History of Colorado United States of America

Coal was first mined in northern Colorado in the year 1864, in Jefferson and Boulder counties. This mining was carried out in a superficial manner by the settlers and the coal, obtained from the outcroppings, was used only for domestic purposes, little or no marketing occurring. In 1872 coal was mined in Weld County for the first time and in the following year Las Animas and Fremont counties became known as coal producers. The two latter counties, one of which is now the greatest coal-producing county of the state, produced 12,187 short tons together in the year 1873. Not until 1876 did Colorado produce as much as 100,000 tons, but from this time until the present the annual production has grown steadily, until now the state ranks seventh in the country as a coal producer.

Coal in southern Colorado was discovered in the fall of i860, near Canon City, by the settlers then building the town and flocking there from the gold diggings to winter. Everyone who sought his horses or oxen in the grazing lands of the foothills on the south side of the Arkansas River, or hunted antelope, discovered in the deep gulches an exposure of coal, cut by the ages of water-erosion. This coal was first used by Anson Rudd, one of the first settlers of Canon City, a blacksmith and gunsmith, who erected the first workshop in the winter of 1860-61. He used this coal in his forge in place of charcoal. No one sought to acquire title to this coal, as there was no commercial market for it. When the settlers began to use it for fuel, everybody dug for himself and took away as much as he could use. This condition existed until the building of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad from Pueblo to the coal mines. It was found by test that it was a fine locomotive coal and the first of this type in Colorado, as the northern coal fields were all lignitic and little better than wood for furnace purposes.

In the decade from i860 to 1870 much coal was mined for domestic purposes in Golden, Denver, Boulder, Blackhawk and Central City, the principal supply coming from the mines near Golden and on Ralston Creek, ten miles north. The Marshall coal bank first assumed importance in 1865, although previous to that time the ranchmen in the neighborhood had hauled away small quantities of the coal. The completion, in the summer of 1870, of the Denver Pacific Railroad from Cheyenne to Denver, the Kansas Pacific, and the Colorado Central from Denver to Golden, created a large demand upon the mines of Jefferson and Boulder counties. The completion of the Boulder Valley Railroad from Brighton to Boulder in 1873 opened to the market the mines of Boulder and Weld counties.

By 1883 mining in Colorado was yet in its first stages, except in the immediate neighborhood of Golden; no depth had yet been obtained, only surface outcroppings having been worked. North of the divide and east of the mountains, whence Denver drew its principal coal supply, coal was found in Jefferson, Boulder and Weld counties, in which region some twenty mines were being worked. The leading mines of this number were the Marshall, Fox, Welch, Boulder, Valley, Northrop, Stewart, Superior, Mitchell, Garfield, Briggs and the Star. The coal here secured was a free-burning lignite of jet black, high luster and destitute of any fibrous or woody structure. Second to the mines of South Colorado the mines of North Colorado were the greatest producers. The middle division included the counties of Park, Fremont and El Paso. In El Paso County, in 1883, the only mines worked to any extent were those owned by the Denver & New Orleans Railroad at Franceville. The product of these mines had only become available since the completion of the above named railroad in 1882. In Park County the coal mines were at Como and were owned by the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad Company. The principal mines in Fremont County were the Oak Creek, Nos. 1 and 2, and the Coal Creek, owned and worked principally by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road. The coal from these mines ranked first in the state for domestic purposes and was largely used in Denver, while Canon City and Pueblo also derived their supply from here. The southern division of mines included the counties of Las Animas, Huerfano, La Plata and Dolores and ranked first in Colorado as a producer. The mines in Las Animas, Huerfano and Fremont counties were mainly owned and operated by the Colorado Coal & Iron Company, a corporation closely allied to the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company. At this time the coal veins in La Plata County were the largest in the state, varying from twelve to ninety feet in thickness.

