Show I COLORADO Denver Colo DeC 31 Colorado this year celebrated the twentyfifth anniversary anni-versary of her admission to the Union There were two celebrations The one at Boulder Was official and attended by a large number of th6 men Who have done the most In building up the StILtS The affair at J Colorado Springs was more In the nature of 0 carnIval and President Roosevelt then VlcePresi dent was the guest of honor At both places thd pioneers took a conspicuous part in the proceedings and the parades pa-rades and exhibits brought out ineffective in-effective contrast the life of today In the Centennkll JState and customs and surroundings ot the pioneers Although the progress of twentyfive years In CoFriado Is little Jnort of marvelous mining Is still as It was almost al-most from the first the principal Industry In-dustry of the State Year by year there Ims been 1 substantial Increase In the amount and value of the output I of precious metals For many years I this Increase was confined almost exclusively ex-clusively to the production of silver But the slump came In the price of the white metal attention was shifted to gold mjnlng and the results I obtained ob-tained have been equally satisfying to the miners i The total value of the mineral output out-put for Colorado for the year 1901 Is estimated at S5SOOOOOO The outout of I gold in round numbers will be 3oOOO 000 and that of silver S 12000000 The value of the silver output Is not quite so large as that of last year 0 InS to slightly lower prices No significant change Is made In the amount o lead or copper produced but zinc for the first lime appears In the table of Colorado Colo-rado mineral products In tho val c of the output of precious metals Cripple Creek still stands at the head of Colorado mining districts with a grand total for the year of 26000000 This district also shows the largest actual Increase in the value ofls output On a percentage per-centage basis however other districts make a better showing The production produc-tion of the Idaho Springs mines was Increased 10 per cent during the year the Sllverton mines 33 per cent the Boulder mines 53 per cent the Ouray mines 10 per cent There Is practically practi-cally no change to report in the output out-put of the Leadvillc mines and the Tcllurldo production was cut down somewhat because of the labor troubles on the Smuggler union Another important mineral Industry added this year to the Colorado list Is the manufacture of earthenware rhe existence of fire clay of the finest quality In the vicinity of Golden has long been known and this yeai men from Ohloexperlenced In the manufacture manu-facture of crockery have established a factory They have already placed their wa1res on the market and they find a ready sale Portland cement manufactured at Florence Is well known among engineering engi-neering constructors in the West and the demand for it far exceeds the supPlY sup-ply Companies have been formed to build two more large plants and work Is already under way A conservative estimate of the value of the agricultural products of the State for the year is 40000000 and owing to the higher prices for nearly all products of the farm the amount may easily reach 15000000 This would mean an Increase of 10000000 over last year A large part of this Increase Is due to the beet sugar output out-put which this year for the first time tme figures largely in the Industrial stalls tics of the State The value of the beet sugar produced this yell In Colorado Colo-rado is estimated at S3500000 Four factories are now in operation They are located at Grand Junction Sugar City Rocky Ford and Loveland This is the first season for the Loveland factory The Grand Junction factory Is the oldest of the four but Is the least catlsfactory In Its results The reason seems to be that other crops notably fruit In Grand valley yield large and sure returns with less labor than is necessary In raising and marketing beets The success of the other factories is decIsive and another an-other year will see perhaps a half dozen more factories built and in operation ope-ration unless Congressional action by admitting Cuban sugar free of duty so changes conditions that Western West-ern beet sugar will not be able to withstand the competition Brighton Eaton Fort Collins Greeley Long mont Granada and other towns have all been negotiating with capitalists who arc ready to build sugar factories if i a sufficient acreage of beets is guaranteed and In several instances work has already begun on the build Ings Pueblo perhaps can show more evi dences of industrial growth and prosperity pros-perity than any other town In the t i Stale Tho amount of freight handled at Pueblo l has Increased enormously and lajgo additions to the yards In the I Immediate future are planned and aie Imperative Pueblo Is a Missouri Pacific Pa-cific town and n Gould town and has