| Show description OF DENVER sights scenes and progress of the capital of colorado editor deseret news I 1 promised ia my last letter a description of the marshall pass and the grand canon of the arkansas the rival wonders and master ma ster marvels of the denver rio grande railway I 1 was hasty in the elation of the mo anent t allowed myself to think my poor pen capable of a wonder little 1 cefis ess than the sublime objects them delves namely the power to portray them A second thought has convinced me of the vanity ot of the first I 1 shall therefore crave your tour indulgence and that of your readers rea ciers for a dis appointment which I 1 am certain is trivial compared to what it would be were I 1 to carry out my former intention and attempt to describe the indescribable i lot every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent besides wh why carry coals to newcastle or salt sart to the dead sea of america why tell the people of utah that the rocky mountains are mk majestic lestic that their scenery is sublime every herd boy knows it the rocks and aad streams and lakes and glens and snow crowned peaks and verdant valleys are as familiar to him as the letters of the alpha betor the wrinkles on the horn born of his bis favorite cow caw and as ter for the miracles of science the triumphs of enginery which have pierced these mighty solitudes causing their thousand caverns to re echo the shrill cries of advancing civilization a due appreciation of their greatness is only possible from a personal knowledge of the tremendous difficulties toey have overcome nor pen nor tongue nor eye of another therefore will suffice such bach things must mast be seen in order to be halfway realized on the evening of the second day after leavin leaving salt lacewe find ourselves in denver unless haply we have tarried at pueblo over night to regain the equilibrium lost during the rapid whirl ot the last thirty hours registering at the albany next to the windsor the most notable hotel in denver we at once set about surveying the sights and scenes of this growing intermountain mou metropolis THE CAPITAL OF COLORADO is in many respects a remarkable city Itis it is remarkable for two things especially eci ally enterprise and boasting I 1 I 1 the giggett biggest blow blom town in america is the title I 1 heard beard bestowed upon it by one of iol its citizens the day after my arrival remarks of this kind however are extremely rare the true trae Den would never so express himself it Is a part of his bis reli religion glov if hs he has any to sing we the praises of his lair fair city and an utterance in relation to her the reverse of flattering he would regard as little less than high treason still enterprise and boasting I 1 say are two of the strong points which make her remarkable among cities than which perhaps no two qualities ardmore are more essential to worldly ogress in the nineteenth ce century ury it progress Er gas as come to be largely that the estimate an individual or a community places upon itself is pretty apt to be taken as the stan dardard by which it will be J judged that is if there be any proof at all to warrant the profession and so without attempting to defend the principle which I 1 do not regard as immaculate this may partly account for and excuse the vast amount of puffing which added to genuine enterprise and energy has lifted denver in the last ten years from the humble status of an overgrown village to the croud plane of a city she says of one andred undred the city is situated on the eastern slope of the rocky mounta mountains lus unlike salt lake she is not surrounded by natures rocky ramparts her hills are to tile the westward and loom at the respectful di distance stange of a dozen or more miles from the town which however at its present rate or of growth will ere many years be crouchi crouching ngat at the feet of these snowa crowned monarchs of the western waste danvers Den vers altitude is about 1000 feet higner higher than salt bait lakes though her climate is much the same like our own summer hers bers has been unusually hot and dry driving fully one fourth of the inhabitants into finto the mountains and elsewhere in quest of cooler air now and then a deluge has descended to make glad the parched and to earth and make mad the railways on account of washouts wa shouts but her water supply is not all drawn from the clouds ill betide denver if such were the case she has the headwaters of the platte and a stream called cherry creek or some such name to supply her waterworks water works besides numerous artesian wells the latter of which furnish a quality of water so superior to the other tuat it A is deemed worthy of advertisement on some of the hotel bills of fare A triumph for temperance this it if only water held the monopoly but alas denver is just as proud of the beer she drinks as blithe water she slakes slake hex her thirst with the city by the bye does not own the waterworks water works a fact which is deplored the danver water ater ov company are the proprietors ot the system danvers Den vers population ranges aalthe all the way from to over ing to the patriotism or Den of your informant it mity may also depend upon whether business is dull with himor him or otherwise it if the for former merand and he be is thinking of moving away hii he will strike the mi minimum every time and even eve go below it butof but lf he is here to tc A stay and he be wants you to do likewise the proud sneer which curls his bis aps as you innocently inquire if it be pos possible sibie bie that thac denver holds people is enough to make the shade of a roman koman patrician of the days of Aag augustus astus grown green with envy whatever her population however there is no denying her enterprise progress is written above her gates and PUSH PUSH PUSH is the motto en graven on her shield of course coarse I 1 mean material progress I 1 dont think she troubles herself much about spiritual matters comparatively speaking though they say spiritualism has here one of its strongholds strong holds and that latest sensation in religion or occultism e the christian science numbers nume name many Denver ites among its disciples the churches also are elegant and numerous one of the them m a metho distie edifice boasting the pos possession possession sessio of the largest organ in the world still still I 1 say comparatively speaking I 1 hardly think denver troubles herself much about siA spiritual ritual matters her tendency is decidedly temporal eat drink and be merry for tomorrow may never come com e is the spirit mixed with mi mammon Linmon worship which seems largely to prevail not but there are many good and devout people here there are in every place but as in most cities including sodom and gomorrah Gomor rih of sulphuric memory tile the opposite element Is no doubt in ia th the e ascendancy the Den never tires of drawing the contrast between his city and salt bait lake mu much chafter after the manner of an editorial of a well known newspaper new and equally forgetful or careless of the fact that denver has bas had bad at her back the united energy of her whole people pushing her towards the front while salt bait lake ake has been retarded by internal dissen dissensions sons and agitations which have frightened ned away capital band and population tor for the past twenty