The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1914-04-02
THE EPHEMERAL CITY
By PETER STERLING

to boisterous Quitting station for
ireuzied prospectors.
Dawson City grew in night and
became famous in a day. Situated as
Il was five miles southwest of Canon
City. in the lap Of the mountains
forming the extreme west flank of
the Greenhorn range and close to a
good county road. it became the des-
tination of thousands of treasure
seekers from all over the land.
The first rush was made by Canon
City people. Fat and prosperous. lean
and hungry, wise and otherwise. bus
iBess men. doctors. lawyers. bankers.
day laborers. ne'er-do-wells, all OF
them were represented in that first
clamor for a chance at those walls OF
gold.
Out over the First street bridge
and up along the old cemetery in the
general direction OF the Ute burying
ground drove the banker with his fine
groomed team Of geldings drawing
the newest surrey. the pride and awe
o. the town. Beside hi mand then be-
hind him came the day laborer.
whose scrawny. raw-boned mare
pulled a rattling scrap heap. some
times called a wagon. And further
down the road trudged the ne'er-do-
well. tattered and torn, but with
heart brimming over with newborn
hope. And thus it was the first day.
On the first train after the news
had spread to the mining centers the
picturesque figures of these camps
began to arrive. Rough clad and
fardy. their horny hands and sun
Drowned. wind-toughened counte-
nances bespeaking their occupation.
they came in swarms and droves.
The once lonely and seldom-tray-
elled road became a crowded and
popular thoroughfare. The hills once
left to the coyote and mountain lion
and the half-starved prospector. now
swarmed with human ants OF all sta
tions and vocations OF life. Claims
were staked. Claims were jumped
and restaked. Life teemed every
where.
A town became necessity. Sur.
veyors laid out the townsite on forty
acrss of quarter section owned
jointly by eight men, among whom
were two or three OF the Dawson
boys. Clyde c. Dawson, OF the same
name but another family, Z. Ford
Jewett and T. b. Coulter. Shacks
were constructed in a few hours. n
saloon was put up in a day. for who
| tfeA hediu VI AopiIdi MINING taihp
without a saloon. or mary OF them?
A. d. Morrison rushed to the town
and made some money by putting
up a boarding house. J. II. White
opened restaurant. A stage line was
established and an old fashioned
Concord coach was put into commits
sion. It was loaded on every one OF
Its ten trips a day.
The scramble to the new town ex
ceeded even that OF 1860. when placer
gold was found on Grape Creek and
when not a man who could walk or
ride was left in the village OF Canon
City. Lafe coffman, an old stage
driver who was in the rush OF 1898.
was also In that first one. He also
passed through the one in 1882, when
the Green Jacket claim was exploited.
IL was located In 1872 by John Jen-
nings and was sold six years later TO
Captain d. +. Rockafellow, who sunk
II foot shaft and dug 24-foot tun-
ten and then abandoned It, At the
time of the strike the claim was in
the possession OF S. A. clapp. G. II.
schaeffer. G. r. Cassidy and +. II.
Mayer. Kaye. Goodnight & Co. later
worked IT. but the big vein was never
found.