| Denver, Colorado 1901 History |
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August 2003 |
1901 History |
Last updated on 08/10/2003 |
Over the question of who was entitled to the honor or credit - or both - of having "built the first house in Denver" there have heretofore been many controversies and other manifestations of divided opinion. In the history of most cities, especially of those which had a rapid development, there is usually some conflict of claims to this distinction. It is not strange, therefore, that here, where the initial circumstances were so extraordinary, and where the developments have been so amazing, there should have been a little of such confusion in reminiscences of the first house-building in the feverish days when the foundations of Denver were laid.
This uncertainty has attached to the beginning of both Auraria City and Denver City, but with the new light that may be thrown upon the subject by the circumstantial details we have fortunately been enabled to present in this volume, perhaps a satisfactory and accurate conclusion may be reached by the reader.
It has frequently been stated that the Indian trader, John S. Smith, was the first "settler" at the mouth of Cherry creek. We have shown how he came to "settle" here. It was not in consequence of his identification with "St. Charles;" and as an associate of "the Russell boys" he was no more the "first" one here than any other member of that company. Notwithstanding his connection with Pioneer "St. Charles," and with the other two town companies, he can hardly be said to have at any time been here with the intentions of a settler. Had it not been for the extraordinary circumstances due to the intentions and determination of others, the objects and incidents of his roving and preferred occupation would have required him to move on again in the following spring. His business involved directly neither gold-digging, "settling," farming, nor town-building. So, to the many distinguished achievements of John smith, that of having been Denver’s first settler may not be added.
An outline of Smith’s career before his coming to Cherry creek in the autumn of 1858, has already been given. After the business of the American Fur Company, as an employee of which corporation he came into the west when quite young, declined, he lived with the Indians. Later he began business as a trader and in which he was engaged when our pioneers first encountered him. He was then between fifty and sixty years old and, of course, was called "Old John." He had a good-looking, though somewhat portly, Sioux squaw for a wife, named Wa-po-la, and the two had a full-grown son, who also put in here in October, 1858. "Old John" remained here until 1860, when he went down on the Arkansas. Later he was interpreter for Chivington in the Sand creek campaign. At that time "young John" was associating with the Indians and was with the Cheyennes at Sand creek. He managed to slip away and get among Chivington’s troops after the fight. When he was discovered, he was shot and killed by one of the soldiers, who was said to have long had a grudge against him. After the Sand creek affair "Old John" went away again and resumed his roving life, as he was in his ways about as much Indian as white man. In later years a report reached Denver that he had died in 1871 or 1872 somewhere in the northern country, but no one knew just where. Wa-po-la survives and is with her tribal people in South Dakota.
There were several other frontiersmen with their Indian wives camped at the mouth of Cherry creek late in the autumn of 1858, but they were migratory and had little or no identity with the settlements. One was William Rowland, a white man whose wife was a Cheyenne; both are now living in South Dakota. Another was Jose Merrival, a Mexican, whose wife was a Sioux Indian woman; he is dead but she is living. A third pair consisted of William Simanole, a Sioux half-breed, and his Sioux wife. They are now in South Dakota. Still another was Alphonse La Rocque, a Frenchman, with his Sioux wife, to whom we shall again refer.
Then there was that shifty pioneer, William McGaa. His son, William Denver McGaa, who
said he derived his information from his mother, informed us that this picturesque pioneer of Denver had been in the Rocky Mountain country "a number of years" before this city was founded; but, a year or so before that event had met and married a handsome young half-blood Sioux, of which proceedings the son was one of the consequences. Some further details of this pioneer Denver family will appear on succeeding pages. After his participation in the organization of the "St. Charles" company McGaa retired from the mouth of Cherry creek and did not appear here until the latter part of October when, according to Dr. Russell and others, "he came in from somewhere down about St. Varain’s," with his wife, and with a group of Indians trailing after him. Soon thereafter he built a "shack" or picket cabin on the bank of the Platte, in Auraria, and which constituted part of "Indian Row." He finished it just before "the Leavenworth men" arrived, in the meantime occupying a tepee [sic.], or wigwam. His "lodge," as he called it, was of two rooms, made of posts or pickets set upright in the ground, and stood next to the Russell-Smith establishment. It was "chinked" with mud, had a thatch and earth roof, a chimney and fireplace. The interior walls of the house were hung, and the earth floors strewn, with pelts and robes; and altogether it was not an uninviting domicile.
To return for a moment to the question of Denver’s "first settler," it is to be said that there is no definite basis from which to point out any individual as having had that distinction. It is apparent that "the Russell boys" who came in with John Smith to build the double cabin did not come as settlers. They then expected to move on when spring opened. While the way is not entirely clear to a conclusion, it would seem that Major D.C. Oakes’ 10th of October party might be considered as the first group of "settlers"
on the site of Denver. But none of the first half-dozen cabins built was put up by any member of that party.