By the end of the year 1884 the known and partially developed coal fields of Colorado covered an area of about fifteen hundred square miles. The only anthracite coal then known, as now, to occur in the state was in Gunnison County, on Slate Creek, near Crested Butte, west of Irwin and on Anthracite Creek, a tributary of the north fork of the Gunnison River. The anthracite Mesa mine in Gunnison County was opened in 1882 and the Cow Creek mine, near Ouray and on the branch of the Uncompahgre River, was opened in 1883, but little coal was extracted. The principal mines of Colorado at this time were owned and operated by the various railway companies of the state. Those operating on the largest scale and the corporate name under which they transacted their mining operations were as follows:

Biographies:

James Benton Grant, governor of Colorado, was born in Russell county, Ala., Jan. 2, 1848. He served for one year in the Confederate army when sixteen years of age, and after the war removed to Iowa. He was educated in the Iowa agricultural college, at Cornell college and at the school of mines, Freiburg, Saxony. He settled in Denver, Col., in 1876, and became interested in mines and smelting furnaces in Gilpin county and in Leadville, and in 1882 joined his business with that of another company which was known thereafter as the Omaha & Grant Smelting company, of which he was vice-president. He was governor of Colorado in 1883-85, having been elected by the Democratic party.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Gilpin, governor of Colorado, was born in Newcastle county, Del., Oct. 4, 1814; son of Joshua and Mary (Dilworth) Gilpin; and grandson of Thomas Gilpin, manufacturer, 1728-78. His great, great-grandfather, Joseph, emigrated from England in 1696. He entered the junior class of the University of Pennsylvania in 1831, graduating in 1833. He then studied law with his brother, Henry Dilworth Gilpin, in Philadelphia. He was cadet at the U.S. military academy, 1835-36; 1st and 2d lieutenant, 2d dragoons, U.S.A., 1836; served in the Seminole war, and then resigned his commission in the army to engage in the practice of law m Independence, Mo. He was secretary of the house of assembly, 1841-43, crossed the plains with a party of 125 pioneers in 1844, and founded the city of Portland, Ore., drawing up articles of agreement for a territorial government. The event of the war with Mexico recalled him to Missouri where he recruited and was major of the 1st Missouri cavalry, 1846, and lieutenant-colonel, 1847-48. He returned from Mexico in 1848 and proceeded against the hostile Indians of Colorado and on this expedition became acquainted with the vast resources of that territory. He returned to Independence in 1851 and resumed the practice of his profession. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln governor of the territory of Colorado, serving 1861-62. He then engaged in developing the resources of the territory. He was married in St. Louis, Mo., to Julia, widow of Col. John Dickinson, U.S.A., and daughter of Gen. Bernard Pratt of St. Louis, Mo. He published The Central Gold Region (1859); The Mission of the North American People (1873); and The Cosmopolitan Railway (1890). He died in Denver, Col., Jan. 20, 1894.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Benjamin Harrison Eaton, governor of Colorado, was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, Dec. 15, 1833; son of Levi Eaton. He was graduated from West Bethford academy in 1852 and taught school until 1854 when he removed to Louisa county, Iowa. He engaged in mining in Colorado, 1859-61; resided in New Mexico, 1861-64, and in 1864 removed to Greeley, Col., where he became one of the most prosperous farmers in the state, winning his success chiefly through a system of irrigation. He served in both branches of the state legislature and was elected governor of Colorado in November, 1884, by a majority of 3132 votes over Alva Adams, Democrat, serving, 1885-86.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Evans, governor of Colorado, was born near Waynesville. Ohio, March 9, 1814; son of David and Rachel Evans; grandson of Benjamin and Hannah (Smith) Evans, and great-grandson of an early Quaker settler of Philadelphia. He removed to Philadelphia in 1835 and entered. Clermont academy. He received his M.D. degree in 1838 from the medical department of Cincinnati college. In 1839 he was married to Hannah, daughter of Joseph Canby, and removed to Attica, Ind. He resided in Indianapolis, Ind., 1842-45. He held the chair of materia medica in the Rush medical college, Chicago, Ill., 1845-56, and later edited the Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal of Chicago. He founded the Illinois general hospital of the Lakes, and was prominent in establishing the Methodist book concern in Chicago. He was the chief instrument in founding the Northwestern university, in a suburb of Chicago which was named Evanston in his honor. and he endowed the chairs of Latin and mental and moral philosophy in that institution with $100,000. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention in 1860, and in 1862 was appointed territorial governor of Colorado, serving until 1865, when he was removed by President Johnson. In 1863 he was influential in building Colorado seminary, which afterward became the University of Denver, and to which he presented about $150,000. He was organizer and president of several railroad companies and other enterprises. He was married in 1853 to Margaret P., daughter of Samuel Gray of Maine, and their daughter Josephine became the wife of Gov. Samuel Hitt Elbert of Colorado. Governor Evans died in Denver, Col., July 3, 1897.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Colorado

Local History Notes:

Biographies:

Local History and Genealogy Links: