good.
They saw in him a splendid cpl
tome of progressive vitality, who
raised millions abroad and spent them
here in time when markets were
stagnant and confidence in the West
nearing its lowest stage. and winning
success with an untried experiment
which the orthodox builders Of the
time regarded with doubt and suspi-
cion because 1t was radical innova-
tion OF their established usage, hay-.
ing no part In their education and ex-
perience.
His original plan was to construct
base line from Denver to Ell Paso,
Tex. and from it send out distributing
lines to all parts of the Rocky noun
tains, a bold and broad conception
based upon his comprehension OF
the value OF the region. Only the res
idents of the territory at the period
of its inception can fully appreciate
the magnitude of the undertaking or
realize the daring of the mind that met
and mastered all the difficulties that
lay in the path of his ambition.
ITO comprehend even approximately
the surface conditions upon which he
entered when the Denver~& Rio Grande
railway was Incorporated, we must ad-
vert to the original state of the coun-
try in 1871 and accept the fact that be-
tween Denver and Pueblo and west
and south OF the latter point there was
little beside open, uncultivated, unde-
veloped plains and mountains; no
Colorado Springs, no Manitou; not a
town nor hamlet save a few struggling
cabins at Colorado City and Fountain:
no evidence of remarkable resources;
Pueblo but village of few hundred
Inhabitants without commercial impor-
tance: no Bessemer or Ell Moro; no
coal or iron mines opened Trinidad
and Walsenburg small Mexican settle
ments; Canon City scarcely more than
an abandoned townsite.
THE wonderful resources of Lead
Vile were undiscovered; Durango,
Buena Vista. Salida, Grand Junction,
Montrose. Glenwood Springs and As
pen unoccupied; the rich valleys be-
yond the MARSHALL pass a part of the
Ute Indian reservation; the San Juan
region. though known. comparatively
unsettled. the San Luis valley with
the exception of the Mexican towns of
Conejos and Ccstilla, in its primitive
state; Santa Fe as remote and unap-
proachable by our lines of commerce
as the City OF Mexico itself Yet Gen
eral Palmer's doubtful experiment"
in less than two decades of time pro-
duced the extraordinary. the almost be-
wildering contrast between the situa-
tion just defined and the present,
them beautiful and prosperous, towns.
the greater part of them presenting
scenes of industry in manifold forms
creating commerce from the soil and
wealth for the people.
Then came, as we have seen, para
lying financial embarrassments that
even Palmer's versatile genius and
exhaustless energy could not over
come; the enforced surrender to the
Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe; the
prolonged struggle with that power;
the desperate strife for possession of
the Grand canon of the Arkansas and,
at last. victory; the restoration Of the
road, a new era of building and extern
sion: second submission to the inev-
table and the final severance of his
| connection with the company"
When the difficulty between the Rio
Grande and the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe was decided by the action of
the Supreme Court in Washington on
April 1. 1880, In favor of the former,
n ,1r,,o tha don
cy of the road and held it until some
time in 1883, when dissension arose
between the directors and officers of
the railroad and the Colorado Coal and
Iron Company. which resulted in Gen.
eral Palmer's resignation. In this con-
nection it may be mentioned that Gen.
eral Palmer was the real founder of
the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.
now one of the most powerful corpora
tions in the country. The company
was originally projected by him in
! 1872 as the Central Colorado Manufac-
| turing Company and later came to be
known as the Colorado Coal and Iron
Company, which name was again
changed to the title the company holds
at present
After his resignation as president of
the Denver & Rio Grande, General
Palmer pushed with renewed vigor
the construction of the Mexican Ma
tional railroad from Laredo. Tex. to
the city of Mexico. at the same time
retaining the presidency of the Rio
Grande Western, the road which he
built from Grand Junction, Colo. to
Salt Lake. and Ogden. Utah. aad which
turned out eventually to be the most
profitable of all his ventures from the
| pfa nd int fxf a.,