It is to be remembered that these pioneer immigrants of that autumn of 1858, "camped out;" that those who had no tents found shelter, when it was needed, in their canvas-covered wagons; and the few that had neither tents nor wagons made fair shift to live in the open, awake or asleep, and were little the worse for it. The founders of Denver had choice of these three ways until they had provided themselves with other and more substantial accommodations. Cabin-building was not a difficult task, as plenty of logs of suitable size could easily be obtained from the adjacent timber which lined the streams.
Inasmuch as the street names and designations in the old Auraria district were all changed in later years, the subject matter of much of this chapter will be more readily understood by remembering these changes on that side of Cherry creek, which are stated in the following:
Old 1st street is now Wewatta.
Old 2nd street is now Wynkoop.
Old 3rd street is now Wazee.
Old 4th street is now Market.
Old 5th street is now Larimer.
Old 6th street is now Lawrence.
Old 7th street is now Curtis.
Old 8th street is now Champs.
Old 9th street is now Stout.
Old Front street is now Thirteenth.
Old Cherry street is now Twelfth.
Old Ferry street is now Eleventh.
Old St. Louis street is now Tenth.
Old Cheyenne street is now Eighth.
Old Washington street is now Seventh.
Old Adams street is now Sixth.
Old Jefferson street is now Fifth.
On the eastward side of the creek the changes were not so many, the present numbered streets having been designated by the letters of the alphabet, and their cross streets by names which have mostly been retained. Much detail relative to the original plats and street arrangements in the several towns will be found in another chapter. For convenience in designating the locations of pioneer structures we will assume that the present Larimer and parallel streets run east and west, and the present numbered streets in the old part of the city, north and south. We will ask the reader to bear in mind that all locations of the pioneer structures mentioned in this and succeeded chapters are stated according to the present names of streets.
It has been in dealing with the pioneer improvements that the controversies have been waged these many years, and apparently without any good reason. The beginning was made in Auraria City; and of the beginning, Dr. Russell who, more than any other one man, was the founder of that "city," and who was Secretary of its Town Company in the beginning for a year afterward states:
"Beyond the shadow of a doubt the first cabin erected at the mouth of Cherry creek was that double log-house jointly put up by "the Russell boys" and trader John Smith in the first and second weeks of October, 1858. This is as certain as it is that W. Green Russell and his party went from Georgia to the Pike’s Peak country in 1858! The next cabin built and occupied was Hutchinson’s [Hutchins’] and Easter’s, and after that were Rooker’s, Barker’s, Henry Allen’s, Sagendorf’s, and then a number of others all pretty much at the same time, for I do not recall the exact order of their building. I built a separate one for myself early in November. The cabins all went up rapidly while the logs were convenient at hand."
Several October pioneers are recorded as having said that upon their arrival here they camped at "Smith’s ranch." But as the Russell-Smith double cabin was put up as winter quarters by its builders who did not anticipate that it would, that autumn, become the nucleus of a town, and who expected to go forth the next spring undetermined as to where their next stopping place would be, it can only in relation to ensuring events be regarded as the actual beginning of Denver. It preceded all immediate prospects for establishing a town at the mouth of Cherry creek, and as the pioneer cabin on the site of Denver its position in our local history is unquestionable; for the "St. Charles" proposition, as a building enterprise, depended upon future developments.
Roswell Hutchins and John Easter, who were of the Lawrence party, and who had been at “Montana,” where Easter had built a cabin, came here immediately after the arrival of the Oakes party. As soon as the camp talk turned to the conclusion to organize a town company and lay out a town, they began cutting and preparing logs for a cabin which they erected on what became the east side of Twelfth street, between Wazee and Wynkoop streets. Giles Blood, Joseph Brown, William Regan, and James White jointly started one a few days later, and when the survey was finished it was
found that these men in their hurry had got their cabin on the line of Twelfth street between Wazee and Wynkoop; from which site it was later removed. Much of the ground in that neighborhood is now covered by railroad tracks. The formal organization of the Auraria Town Company was not completed until November 6th and, therefore, the pioneer "Auraria City" could be technically said not to have existed before that date.
Dr. Russell, as we have seen, says Hutchins and Easter were the first to build after a town had been decided on - the first of the town’s builders. Mr. W. N. Byers, who, though a later comer, took pains to acquaint himself with these historical details soon after his arrival, says he was repeatedly told that Hutchins and Easter built the first cabin erected on the site of Denver after it was determined to locate a town here. Andrew Sagendorf and E. A. Willoughby, each of whom, with their partners, built cabins in November of that year, confirm the priority of the Hutchins-Easter cabins, both as to completion and occupation about the first of November; making it the second competed structure on the ground. The late Judson H. Dudley, who was at that time Vice President of the Auraria Town Company, said that while a written record would usually be considered fairly conclusive, anything contrary to the foregoing would not state a fact. W. G. M. Stone in a little pamphlet published several years ago containing some of Denver’s pioneer historical data, says Hutchins and Easter first occupied their cabin on November 10th. Hutchins, who is now living in Mercur, Utah; and Easter, who is living in Goldfield, Colorado, agree in their statements to us that they had it finished and occupied on the first of November; and in this they are well sustained by their surviving pioneer associates.
