Musical chairs for county seats in Colorado

This 1896 W.H. Jackson photo of the ice palace in Leadville, Colorado, was not the center of government, but the city did finally get the nod as county seat for Lake County, in 1879.

Fading fortunes and waning populations help drive the musical march

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

In the early days of Colorado, it seems, county seats were a little more 'nomadic.' But things have settled down a bit, with no seat changes since 1941, when Dolores County seat transferred from Rico to Dove Creek.
"Becoming the county seat brought a town prestige and government jobs, but it was a contested honor that sometimes led to squabbles, burned courthouses, and even murder,"notes historians and map creators Thomas Noel, Paul Mahoney, and Richard Stevens, in their "Historical Atlas of Colorado."
Newcomer towns often tried, and sometimes successfully,  to take the county seat from towns or small cities on the wane.

Other forces conspired, as well. Railroads on occasion determined the staying power of some seats. For example, the Denver and Rio Grande (D &RG) bypassed three existing county seats — Colorado City, Howardsville, and Parrott City — in favor of towns that it founded which later became county seats: Colorado Springs, Silverton and Durango.

In Weld County, the location of the county seat changed a record six times. "Railroads gave Evans, then Greeley, preeminence in Weld County, where Latham earlier had captured the county seat because of a stage stop," according to the atlas.

"In Conejos County the seat was moved to Conejos because floods plagued Guadalupe. Higher ground was also the reason why Larimer County transplanted its offices from La Porte to Fort Collins. When James Frank Gardener, the founder of Frankstown, moved four miles south to California Ranch, he took Douglas County records with him. There they stayed until the county seat relocated at the rail town of Castle Rock."

Mining communities that faded when the treasure gave out, were often moved as well. "Oro City, briefly booming county seat of several thousand residents, was nearly a ghost town by 1866, when Dayton took the title. When Dayton declined two years later, the county government moved to Granite. A decade later, fabulous silver strikes made an instant city of Leadville, which almost overnight, became the second largest city in Colorado and acquired the Lake County government for good. Granite consoled itself by becoming the county seat of newly formed  Chaffee County, only to lose the honor to Buena Vista and finally to Salida," says Noel, Mahoney, and Stevens.

"Idaho Springs lost the Clear Creek seat to silver-rich Georgetown in 1867. Two one-time county seats of Park County, Tarryall and Laurette (renamed Buckskin Joe in 1865,) became ghost towns, while FairPlay survived with the help of county jobs."

Hayden served as the first Routt County seat, then the boomtown of Hahns Peak, though both Craig and Steamboat tried unsuccessfully to wrestle it away. In 1911, Moffat County was split off with Craig as county seat, and that allowed Steamboat Springs to claim the honor in Routt. The mining town of Carbonate was the first county seat of Garfield, but eventually yielded to Glenwood Springs, when it was found out that mines were salted, and population drifted away.

But the most violent takeover occurred between Grand Lake and Hot Sulfur Springs in Grand County when a July 4, 1883, shoot-out culminated that squabble, and ended the lives of four men.

"Most ghoustly of all the former county seats is San Miguel in Costilla County. Even its exact location is a mystery," says Noel, Mahoney, and Stevens.

Parrott City, County Seat of La Plata County, Colo., June, 1881, from painting.

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Hell-bent for wind storms

“There's always another storm. It's the way the world works. Snowstorms, rainstorms, windstorms, sandstorms, and firestorms. Some are fierce and others are small. You have to deal with each one separately, but you need to keep an eye on whats brewing for tomorrow.” 

― Maria V. Snyder, Fire Study

Monument Storm, Jan. 4, 1916

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

The Palmer Divide area seems to be particularly hell-bent for wind storms at times over the last 150 years. January, 4, 1916, was just one example of what workers and residents have had to deal with over time.

As moisture laden air streams in from the West and is forced to rise over the mountains, it eventually cools and becomes saturated, causing rain or snow to fall. As the air moves over the mountains and down the leeward side it warms and drys out. This is a common pattern we see with Colorado storms moving in from the West all the time, but the same effect happens for cities along the Palmer Divide,” says Castle Rock stormchaser and meteorologist John R. Braddock, at Mountain Wave Weather. 