years when asked oy by one jocular gentleman a thoroughly good natured man of the world why it was salt lake was so far behind denver in material development I 1 reminded him of these facts and added that I 1 thought another reason was that we spent more time than they did thinking of another life which necessarily detracted from the attention given to the things of this world in other words that mat we preferred to lay up treasures in heaven heave ii anere moth mota could not corrupt nor the U S government break through and confiscate he yawned dawned I 1 then smiled and said oh well that future life is mighty uncertain we might as well get the most out of this its short enough goodness knows why dont you salt lake borrow a million doll dollars irs and make improvements and let someone else pay for them youve got the finest spot for a city in the whole world I 1 told him I 1 knew that but that we would rather pay debts than contract ethem them and preferred to plant roses 1 ah m the pathway of posterity than anan to strew it with thorns I 1 thought I 1 beian to see the secret of danvers Den vers development it meant debt heavy beaky taxes and possible bankruptcy heaven fore fend tend that salt lake should shoud climb to such a precipice of glory still I 1 am told deavers Den vers financial condition is sound withstanding noth her heavy expenditures taxes are rather weighty 2 ai per cent city and nd county combined with a prospective increase to I 1 per cent on a thirty per cent valuations but no one grumbles about it that is no one I 1 have talked with they are too patriotic treasurer blit ailias as informs me that the city only owes a bonded debt of and has a million ani a half of property to show for it with a standing credit of and no floating debt whatever there is talk of a million dollars being borrowed and expended on internal improvements among the most notable now in progress are the state capitol ballain buildings g t the he coanda eions of which are I 1 laid id the whole structure to cost over a minion million the cable roads are also in course of construction st and will traverse three principal streets the roads will be cimpl completed eted in III october though the power houses will not be finished in time to commence operations before next january denver is well supplied with public buildings the court house is a magnificent edifice its hall of justice handsomely decorated and the city hall is almost equally imposing thou though ii the situation of the former is vastly y superior the high school is another fine building just being completed their schools are a feature of which the Denver ites are exception ally and justly proud the city has a well equipped fire department part ment which cost her and a police patrol system for which she pays annually her regular police force which la is uniformed navy blue suits light stiff bats and stout b hies numbers sixty men mea C A hawley once tue toe chief detective of the D K R G Kail Rail an officer with whom salt lake is somewhat familiar now a similar position under the municipal municipal government denver it may be bead needs all tie her r police and detectives for ic according cording to the admissions of her staunchest admirers there is a great deal of crime committed commit committed tea herft here tile city liko like the state is republican REPUBLIC AX only iu in republican apathy or defection can toe democrats fiad an opportunity denver al ft aa wes lean the present governor of colorado Colora however is a democrat mr Ad adaina auls and nd is ia reputed a very ex excellent elleda man the republicans lost the election by putting up a dutchman with a mexican wife a dose too strong for the fas tl dious and would be aristocratic stal warts of bf the G 0 P down went the dutchman and in went the abe democrat though his opponent was an able man and his file mexican wife I 1 am told a real lady governor grant another democrat a and of a gentleman well thought of gene ro kofy y was elected at the last state election but two This waln governors grant and adams are the only democratic executives that colorado has ever had denver has three theartres theatres the atres the largest the abe tabor opera house a spies asplen did edifice situated in the business heart of the city the others are the olympic and the eden musee all three place of amusement are closed lust just at present THE CHURCHES I 1 have bacq said are numerous and elegant the ministers are well paid and the congregations lone large 1 I said there were many good and pious people here the colored element who formerly erly held their meetings in tile the more fashionable qu quarters arters have recently built a gurch lurch in the hilly billy suburbs it it is said that they were hired to move from neighborhood to neighborhood by their white admirers until finally they had enough money to build a handsome chuch in a quarter where none would molest or make afraid how these black republicans public ans cans love each other I 1 they could fight to free the neg degro roand and they will even now fawn for his bis vote but bat they would dye allover before they would live next door to him poor sambo I 1 notice that but few of the hotels have colored waiters it would be better lor for the public it if they bad the whites geem beem to feel above the business as a rule and in some of the hotels and eating houses they are singularly and even insultingly ten tive denver is emphatically the CITY OV OF DRUG KUG STORES like the schoolboys schoolboy school boys boy s composition on a horses legs theres one on each corn corner ertl provo hide your diminished head denver has followed salt lakes example in ia TRES TREB PLANTING her streets like ours are mostly boulevards that is according to the parisian definition thoroughfares flanked by trees her streets are only sixty feet wide however and like our own without pavements about 30 of them are traversed by horse cars care which run every 7 minutes estrom from 6 a m to 1130 11 30 p m only one horae to a car there are few good crossings in the abe city and none where they are most needed on the principal business thoroughfares these however no wever are among the improvements contemplated as also the paving of the streets and sidewalks the city blocks are just half the size of ours altogether with her massive public buildings her many handsome residences her growing population and business enterprise denver is fast assuming a the airs of a veritable metropolis that she will eventually be one lone of the great reat cities of the nation there is every promise aud and probability her people are proud of her and justly so for they have worked hard bard and faithfully to make her what she Is hers is no mushroom mush room growth as is generally supposed her first house bouse was built iu in 1 1859 69 at but the city barely managed to eke out an existence during the first twenty years of f its history only during the last decade has the wind of fair fortune struck her sails and the tide of her prosperity set in carved out of the desert and the rock like our own fair cit city by the lake by dint of hard blows lo 10 8 persevering er severing energy and indomitable I 1 bi will ill who envies her the suc success ceas or would detract from the glory she has so bravely conand won and so proudly wears not 1 I Q L denver august ath im 1888 |