With such evidence as this - and all of it is not presented here as being new - the case would seem to have been unequivocally settled in favor of the Hutchins-Easter house having next followed the Russell-Smith cabin. But, when the old record of the Auraria Town Company was deposited with our Historical Society a few years ago by Andrew Sagendorf, an entry was discovered in it that gave precedence and preference to John Rooker as a claimant for the honor, and incidental profit, that might accrue to the builder of Auraria City’s "first" house, and started anew the controversy that had practically been settled in favor of Hutchins and Easter before it had almost worn itself out. The old record shows the following resolution to have been adopted at a meeting of the Directors of the Auraria Town Company on May 27, 1859:
"Resolved, That in consideration of John Rooker having built the first house in the City of Auraria, there is hereby donated to said John Rooker three shares in addition to his former Share, making in all Sixteen lots."
We sent a copy of this resolution to Dr. Russell with a request for some information concerning its presence in the town company’s record, if he could recall the circumstances to which it relates; he having been Secretary of the company at the time it was adopted and having made the entry. In reply he stated that he recalled the incident principally9 because of the worthless character of the man mentioned in the resolution, and said that Rooker was not much of a builder, nor anything else but a rascal; that he managed with the help of his father to get up a little shack of a cabin that was the first one of be occupied by its builder after the final organization meeting of the Auraria Town Company, and practically simultaneous with that event; although there were a dozen or so other cabins in various stages of progress when it was completed, and it was only in a technical sense that Rooker’s was the "first" one. Dr. Russell adds that Rooker, on that ground, persuaded some of the Directors that he ought to be rewarded in some way; and says further that a donation of three shares on such a provocation would have been a most extravagant one and that there may have been some misunderstanding or deception in making the reward of that magnitude.
An "original share" in the Auraria Town Company covers sixteen lots; an ordinary "share," four lots. The old records of deeds at the Court House contain no entry that appears to directly apply to the John Rooker donation; but on page 322, Book E, Arapahoe County Records of Deeds, is an entry recording the transfer of lot number five in block seventy-seven, from the Auraria Town Company by J.H. Dudley, Vice President, and L. J. Russell, Secretary, to Rebecca Rooker, (John’s mother) on July 8, 1859, for the nominal consideration of one dollar. It would seem probable that this entry indicates, as suggested by Dr. Russell, the extent of John Rooker’s reward. Another entry records the sale of several lots by John, the "Indenture" for which bore "his mark;" but record of his title to them was not found. These may have been those he acquired as an original shareholder. Each of the two town companies had a "lot-book" in which ownership of lots was entered, but Auraria’s long since disappeared. When R. E. Whitsitt took general charge of the "Denver City" company’s affairs in the spring of 1859, he instituted systematic records of real restate for all the towns, but in the meantime there had been many transfers by mere indorsement of "lot certificates." Book E, above mentioned is one of Whitsitt’s records of which some further particulars appear in our historical account of Arapahoe county.
John Rooker was the son in the Mormon family of that name which, as we have stated, came to the South Platte on August 30th, and had remained in this vicinity in the meantime. It was the first immigrant family that located on the site of Denver. The Rooker house was built near and in line with the Russell-Smith double log-cabin, and upon its occupancy Mrs. Rooker, John’s mother, became the first white woman housekeeper in the settlement. From the circumstances of other cabins soon being built there in line with these, and from others associated with some of the dwellers in them, the chain of improvements which became a continuous array was known as "Indian Row." The "Row" was along the northward side of Wewatta street eastward from Eleventh. The ground is now occupied by railroad tracks and the line of that part of Wewatta street is obscured. Just back of the site of "Indian Row," and also to the west of it, may still be seen traces of the river’s old channel. The accompanying map indicates the location of the more noteworthy improvements in "Auraria City," in 1858, and of one in 1859.
The late A. H. Barker was one of those who built early in these pioneer proceedings. In a manuscript account which he prepared before his death he stated that having arrived on October 24th, he decided to build a cabin without delay, and on November 1st began cutting and hauling logs for it; that W. S. Foster had then begun the Auraria survey, and that immediately upon completion of the first plat of a block, having his logs on the ground, he hastened the work and was the first to complete a cabin on a platted part of the town-site. He confirms the priority of the Hutchins and Easter cabin, and of Rooker’s, which he says were built before the Auraria Town Company was fully organized. "I moved into my cabin," he goes on to say, "November 4, 1858."
The accuracy of his memory as to this last-named date is open to doubt, as it allows but four days for cutting, hauling and preparing the logs, and erected them into a cabin, in which work he does not mention having had any assistance. Furthermore, it does not agree with the date assigned by all other pioneers to the occupancy of the Rooker cabin which, as it was occupied on November 6th or 7th, must have been finished after Surveyor Foster began his work.