The Palmer Divide, or Palmer Ridge, of course is the elevated section of land composed of bluffs and ridges and the rising terrain sloping up from Castle Rock south toward Larkspur, with continuing elevation rise, finally peaking at Monument Hill.

“It separates the Arkansas and Missouri River Basins in Eastern Colorado and roughly runs from its Western point in Palmer Lake, East roughly 80 miles to near Limon. The uplifting of the terrain in these areas causes the weather to behave differently, in fact storms can behave considerably differently from Denver to Castle Rock or Denver to Colorado Springs,” says Braddock.

Workers dressed in winter clothes pose on a Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company truck in Monument (El Paso County), Colorado. Wires, equipment, and a lamp hang from the truck with a sign reading: "American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and Associated Companies, Long Distance Telephone, Bell System." A worker hangs from a telephone pole in the distance. 

Colorado Historical Society, Mountain States Telephone collection

View of broken utility poles in Monument (El Paso County), Colorado. A row of poles lay in an open field.

Colorado Historical Society, Mountain States Telephone collection

View of broken utility poles in a field in Monument (El Paso County), Colorado. Telephone wires are draped on the ground. Shows a barbed wire fence and open field. 

Colorado Historical Society, Mountain States Telephone collection

View of a Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company railroad car tipped over on the embankment in Monument (El Paso County), Colorado. The Monument train depot is in the distance.

Colorado Historical Society, Mountain States Telephone collection

Storms over the years in Southeastern Colorado, and the Pikes Peak Region, compiled by the National Weather Service in Pueblo, are as follows:

1904 August 7 ...A flash flood north of Pueblo washed a train from the tracks, killing 89 passengers. Flood waters had weakened a bridge, which gave way under the weight of the train. 

1913 December 3-5 ... The granddaddy of blizzards reached from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Trinidad, Colorado with snow, and wind gusts to 50 mph. Snow drifts reached to the eaves on houses, and were as high as the tops of trolley cars. Numerous trains stalled at different locations in eastern Colorado due to the heavy snowfall. 

1921 June 3..Heavy rainfall causes flooding of the Arkansas river through Pueblo. Bridges and buildings washed out, many are homeless and many died in the deluge as the river reaches record levels as it roars through the city. A high water mark of the river can be seen on the Union Station depot. Estimated property damage and loss is $25 million dollars. 

1921 April 16... Spring storm reached from Colorado Springs to Castle Rock, dropping 15 to 20 inches of snow while Pueblo received less than 3 inches of snow. Cars and snow plows were stalled in the city, while numerous trains were stranded on their tracks across Eastern Colorado. 

1923 July 15...Thunderstorms and heavy rainfall causes flooding in Cripple Creek and Cripple Creek canyon. Damage estimated at 30 thousand dollars in Cripple Creek alone. 1932 June 11...Tornado touches down in Colorado Springs from 16th to 20th streets and as far south as Cucharras street. One person killed. 

1934 to 1937...The Dust Bowl years for Colorado and the midwest. Numerous farmers and cattlemen put out of business. Blowing dirt and dust over the region closed roads and made moving around and breathing hard. Many aircraft were grounded due to blowing dust, and radio communication was nearly impossible. 

1935 May 31.. Memorial Day flood on Monument Creek in Colorado Springs kills 18 people and washes away bridges and buildings in downtown. 

1949 May 15...Heavy afternoon thunderstorms and rainfall caused a landslide in Ute pass, sending about 400 tons of rock and mud down on highway 24. 

1955 May 18...Flooding on the Purgatoire river cuts Trinidad in half. Most bridges were washed out in the city, and 4 feet of water filled downtown Main St. Damage was estimated to be over 2 million dollars. This same flood also struck La Junta, doing extensive damage and forced many people from their homes. 

1965 June 15... First of 15 days of rain, causing flooding on Monument and Fountain Creeks. Several bridges, and part of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo are washed out. A tornado and flooding developed over Palmer Lake where residents had been evacuated to Colorado Springs 

1966 July 3...A tornado moves through the Victor business district, damaging a garage, the Masonic Lodge building and a Baptist church. 

1977 March 19...Colorado Springs receives 13.4 inches of snow with winds gusting to 52 mph. East of the city, 82 mph winds were reported. The worst of the storm was from Colorado Springs to Limon. Army helicopters and half- tracks were used to recue stranded people. Five known dead, and $4 million in property loss and damage. 

1977 April 11...A tornado hits a Mobile Home Park on Astrozon Boulevard. Several homes were damaged but no deaths or injuries. 

1979 June 25... Manitou Springs hit by a tornado, uprooting trees downtown and took a roof off a service station. No deaths and only 1 person injured. Damage estimated to be close to 1 million dollars. 

1981 June 24...Thirty five acres of trees were leveled in Pike National Forest (North of Woodland Park) by a tornado. 

1982 December 24...Snow started falling in the early morning on Christmas Eve and continued until sunrise Christmas Day. Winds gusting to 45 mph kept visibility near zero most of the day. Snow plows were unable to keep up with the storm until the 25th, as snow drifts of 6 to 10 feet were common. Pueblo only received 2 inches of snow from the storm. 

1984 October 15-16...The BRONCO blizzard. Storm started while the Bronco's were playing on national TV. Denver received 1 to 3 feet of snow; only 15 inches in Colorado Springs and 1.4 inches at Pueblo. Winds gusted to 55 mph shutting down I-25 from Denver to Colorado Springs, and numerous flights in/out of Colorado Springs and Denver were canceled due to blowing and drifting snow. 

1987 January 15...Winter storm system arrives late on the 14th covering the area from Colorado Springs to Pueblo, and the surrounding area. Snowfall totals include: Colorado Springs 22 inches; Rye 42 inches; Colorado City 20 inches; Pueblo 9 inches; Canon City 10 inches. 

1990 February 21...Snow, fog and ice cause a 30 car demolition derby on I-25 from north of Colorado Springs to 4 miles north of Monument. No serious injuries, but the road was closed for several hours to clear up the mess. 

1990 May 29...A month's worth of rain and a foot of hail fall in a 3 hour period in Colorado Springs causing flash flooding. Cars stalled in up to 3 feet of water. 1990 June 6..Tornado's rip through Limon, destroying most of downtown including city hall, fire and police departments. Another tornado strikes Rush in eastern El Paso county. 

1990 July 11...Costliest hailstorm to date reaches from Colorado Springs to Denver, and causes over $600 million damage. 

1991 November 16-17...Winter storm arrives and leaves 16.6 inches on snow in Colorado Springs, 12.8 inches at Pueblo and 5.7 inches in Alamosa. Winds gusted to 50 mph at times. 1995 May 18..Three inches of rain in Colorado Springs causes flooding in the city while 18 inches of snow falls at Woodland Park. Heavy rain also causes a landslide closing highway 24 in Ute pass. Golf ball sized hail was noted at Falcon and Peyton, east of Colorado Springs. 

1995 June 22...Tornado damages 5 homes at Meadow Lakes Estates, east of Colorado Springs. 1996 July 27..Thunderstorms with heavy rain flood streets and basements as over 3 inches of rain fall over Colorado Springs. Flood waters are 3 feet deep in parts of the city. 

1997 June 7...Thunderstorms with heavy rain and hail cause 4 mud and rock slides closing highway 24 in Ute Pass, and much flooding in Manitou Springs. 

1997 October 14...Weather of all kinds over southeast Colorado. Tornado's in the southeast corner of the state. Thunder- storms and heavy rain in Pueblo and to the west of the city. Hailstones 2 3/4 inches at La Junta with softball size hail at Las Animas, snow at Cripple Creek, Black Forest and Monument. Winds of 100 mph reported at Liberty Point in Pueblo West and 98 mph at Kim in southeast Colorado. 

1997 October 24-26...Heavy snowfall over Monument and Palmer Lake with 52 inches of snow with 15 foot drifts in Palmer Lake, 48 inches of snow with 6 to 10 foot drifts in Monument. 

1997 November 29...Blizzard conditions force the closing of I-25 south of Pueblo as 27 inches of snow falls at Walsenburg. North of Pueblo, 19 inches of snow fell at Divide, 18 inches in Cripple Creek and 12 inches at Woodland Park. 

1998 June 24...Strong wind around the region damages many new homes under construction, and takes roofs off many other homes Winds blew over a semi-trailer on highway 115 to Canon City. Gusts to 80 mph at the Air Force Academy, 91 mph in Ute Pass and 96 mph at the Colorado Springs country club. 

1998 July 10...Severe thunderstorms moved over Colorado Springs starting grass fires, and a small funnel cloud tore a hole in the roof at Henry Elementary School. The school was closed at the time. 

1999 April 28-May 1...Strong thunderstorms roll across Colorado Springs, dropping 5 inches of rain at the airport, with up to 10 inches along the foothills. Heavy rainfall eroded the ground around a bridge at 21st St and Highway 24, causing it to be closed. Heavy rain and runoff in Fountain Creek resulted in the river being 6 feet above normal, and doing much damage along the river banks south of Colorado Springs. Many people homeless due to the flooding, and many more without power due to the storms. 

1999 July 30...Thunderstorms dump 3 to 4 inches of rain over Colorado Springs and El Paso county, causing street and basement flooding and forced cancellation of the county fair for the day. A group of teen-agers were stranded while hiking in Waldo Canyon. 

1999 November 21... An evening snowstorm drops 8 inches of snow at Monument, 10 inches in Manitou Springs, 17 inches at Green Mountains Falls before moving on. 

1999 December 3 ... Lots of snow and some records fall. Cuchara receives a record breaking 61.25 inches of snow, 32.4 inches at Rye, 10 inches of snow in the Black Forest and Woodland Park, 16 inches at Beulah as winds gust to 45 mph and higher in some areas. 

Turning up our noses at 'packinghouse perfume.'

 

For decades, "the river ran red" with packinghouse waste 

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

When you live most of your days out in the middle of nowhere, (otherwise known as a remote ranch out on Morapos Creek, between Craig and Meeker) you appreciate the chance to ‘go to town’ once in a while. My Granddad liked to ride the train into the stockyards at Denver with the product when he sold cattle. By most accounts, he looked forward to it all year.

“For most of a century, Denver's stockyards teemed with cows and other critters all year long - not just when the annual stock show rolled into town.

From the 1880s through the 1960s, Denver was the region's go-to bazaar for buying and selling livestock,” wrote Joanne Kelley in a 2006 article in the Rocky Mountain News.

For decades, "the river ran red" with packinghouse waste until rendering plants began processing it, according to Colorado historian Tom Noel's book, “Riding High.”
"Though they cleaned up the river, rendering plants fouled the air with pungent odors that downwind Denverites sniffed about," according to Noel.

But with better roads and the growth of the trucking industry, the stockyards and the packing plants dispersed into local ‘sale barns’ and the big plants moved away from the city. By 1980, the big yards in Denver were all but shut down as a year-round concern and only memories remained of its former prominence.

“I was born in Chicago about the time of the Spanish-American War. My father, Ralph C. Edwards, had been employed by Stafford Brothers in the Chicago Stockyards. He got a position at $40 a month with Clay, Robinson & Co, at the Denver Union Stockyards,” wrote Mrs. Avery Edwards Abbott in an article titled “I Remember Denver,” in the September, 1962 edition of the Denver Westerners Monthly Roundup. “Our first home in Denver was at 36th and Williams, near old Chutes Park (which terrified the daylights out of me).”

“I recall the old Denver Carnivals, held in the fall, I think. These were a kind of Mardi Gras, with parades and so on, to which my mother took me. Carfare was a nickel, and so was a loaf of bread. We could buy enough beef for supper for a dime, and the butcher gave you a piece of liverwurst free and threw in enough liver for the cat,” wrote Abbott.

She and her family later moved to Elyria, which was a village in Denver County with a population of 1384 in 1900. It was also called Pullman by the railroad and boasted 26 saloons.

“I remember the torchlight parades, to which Father took me when McKinley was assassinated,” she said. “Father took me for a walk every afternoon and often the walk ended at the Stockyards. I was terrified beyond voice when we took the catwalks above the waving heads of the longhorns in the corrals. The hogs fascinated me, as did the sheep. (Such smelly tastes!”

Abbott tells of Mr. Fine and Mr. Gill at the Stockyards Bank and walking back and forth from home and there for her mother when she was only 6 years old.

“It never occurred to anyone that there was any danger or my purse being snatched or my being molested. The stockmen, many of them knew who I was and stopped to inquire about Mother and my baby brother. They had been faithful in coming to see Father during his last illness.”

She describes taking the Stout Street cars, one which was marked “Stockyards,” when going down town to Hurlbut’s Grocery, in the Loop, where bananas were ten cents a dozen.

“In the winter, Hurlbut’s smelled of hot coffee, buttered popcorn, cupcakes, overshoes and wet clothing. In summer, large glass jars of lemonade were on display, and cookies, candies, magazines and other penny-catchers.”

Butter was 15 cents a pound. Lion and Arbuckle were the popular brands for coffee.
“I remember the day when three Polish workmen at the Omaha and Grant Smelter (the shadow of whose smokestack almost fell across our house, and whose smoke was said to kill all our germs) were sitting on kegs of dynamite while eating their lunch. They had the bad judgment to strike matches on the kegs to light their pipes. Parts of the men were picked up all over town and windows were shattered for several blocks around. It was quite an occasion!”

Of course the perfume of the packinghouses blended with the smelter smoke, she said.

“Some of Mother’s friends turned their noses pretty high when they came to see us. But this was not so they could sniff the perfume to greater advantage.”

With all the different sights, and sounds, and smells and events, it is no wonder that my own grandfather looked forward to ‘going to town’ every year on his trips to the stockyards in Denver.

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Photo Information: Photos by Marion Post Walcott and Arthur Rothstein from Farm Security Administration, taken at Denver Stockyards, andin Craig, Colorado, stockyard, in 1939 and 1941.

El Paso County journalism linage and origins

 

Crusher, Gold Rush, Palmer Lake News, Ute Pass Courier, Pikes Peak Journal and more

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Having worked at a number of El Paso County newspapers in Colorado over the years, I find their linage interesting. My own experience, with papers in Monument, and Teller County (which, until 1899, originally was mostly in El Paso County,) and Colorado Springs general interest, business and military papers, makes their stories part of my own narrative. 

The first edition of the Ute Pass Courier, for example, hit the streets on July 23, 1964.
"A morally bankrupt publisher, who was printing the short-lived Woodland Park paper called the Eagle, skipped town with the subscription money from local residents after 10 issues," according to later articles in the Courier.

"Manfred (Monte ) and Agnes (Ag) Schupp saved the paper from scandal and early demise," reported the Courier at the 25th anniversary of the publication. "About one month after he stole out of town, the Schupps put out their inaugural edition of 500 copies. Staff included Tom Bonifield, then owner of Woodland Pharmacy, and M.E. "Pete" Brown, who owned the Browncraft Steakhouse. He was later instrumental in establishing Langstaff-Brown Medical Center."

The paper was first printed in La Junta and was taken there by bus and returned Thursday mornings for distribution.

"The driving force behind the Courier, Agnes (also a mother and free-lance writer) often used her kitchen table as the production room for the paper," the paper reported later. "She suffered from a heart condition which was aggravated by the area's high elevation, and during her failing health she sold half interest to Maureen Jones in the fall of 1965."

Agnes Schupp died of heart attack June 19, 1966, and Manfred and Jones sold full interest to Roy and Carol Lee Robinson Sept. 1, 1966. Publisher, editor and reporter for 12 years, Roy Robinson received many honors and awards from Colorado Press Association for the paper's overall progress. During his tenure, the Courier was published in Cripple Creek along with Cripple Creek Times, then owned by his father, B.G. Robinson.