already profiled by the Denver Rio Grande becoming a part of the Gould system A large amount of capital is being put into new stockyards stock-yards and a packing plant at Pueblo and these will gn far undoubtedly to make it the principal cattle town of the State Pueblo is also on the edge eege of the Florence oil field which has been considerably extended by the discoveries dis-coveries of the year and the town has had n taste of the oil excitement which has been especially marked in Boulder and Archuleta counties Most Important of all to Puebla however are the additions being made at the Mlnnequa steel plant of the Colorado Fuel lion company Within a year this will probably be the largest single plant of the kind In the United States The present value of the plant Is about 3000000 the numb r of men employed 3000 and the monthly payroll pay-roll about 250000 The estimated cost of tho Improvements In course of construction con-struction Is 5OOOOOO These include I three new blast furnaces one of which Is completed Molten metal will be i conveyed direct from the new furnaces to the new openhenrlh mill This will be completed next April and will employ 350 additional men The wire mill to be completed In July will employ em-ploy 1100 men and the tin plate mill to be completed in October will employ em-ploy 1100 men By the first o January 1903 two more mills for the manufacture manufac-ture of plates rods and rolls will be completed and each will employ 1000 men I is the policy of the Fuel l company com-pany to encourage the building of auxiliary plants by Independent companies com-panies These will add largely to the industrial Importance of the towtf Among the first to be completed will he a large wagon and carriage factory The C F 1 company has1 recently absorbed its principal l competitor hil the operation o coal mines the Victor Fuel company The latter remains I nominally an Independent company but its stock is controlled In the interests i 1 In-terests of the 0 F I company which Is very much In the nature I of I 1 rust so far as Colorado Ir I con corned The C F I Is Independent of the United States Steel A large part of Its stock Is held by John W Gates of Chicago but he has not been control able to secure A novel experiment of the fuel company com-pany was begun this year under the name Of the sociological department of the C F I company rho object of the company It Is officially stated Is to get better workmen by Improving Improv-ing their conditions The company purposes lo offer to Us employees their wives and children even in the most Isolated camps practically all the educational and social advantages of cities Lecture courses cooking and manual training schools traveling libraries and art guMerlcs are included In the scheme Music will be provided for dances and other social gatherings and the company will in every way endeavor en-deavor lo encourage all that tends to brighten the social life of Its employees em-ployees This department Is regarded by the company as In no sense a charity but as a pa lnS Investment in securing better workmen and more work for the compan What success the experiment will have it IK perhaps too soon to predict There Is apparently ap-parently less complaint than formerly of the scrip system company stores and opposition to unions The year has leen remarkably free from labor troubles and great crimes and disasters dis-asters For several months the Denver Trades Assembly has been divided into In-to two camps The American Federa lon of Labor still has Q majority in the assembly but to retain It arbitrary arbi-trary action was necessary Unions organized by the Western Labor union were refused admission as It was seen that otherwise the Western organization would soon control the assembly As a result there has been formed what amounts to 1 second trades assembly controlled by the Western Labor Union and nominally a branch of the headquarters at Butte The most serious labor trouble occurred oc-curred at Telluride as outgrowth of the Smuggler union strike The miners were for JL while In armed resistance re-sistance to the legal authorities but quiet was rest Icd on the surface at least without calling out tho State troops Telluride was also the scene of the worst disaster of the year and one that Is probably unique in the history his-tory of metal mining Smoke from burning buildings at the mouth n tunnel of the Smuggler union filled the workings and suffocated twenty five men Politically the events of the year since the decision of the sensational contest have been unimportant There seems to be however an unmlstake able drift toward Republicanism inmost In-most parts of the State The new revenue law passed by a fusion Legislature Legis-lature has been successfully attacked In the courts by the railroads and other large corporations and the finances nances of the State are going from bad to worse |