Show reminiscences the days of pandemonium rho oldest settlers of colorado are fast passi wee in ing away but the memory of the good oil old days will go on forever life in colorado in 1859 and 1860 wad wasa a delirium of romance no words can describe the scenes that were enacted during that wild chaotic period thousands of men organized zeu in bands or choily disorganized were constantly arriving from every part of the world and leaving for the diggings outlaws and professional gamblers opened swoons saloons by the score at every point where men congregated money was scattered everywhere as if by the wind miners who had realized fortunes in a few months came down to denver to squander them in a night at the gambling tables scarcely a woman was anywhere to be seen men all restraining influences of society were absent and we cannot can not find an expression better suited to the case than pandemonium on a frolic As there were no wives there could be no homes or families Afew A few stores had been hastily put up in west denver made of rough boards or canvas and all of them were doing an enormous business the rest of the village conoit consisted ted of shanties or tents used for restaurants ind and saloons human life wasa was a moving pati panorama orama the whole place was alive with a mass amass of unkempt men clad in flannel shirts and heavy hoots boots who were ino inspired ired with one desire tae to hurry burry on to the mines this rough life was not without its touches ot of sentiment one day the town was electrified by the rumor that an invoke of women Is bonnets had arrived and could be seen at one of the stores the excitement was intense and there was a rush from every cireo direction to get a realistic view of even so insignificant a substitute for female society we do rot not overstate the truth in saying hying that the thoughts of home wakened awakened in the breasts of the rude aking king men and the eight of those bon note started tears teare from the eyes which the worst forms forma of privation and hardship had bad failed to moisten ohp the christian missionary was aready already on the ground and good cooj parson dyer managed to find a place where he could preach on sunday one of the first men mein who arrived with hir hia family came cohmer to ono one of these meetings attended by his wife and baby during the sermon it chanced chaj aced that the baby cried and the mother was abou to withdraw when the preacher addressed her thus my good woman I 1 beg you to remain the innocent sound of that infants voice is more eloquent than any words I 1 can command it 81 speaks eaks to the hearts of men whose wives and children are far away looking and praying for a safe return of the loved onea at home I the infants acry ery seemed to them like the music of angels with those who made denver their temporary abode gambling appeared to be the chief occupation and spanish sti the favorite game one house a two story stary frame building rented for per annum the rental being paid mostly by gamblers A single store of small dimensions and made of rough boards rented for a mouth month A canvas tent used as a gambling saloon rented for per annum money was loaned on good security at fifteen per cent a month and out of the loan the borrowers made fortunes in real estate and mining operations the legend of singing springs far up ou on the western side of the Maza mount ainsa range prominent in central arizona borits eions but as well for its connection with the cruel warfare which followed the earlia earlie ct t attempts to secure that torri terri tory for civilization are singing spi springs rings they are situated situate J not more than 1600 1500 feet below the summit of the rugged chain the elevation of which is offit officially jally given as beeton a most moist picturesque and romantic mountain bench or shelf forming a glassy shade in the forest of towering pines this delightful lell is but an acre or so in extent and near its centre barst forth from the mighty rocks the clear and cold waters vesters of singing springs which rippling and falling failing over a ledge of crystallized quartz produced the most beautiful yet peculiar and infinita inimitable ble a sounds of the softest and sweetest music far surpassing anything within the range of human power it is not at all strange that the apache indians whose only god to is nature and who attach reverential significance ance anoe to every peculiar or unusual work of creation should regard singing springs with superstitious awe and avoid that delightful spot for such is in perfect accord with the history of that rapidly declining ram race neither to is it surprising when the character of the surroundings findings are considered that it should be associated in their unwritten mythology with a story of love ages ago so their legend runs the only daughter one of the most beautiful of her race of a powerful tonto apache chieftain forced by her fathers desire to wed one of the most valorous warriors ran off on her wedding eve with a younger and gentler indian to whom she had previously plighted her troth when th the e discovery was made pursuit was given and at the place where Singing springs now break forth the unfortunate lovers were overtaken and captured with the young warrior who had been promised the maiden for wife rested the matter according to custom of punishment or forgiveness the wounded honor of a brave warrior could only be appeased in the death of the violators and he decreed that the girl and her lover be tied to separate trees and allowed to perish from thirst or starvation or to be devoured by wild beasts the father of the maiden so directed and the man and woman were securely bound with thongs to two trees but a few feet distant and facing each other were left to their fate the warriors returning home for weeks antl weeks birds brought food and dampened leaves to the pair and the girl continually sang songs sones of encouragement abid love to her faithful swain then came a day when all the birds left the mountain followed by a ter terrific rifle snowstorm and the lovers perished from starvation and exposure when the snow disappeared from the ground a spring had bad burst from the mountain directly between where the girl and her lover stood when they met their death preceding every snow storm the story goes the loyal maiden returns in person to the scene of her earthly misery and chants and dances in the dell as if rejoicing refo icing over the circumstance cum stance that released her and her lover from the troubles of life and permitted a union beyond mountain jim the opening of spring the return of the leaves twittering birds and genial sunshine open up to the world the beauties of estes estee park and people are already turning thither to spend the summer months that isloa ted park Larimer county furnishes a subject for a reminiscence at this time well d do we remember old jim nugent or mountain jim as he be was called he came to colorado early in the fifties and located in estes park and for years was the boss boas bear hunter of that romantic section he was a man of powerful physique with shoulders and limbs that sullivan envy besides that be was an man and a reading man he had the poetic faculty very well developed and did some ver very y cooj writing there was some mystery connected with his coming west that his best friends were never able to fathom he was evidently driven away from home by a deep grief which he be would never explain his most memorable bear fight took place in middle park in 1872 2 he started out one morning with his gun and revolver and awig aig knife which he always carri carrier ej when he got about a mile from camp lie he pa pasted ed around the roots of a large tree which had bad fallen to the earth As he be passed around the tree jim stopped stepped right I 1 nto into a nest of cinnamon bears he was so 80 close to them he could Wt shoot anti and only dise discharged barged one shot from his revolver but with his big knife he killed all three two hours later inter some of the boys boy from the camp found hini him lying unconscious among the three dead bears one of which lay across his legs jim had bad come off conqueror but one of h arms was broken one eye was out oui ai his scalp was torn loose and bangi hanging over his face he was torn and bitte over his body in a way that it w ww dreadful to see bee he recovered frol fro these injuries but his mind was ft fectea poor jim was never the sam again he went b back k to estes estea parl par anti and imagining thag thaine e owned all th tha land in that section he attacked a in mada named griffith evans one of th the e e sri shot him through tilt the ha beada in self defense fielland fiel dand farm |