Another example is found in the business and journalism exploits of Ernest Chapin Gard. Gard seemed determined to make his mark on the world, even as young man. Evidence of his talents became manifested in a talent for stringing words together.
Perhaps he was thinking along those lines when in 1880 as a 23-year-old newspaperman, he scratched out his moniker above those of members of the gold-seeking Lawrence Party on Signature Rock in Garden of the Gods.

Gold’s discovery in the Cripple Creek District precipitated Gard and his partner’s race to become the first newspaper in Cripple Creek. He pulled out all the stops to beat William McRea by four days, publishing the first edition of the Cripple Creek Crusher on Dec. 4, 1891. Descendant of the Crusher and other consolidations, The Cripple Creek Gold Rush still published until 2007 when it became incorporated into Pikes Peak Courier View, of Woodland Park. 

Gard, and partner W.S. Neal, celebrated the feat by printing in gilded ink — a layer of gold over the regular ink — for the inaugural edition. McRea, four days late and perhaps more than a dollar short, sported vermilion headlines that said “New Gold Field.”

In general, Gard was noted for not trying to hold anything back. 

For example, consider his description in a booklet published by the Town of Palmer Lake in 1894 of one local landmark shortly after it was built.

“Estemere House commands one of the most magnificent views in the Rocky Mountains. The lake and both railroad depots lie beyond it, is plainly visible. To the southeast stretch the plains, on which can be seen the village of Monument, and the bewildering scene is lost in the dim distance where the meeting sky and plain unfolds the siren mirage to the vision on the desert waste; to the east are the fertile farms and pine groves of the rich Divide. To the northeast can be seen the pretty pyramidal buttes of Greenland and Larkspur. To the west are the ‘rock-ribbed’ mountains, lofty and sublime. It is a scene which, when once beheld, can never forgotten.”

When legendary scoundrel, Joseph H. Wolfe, crossed his path in Cripple Creek in his administration and management of the Clarendon Hotel, Gard let loose because he felt Wolfe was attracting too much attention by throwing money around the gaming tables and consorting with shady characters.
“This curious hostelry is run by a red-faced, cock-eyed boob who ought to be back in Missouri flats pulling cockle-burrs out of a cornfield,” wrote Gard in the Crusher in the early 1890s. He proved to be on target when later Wolfe’s efforts to organize one of the only bullfights ever held in the United States at the racetrack at Gillette Flats landed him in jail and fleeing from creditors.

Prior to his founding of the Crusher, Gard was already wielding his wit and pen in the Palmer Lake area, founding the Palmer Lake Herald with his brother J.M. Gard, just before incorporation to the town in 1889. On April 2,1889, he was also elected to a two-year term as trustee on Palmer Lake’s first board.

"The USGenWeb Project was established in 1996 by a group of genealogists who shared a desire to create free online resources for genealogical research. Originally beginning with online directories of text-based resources, their vision has grown into a network of over 3000 linked websites, all individually created and maintained by a community of volunteers. Today you may find a variety of unique county and state resources including photos, maps, transcriptions, historical documents, helpful links, and much more." according to its current site.

In July and August of 1996, the work progressed with many volunteers coming forward to assist. The USGenWeb domain was established, and many new state mailing lists were generated. Through collaboration with RootsWeb, server space was found for the files produced as a result of the project. Also, a standardized Query and Surname entry form was established there. A number of state and county pages were put on-line there. Other servers and key personalities involved in the project include Gene Stark at Gendex and the folks at Gensource.

"As more volunteers came forward, some of the original cadre were able to pass the reins of some of their responsibilities on to new enthusiastic helpers, freeing time for them to more fully concentrate on their other GenWeb states and counties. The leadership of the US GenWeb project also changed hands, but the original goal of the project remains unchanged. A USGenWeb Bulletin Board was established, and many new county pages came on-line, especially the hard work of the state coordinators."

On the USGenWeb Project you'll find a well organized effort to place genealogy materials on the Internet. This project is supported by hundreds of volunteers all across the county. The system is organized by states, and counties with each county having a coordinator responsible for maintaining a site of resources which are available for that county. You'll also find archives of genealogy records, also organized by state and county.

The Colorado version, COGenWeb Project is an outgrowth of this effort.