Our engraving of the Barker cabin is from a photograph of a drawing he had made from memory several years ago. The house stood on the northeaster corner of Twelfth and Wynkoop streets, but the picture does not exactly conform to the survey, nor to the locality’s topography at that time.
In that first week of November, 1858, preparations for building many other cabins in Auraria were under way. William A. McFadding, President of the Town Company; Judson H. Dudley, and several others beside those already mentioned, had begun within a day or two after the first meeting held to organize the company. Henry Allen, a leader among the "Auraria City" pioneers, built on the southwest corner of Eleventh and Wynkoop streets. E. A. Willoughby and M. A. Avery build theirs on the northwest corner of Wynkoop and Thirteenth streets, on the same block with Barker’s. A. C. Wright was assigned a lot by the Town Company, on the northeast corner of Larimer and Tenth streets. He cut and hauled logs for a cabin, and then traded the lot and logs to Joseph Brown for an old mare, and Brown later put up a house on that lot. The order of erection and occupation of the improvements was no longer noted as of special interest to any except their owners, and the dates of their completion did not possess particular significance or importance as historical events. About the close of the year, however, Jack O’Neill, a noted and somewhat notorious citizen, came in and built a cabin on the northwest corner of Eleventh and Wewatta streets; and afterward made himself very conspicuous.
On the "Denver City" side of Cherry creek, the first structure, thought it was left unfinished by its original owner and was later reduced to the useful rank of a blacksmith’s shop, was the cabin which S. S. Curtis and his comrades built for Charles Nichols, the poverty-stricken custodian of "St. Charles," early in November, 1858. But, as "St. Charles" went no further than that, the history of its buildings may be regarded as ended.
The beginning of "Denver City" was made at the intersection of Larimer and Fifteenth streets, and the first four cabins of that town were built there - one on each corner. Before any settlement was thought of anywhere here, the old military trail from Santa Fe, Fort Union, and the trading posts of the Arkansas, north to the trading posts about the site of Denver and on to Fort Laramie, passed through the site of "Denver City" along the general line of Fifteenth street; crossing Cherry creek at the intersection of Blake street, and the Platte river at the foot of Eleventh (old Ferry) street.
The four cabins were, respectively, General Larimer’s on the southwest corner of Fifteenth and Larimer streets, Moyne and Rice’s on the southeast corner, Hickory Rogers’ on the northwest corner, and Lawrence and Dorsett’s on the northeast corner. In appearance they were much alike, excepting that Moyne and Rice’s and Lawrence and Dorsett’s were double ones.
With respect to "first" buildings in "Denver City" - that is, aside form the Nichols cabin - there is a little tangle, but it does not in any way disturb the priority title of that historic structure. Previously published accounts have generally stated that the first cabin was built by General William Larimer, but they have located it at various places along the right bank of Cherry creek; a confusion arising, no doubt, from General Larimer’s temporary occupation of the Nichols cabin while his own was building. His son, William H. H. Larimer, in letters to us, most positively asserts that his father’s cabin was the first one built under the "Denver City" jurisdiction. But E. A. Willoughby, Secretary of the Pioneer Society, declares that the first structure completed and occupied by "Denver City" men was the cabin-shop of Moyne and rice, carpenters and wagon-makers; that he as a carpenter worked on the building; and that General Larimer did not finish his cabin until a day or two afterward. The fact that William H. H. Larimer recalls that Moyne and Rice whipsawed some plants for the door of the Larimer cabin might indicate that they were then located across Fifteenth street as asserted by Mr. Willoughby.
The building of Moyne and Rice was erected on the southeaster corner of Larimer and Fifteenth streets. They had two lots there and built a double cabin on the line between them, back toward the rear of the lots, which fronted on Larimer street. One part of the cabin was used as a dwelling and the other for shop purposes. William Graham, the pioneer druggist of Denver, shared the cabin of Moyne and Rice during parts of that winter.
General Larimer’s cabin stood well back on the lot
of the southwest corner of Fifteenth and Larimer streets, and
its site is now covered by the Granite building. The house
was sixteen by twenty feet in ground dimensions, one story high,
had a "dirt-roof," the soil for its floor, and fronted
on Fifteenth street.
It had a glazed window, the first one in "Denver City."
It was of four panes of glass, eight by ten inches, which
General Lari-
mer had brought along from Leavenworth. The first glazed window in any building at the mouth of Cherry creek was in the cabin of Sagendorf and Lehow. They bought with them a small, glazed sash, which they used in their double cabin completed in Auraria City before the middle of November. The window does not show in the engraving, as it was in the other end. General Larimer’s cabin was begun immediately upon the organization of the “Denver City” company by the election of its officers (which occurred November 22nd,) and was finished early in December; but the exact date of its completion and occupation is not certainly known. It had a door, says Mr. W. H. H. Larimer, made of boards sawed out with a whipsaw by Moyne and Rice, and they were the first boards cut in this part of the country. Our engraving of the cabin was made from a drawing sent us by W. H. H. Larimer, who says: "The original picture of the cabin was made by Surveyor-General Case, in 1861, just before it was torn down, and is almost perfect."
Lawrence and Dorsett built on the site of the present Pioneer Building on the northeast corner of Fifteenth and Larimer streets, their cabin fronting on Larimer. Hickory Rogers built his on the northwest corner - the "Riethmann" corner - and it also fronted on Larimer street. Both of these were built at so nearly the same time that it would have been difficult to decide at the time which was third and which fourth, in the order of pioneer improvements at the intersection of those two streets. It is not know where Whitsitt first built.
E. P. Stout, President of the Denver Town Company, built a cabin at the northwest corner of Fourteenth and Larimer streets, the site of the present City Hall, which he finished about the first of December. Of it he has given us the following account:
"It was 16x20 feet in size, of hewed pine logs, one and one-half stories high. It was first roofed with two large tents that I took with me across the plains; afterward, late in the spring of 1859, I had shingles rived out in the pineries and some lumber whip-sawed, with which I roofed it with shingles and put in a rough board floor overhead. The shingle nails I had the stage-driver buy for me of a trader at O’Fallon’s Bluffs, and they cost delivered in Denver 50 cents a pound. That was the first shingle-roofed house on the 'Denver City' side."
The "dirt roofs" with which nearly all of the pioneer cabins were provided did not always do satisfactory duty. The earth was sometimes put on to a depth of a foot or more, but after a heavy rain the water would soak through and keep dripping down inside for a day or two.
The right of General Larimer’s cabin to the distinction so long accorded to it has been still further disputed. It has been claimed that David C. Collier built a house in Denver City before him, but we have not been able to ascertain its alleged location, or that there is any foundation in fact for the statement. Collier, as W. H. H. Larimer states, helped to make the window sash for General Larimer’s cabin, and therefore did help to build that structure; and from that incident it is probable that the story had its origin. He and William Clancey built a frame house in 1859 on the north side of Larimer street between Stout’s cabin and Cherry creek, and his claim may have originally been that he and Clancey built the "first frame house" on the east side. Collier was one of a party of thirty which left Leavenworth in September. He drove an ox-team across the plains at a most leisurely pace, for he did not arrive at Denver City until December 1st. It would not seem probable that he could have put himself as a housebuilder in advance of Larimer and the other men directly interested in "Denver City," who, as original shareholders, had pledged themselves to build immediately. "First" things, as we have already seen, often have more than one claimant, but in this instance there is no support. Collier was the first lawyer who offered his professional services in Colorado, and afterward became very prominent in affairs.
In some accounts John J. Riethmann has been represented as one of those who "built the first cabin in Denver." Mr. Riethmann makes no such claim. In a note to us he says:
"Our first cabin was built on ground a little below the present Omaha & Grant Smelting Company’s works about October 27th or 28th, 1858; our second cabin was located in April, 1859, on Larimer street, facing south, between Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets."
The distance of Riethmann’s first cabin from the Cherry creek settlements was almost as great as that of the pioneer town of "Montana," and neither was directly a part of the beginning of Denver.
The Larimer, the Moyne and Rice, the Lawrence and Dorsett, the Rogers, and the Stout buildings were not alone in taking form and coming into being. Other shareholders in the Denver organization, and recruits who had cast their fortunes with the energetic men from Leavenworth, were at work upon their cabins, several of which were completed so near the same time that their finishing was practically simultaneous.
The most pretentious domicile built in "Denver City" during that winter of 1858-59 was the log dwelling of H. P. A. Smith, Governor Denver’s "Probate Judge" of Arapahoe county. It was erected on the south side of Blake street, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets, and was burned in the fire of 1863.
The original shareholders in the Denver Town Company were under agreed-upon obligations to build cabins on their several allotments within ninety days after the company’s organization, and a majority succeeded in doing so in less than month. As in the case of Auraria, in preparations for he winter the rude structures suited to the necessities of the situation were hurried forward by all who had decided to stay, and made ready for use with great diligence; and priority of completion and occupation were no longer incidents of the special interest which attached to the initial achievements.
The mercantile pioneers were not far behind the pioneer gold-seekers and the pioneer town-builders in establishing themselves at Cherry creek. Some men who did not intend to become miners left the Missouri river with merchandise, bound for the Pike’s Peak country, but a few months after the departure of the advance guard of prospectors who were destined for the same region.
In considering the early business undertakings here, our old friend John Simpson Smith must again receive a little left-handed attention. He has been set forth as “Denver’s pioneer business man,” and has been made to figure as "the first trader at Denver." Such statements are wholly misleading, and give him a place in the annals of this city to which he was not entitled. It is true that as an Indian trader he was a "business" man, but he did not establish himself here as a merchant, nor did he transact any mercantile business here of any consequence. His merely incidental coming here and the general character of the business in which he was engaged must preclude him from any serious consideration as a pioneer merchant of Denver.
At the close of October, 1858, the first intentional business men, the first who came bringing a stock of goods, and with the purpose of establishing themselves here, arrived at Cherry creek. This was before the Auraria Town Company had been organized, and before Denver City had blasted the hopes of "St. Charles." They were Charles H. Blake and Andrew J. Williams - the firm of Blake & Williams, from Crescent City, Iowa. They had a train of four wagons each drawn by four yoke of oxen, and it was an imposing caravan as it drew into the Auraria camp. Each wagon was loaded with merchandise, and the cargoes made a fair stock of general goods adapted to the wants of miners and other frontier customers. There was then no building in the camp the use of which they could get for a storeroom, so they put up a large tent they had with them, and in the temporary quarters it afforded opened their goods and began business on November 1st. They lost no time in building a large double cabin which stood on the north side of Wewatta street, near the foot of Twelfth street, and was a continuation and enlargement of "Indian Row," and in which they were living and transacting business before the first of December.
When the Leavenworth men arrived and prepared to organize the Denver Town Company, Blake and Williams joined them in the enterprise. Those promoters saw that the enterprising business firm was composed of men of consequence, and lost no time in winning them over to an alliance with their future metropolis. Blake and Williams actively identified themselves with the new "city," but did not transfer their business to the east side of the creek until the following spring.
A week after the arrival of Blake & Williams another business establishment reached Auraria from the Missouri river, ending the long journey on the 3d of November. It was that of Kinna & Nye, bringing a small stock of hardware, some sheet-iron, and tinner’s goods. It was in charge of John Kinna, who was the practical man of the
firm, his partner and financial backer, John Nye, not coming here until the following spring. The Auraria survey was far enough along for Kinna to take a lot on Eleventh street near the northwest corner of Market and that street, where he soon built a cabin and began business. This establishment also yielded to the blandishments of the energetic Denver City men, Kinna joining the company. In the following spring when Nye arrived they moved the business across the creek into Denver City. It has no more than natural that the Aurarians lost their tempers under the persistent encroachments of their rival neighbors.
Early in December, the exact date being unknown, J. D. Ramage, a jeweler, and repairer of watches, arrived in Auraria and established himself on the east side of the present Eleventh street near the southeast corner of that street and Larimer - the third business man, and the first to engage in his line of business anywhere in this part of the country. There is no account of the Denver men enticing him over to their side, though it would probably be quite safe to say they tried. Their policy was to let no new man escape if they could prevent it.
Christmas, of 1858, was a notable time in Auraria City, and famed in the annals of that metropolis for many a day. Though Auraria was the more direct beneficiary of the events that made it long remembered, Denver City shared in the joys of that holiday. Richens L. Wooton, with a couple of wagons, laden with frontier merchandise, a large portion of which was contained in barrels, arrived in Auraria early in the morning of that day. He had come hither from For Union, New Mexico, and brought his family with him - which was a welcome addition to the few domestic organizations then at Cherry Creek. The goods being placed on sale, the third mercantile establishment was in existence; that of watch-repairer Ramage not being classed as a merchandising one. Wooton’s narrative of his life and adventures says he occupied a vacant cabin upon his arrival, but all the survivors of that period now living in Denver, say that he set up a large tent alongside his wagons, on Twelfth street near Wazee, in which he began business; and that after New Year’s times he was given a full share in the town company, and in addition thereto the ground on which he soon began the erection of his famous hewed-log, "two-story business block," which he completed very early in the spring of 1859. In his story he was not very particular about the accuracy of details.
The arrival of this new business enterprise and with it the coming of another family to the little community, were not the only events growing out of Richens Wooton’s advent in Auraria that were calculated to make that Christmas time memorable all around the mouth of Cherry creek. Among the stores with which the welcome train was laden were several barrels of whiskey. Wooton concluded that he would make a favorable impression and a speedy acquaintance among his new associates by one sweeping appeal; and no method could have been more popular and effective in attaining both ends, than the one he adopted. He got out one of his barrels, and opened it, invited his callers to help themselves in tin cups to all they wanted of its contents. Of course, all Auraria promptly called; and tidings of the extra-ordinary dispensation spreading with the speed of the wind through Denver City, the inhabitants of that energetic town were soon, to the last man, trooping across the creek. Before nightfall Richens Wooton was “Uncle Dick” to every man in both towns. The flowing contents of that barrel submerged for the day the last vestige of rivalry and animosity between the "cities" separated by Cherry creek; and also a number of worthy citizens.
As to the quality of that whiskey the opinions of two of Denver’s pioneers do not agree. In an address delivered at the annual meeting of the Society of Colorado Pioneers held in Denver, December 13, 1898, Mr. A. E. Pearce said:
"On Christmas ‘Uncle Dick’ gave the whole town a free blow-out. The principal refreshments consisted of one or more barrels of whiskey; the heads being knocked in, every one helped himself freely, using tin cups. The liquid was what was in those days termed ‘Taos lightning.’ It came from Taos, New Mexico, and was warranted to kill at forty yards. It is needless to say that the whole camp got hilarious."
In those times "Wallipete" was another common name for a New Mexico whiskey. The noted frontier trader, Colonel Ceran St. Vrain, had located at Mora, New Mexico, and engaged in merchandising and milling. To his enterprises he added distilling, building a small distillery at the little Wallipete pueblo near Mora, and from that circumstance the liquor derived its name. It was distilled from wheat, there being no sufficient quantity of corn, and was as clear as spring water and very fierce. More than one Denver pioneer lost his balance and bearings under the impetuous influence of "Wallipete."
In his entertaining but somewhat apocryphal book, “Uncle Dick” records his opinion of the contents of his barrels
:
"I moved into a log cabin, and without waiting for any such thing as shelving or counters to be put in, I commenced business. I had several barrels with me which I rolled along-side of each other and used as a counter. What was in the barrels doesn’t matter, but it was something every well-regulated store kept on hand in those days. I think there are a few highly respected old gentlemen still living in Denver, who will remember what it was, and would be willing to testify that it was a good article, if it did 'come high.'"
Wooton relates that he was induced to locate in Auraria more by the circumstances of a day than by any mediated intention; that when he left Fort Union with his train-load of goods his purpose was to make one more trading trip among the Indians, with the expectation of afterward going back to his old home in Kentucky and staying there the rest of his days; and that he came in the direction of the mouth of Cherry creek because he expected to trade with the Arapahoes and Cheyennes.
When he arrived he saw his opportunity, and was readily persuaded to go no farther, but to unload and begin business. In his book he claims that the Auraria Town company, as an inducement for him to become a permanent citizen gave him one hundred and sixty acres of land, on their side of Cherry creek, "most of which is now solidly built over." The recipient narrates "they were short of money, but had plenty of land," which had little or no value at that time, and which he furthermore states, "did not bring a very large amount of money, when I sold it four years later."
Wooten romanced extravagantly in his narrative, and this was one of the flagrant instances. All the land claimed by the Auraria Town Company was, or was to be, staked off into lots; and while the company was donating a few of them to some people, it was not giving away quarter-section tracts, because it did not have them to give. The amount of land mentioned by Wooten was equal to one-eighth of the whole projected town-site.
In the address referred to above, Mr. Pearce also included the following interesting bit of detail of the local history of that first year in the Cherry creek settlements:
"It may be of interest to some to note that the first Masonic meeting was held in a log cabin owned by Sagendorf & Lehow, December 10, 1858. In the same place a banquet was served to commemorate St. John’s day. There were present at this meeting Andrew Sagendorf, O. E. Lehow, ‘Jim’ Winchester, ‘Bob’ Willis, James Ramage, Dr. L. J. Russell and ‘Jim’ Pierce. Possibly one or two others whose names I have not obtained."
This meeting was an informal gathering of Masons, as were the others held in the same cabin, and in that of Dr. L. J. Russell, in the closing weeks of 1858. Russell’s cabin stood on the east side of Eleventh street between Wazee and Wynkoop streets; and that of Sagendorf and Lehow on the east side of Twelfth street between Larimer and Market, where these two pioneers owned lots which joined, and had built a double cabin with its middle on the dividing line. In January, 1859, a lodge was regularly instituted under the authority of the Grand Lodge of Kansas, and its meetings were held in the cabin of Sagendorf and Lehow.
Among those who crossed the plains late in that autumn was Rev. G. W. Fisher, a minister of the Methodist church. He reached here early in December, and during that month held a series of meetings in the little hamlets, the first public religious services here on the South Platte river. There was, of course, no church building in either of the towns at that time, these meetings usually having been held in the cabin homes that were opened to them. At this time, there were but five women, Mrs. D. M. Rooker, and her daughter; Mrs. H. Murat, wife of the "Count;" Mrs. Smoke, and Mrs. Wooton, in the two towns, which were not especially cheerful places that winter, though the weather at times was exceptionally mild and pleasant. Christmas, of 1858, was like a day in June.
The reader will have seen that, notwithstanding the industry and perseverance of the Denver City people, the close of the year 1858 left the other "city distinctively ahead in material progress. Auraria had twice as many cabins as Denver, twice as many people, and all of the commercial establishments that had ventured to Cherry creek. Still, Auraria was uneasy and feared the men who had charge of her rival’s destinies, and anxiously awaited events.
With characteristic energy the Denver City men persisted in their endeavors to persuade Aurarians to move over to the east side of the creek, and succeeded in getting a number of them to do so. That autumn was a fine one, and small parties belated in their expected progress kept coming in through December. These divided their numbers unequally between the two towns, Auraria getting the larger share.
The proselyting of Aurarians was a sore grievance to the founders of that town, and other aggressive manners of the Denverians added to it, brought on a feeling of rivalry that soon developed into one of great animosity, which encroached upon social, business and political relations. Men who were not disposed to participate in the verbal hostilities were called upon to take sides and declare themselves Aurarians or Denver men. For several months this rivalry was intense, and did not subside until toward the close of the next year, when the more conservative citizens first saw their way to a consolidation of the towns.
But few of the Aurarians knew anything about the “St. Charles” enterprise, and cared less. Smith, and McGaa, said little about it, and if they ever regarded it as of any importance, their interest in it had disappeared upon the organization of Auraria. Those who had some knowledge of the undertaking of French, Cobb, Dickson, and their associates, from Nichols, had ridiculed the idea of locating a town on the eastward side of the creek. When the Leavenworth men came in and occupied the "St. Charles" land the Aurarians had affected great indifference toward their active rivals. They smiled at the Leavenworth proceedings, and declared that nobody would take as a gift a lot in a town on that side of the creek; that it stood to reason that Auraria was and would continue to be the only "city" here; and this unnecessary "Denver City" never could and never would be a competitor of Auraria, no matter what its projectors tried to make of it. These views seemed to be sustained by current circumstances, for a large majority of the incoming people had located on the west side. This had placed the Auraria settlement far in advance of any other in the Pike’s Peak region.
After Denver’s usurpation of the site of ill-fated "St. Charles," Auraria was also disposed to take on airs because of her great antiquity as compared with the youthfulness of her energetic neighbor on the east side of the creek. As a known place with a definite name she was held by her partisans to be venerable; for, when Denver was first laid down on paper was not the founding of Auraria an event dating all of two or three weeks back in the misty past?
As we have, in a preceding chapter, specifically accounted for the name "Auraria" having been bestowed upon the west-side settlement, it may be well at this juncture to be more specific than we heretofore have been with regard to the name of Denver City. In many published reminiscences the honor of having chosen our city’s name has been claimed by perhaps a dozen different pioneers, and the narratives have been accompanied by much and apparently trustworthy circumstantial detail, especially as to controversies at various times over a choice from numerous proposed names. These tales are wholly fictitious. No other name was ever suggested, and there was no controversy in deciding upon the one given. The name “Denver City” was immediately formally approved at the first meeting - November 17th - by all the leaders in the enterprise. It was the choice of all the members of the Leavenworth party, and no one more than another was entitled to credit for having selected it. That it was adopted on November 17th is told by E. P. Stout, the company’s first President; confirmed by S. S. Curtis; and the fact is of record in the minute book of the company under date November 22, 1858, wherein it is stated that the "Denver City Company [previously formed] adopted the Constitution," and elected officers on that day. In that entry the further statement is made that a committee, "previously appointed," had already staked out land for a town-site "called Denver City."
At the close of 1858 Auraria contained about fifty cabins and Denver about twenty-five; and all hands believed that the Cherry creek settlements had made fair beginnings, though as to which were the better depended entirely upon the loca-
tion, with respect to the creek, of the man who formulated the opinion. Everything considered, a great deal had been done in eight or ten weeks, and much more was already planned for the immediate future.
The rivalry between these sorry little metropoles standing here in the winter loneliness of the great plains, was genuine and deep-seated, though it may appear comical and absurd to the reader who is of this day and generation. The two forlorn groups of squatty cabins built of cottonwood logs, roofed with grass or earth, and chinked with billets of wood reinforced outside with plastered clay against the winds that were expected to blow and blow, put in much of their spare time that winter making faces at each other across Cherry creek.
Turning from this rude and wrangling pair of ambitious frontier hamlets, the spectator’s thoughts were lifted away from the petty contentions of human existence. The one thing that Auraria and Denver had in common was the magnificent setting Nature had given them. Over the grandeur and beauty of all that lay around them, the heritage of each and the glory of both, there could be no differences, no dissensions, no strife. A writer of that period thus described the view from the front range, back of Golden, and the impressions it made upon him in one of those autumn days in the beginning:
"All in the region from Long’s Peak around by the Cache-a-la-Poudre, Beaver, and Bijou creeks to the summit of the divide between the Platte and the Arkansas, and back past where I stand ‘to the place of beginning,’ lies spread out at my feet like an unrolled map. West is a vast sea of dark green mountains, sweeping away and upward into the clouds, tipped in the distance with the whitest of snow, now more or less agitated by the storm spirit. These be the everlasting watchtowers of the continent. But the first is the lovely part of the picture. There, spread out like a carpet, glowing in the rich splendor of the autumn sunlight, lies the brown, swelling plain, cut in various directions by wood-fringed streams - a magnificent sight. Columns of blue smoke rise calmly and float leisurely away from Auraria City, from Placer Camp, and intermediate camps, along the river. The Americans has come to this hitherto unknown region, and the sound of the rifle and the axe, the lowing of stock and the falling of timber around the smoke columns, are sounding the death-knell of the wild beast and the wilder man of the soil - are proclaiming the fact that their restless and encroaching enemy has set himself boldly down in their midst, to scatter them like chaff, and to possess and improve the Talent they have so long had buried in the ground."
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