Several papers following, (many of which I have worked with, or descendants, for a time) are described by 2019 El Paso County COGenWeb.

Journalism in El Paso County, Colorado. — This county, being one of the earliest settled in Colorado, has a respectable newspaper record. Even in 1872, "Out West," published by J. E. Liller, had for correspondents men widely known in church, literature and politics, as Rev. Charles Kingsley and Hon. Wm. D. Kelley. "Out West" was a model of style, editorially and typographically; it was devoted to Western interests. In December, 1872, it announced that a local paper had become necessary, and that it would also publish "The Gazette and El Paso County News," beginning early in 1873, in order that "Out West's" pages might entirely be given to Territorial information. It thereafter soon died, but the "Gazette" grew to be a respected force throughout the country. 

In 1874 Judge Price became celebrated all over Colorado for his humorous hoaxes upon Eastern residents in the columns of his "Mountaineer," also issued at Colorado Springs, and an able paper popularly circulated among the people of the county. The pioneer El Paso journal, though printed in Denver, was the short lived "Colorado City Journal," which made its appearance in 1861, under the direction of Benjamin F. Crowell, now a citizen of Colorado Springs. May 1st, 1858, Mr. Crowell came from Boston, a boy of nineteen, in company with A. Z. Sheldon and others. The party had varied experiences in crossing the plains, one of their chief dilemmas being to ascertain each morning before harnessing which was the "nigh" and which the "off" ox. From the days of the El Paso "Journal" till the present, Mr. Crowell has been connected with every important movement, political or otherwise, in El Paso.

Colorado Springs "Gazette" inaugurated the county's record in daily journalism, and ever has been a prominent factor in the building up of this region. It is one of the six papers of the State owning associated press dispatches, prints daily over five thousand words of telegraphic news, and is a four page eight column paper. It has a large job department, fifty men on its pay roll of $600 per week, and is erecting a fine block on a principal avenue. The chief stockowners are B. W. Steele, Hon. W. S. Jackson and Dr. B. F. D. Adams. Mr. Steele has been editor of the " Gazette " for the past several years, and came to Colorado in 1877, from Providence, Rhode Island. He is a graduate of Brown University. Mr. Steele's policy in conducting the "Gazette" has been fearless and judicial. His editorials show a remarkably sympathetic comprehension and prevision of public feeling.

The "Gazette" is about to build a fine new edifice on Pike's Peak avenue, a sharp contrast to its present dilapidated structure of historic fame. The material is to be St. Louis pressed brick with stone trimmings, and basement of stone. Besides the rooms used in the printing and binding departments of the journal, there will be eighteen offices. The building is supplied with fireproof vaults and a crane elevator.

The Colorado Springs "Republic" is the second paper of the county, and was first issued in 1880 (being the regular successor of the "Free Press" and the "Mountaineer,") as a daily evening journal, after as a weekly, and again as a daily under its present direction by Mr. L H. Gowdy. Its interests are mainly local, and together with an excellent job department, it has become a successful property.

EI Paso's growth may well be shown by an enumeration of the papers now published. While the county boasted but ten papers in 1888, in 1890 we find the list swelled to double the number. The El Paso "Register" is the representative paper of the (Palmer) Divide region, and is published at Monument. The Manitou "Journal" is issued four months of the year as a daily, and began its career in 1886. The Colorado City "News," under the able direction of J. Addison Cochran — present postmaster of that city — achieved, two years since, first place among the papers of El Paso's manufacturing center.

Other papers issued in the county are: "Pike's Peak Herald," "Saturday Mail," the "Methodist," the "Lever," and "Deaf Mute Index," at Colorado Springs, — the last two named being school papers, — Colorado City "Chieftain," Colorado City "Iris," Palmer Lake "Herald," Green Mountain Falls "Echo," Fountain "Dispatch," Woodland Park "News," and Crystal Peak "Beacon" (at Florissant).
To the Colorado Springs "Gazette" and "Republic," both of which publish weekly as well as daily edition we are indebted for valuable reports which have freely been used in this sketch," according to COGenWeb.