Frank S. Thayer, Publisher, 1898

L'ENVOI

     Denver is the geographical, railroad, financial, commercial, smelting, manufacturing, educational and social centre and "general hub " not only of Colorado, but of the entire Trans-Missouri country.

     Colorado alone equals in area the whole of New England and the State of New York put together, with greater and more varied resources than any State in the American Union, but the country tributary to Denver (and within which Denver has no possible rival for 600 miles in any direction) extends far beyond the State of Colorado and practically embraces the whole of the territory west of the Missouri River, with an area considerably greater than the whole of the German Empire.

     In this vast region every new mine worked, every fresh acre cultivated, every new orchard planted, every new quarry opened, every herd of cattle or flock of sheep turned out to graze, and every manufacturing enterprize started, re-acts beneficially on and sends new life-blood to the heart--Denver.

     Denver stands unrivalled in either hemisphere for its combination of advantages as a place of residence, as a field for investment, as a place of unusually rapid but solid growth, as a smelting centre, as a city with unlimited and varied undeveloped resources at its back, as an increasing manufacturing centre, and as a cosmopolitan, energetic and enterprising community; while its past history, present position and future prospects undoubtedly destine it to be one of the four great cities of the United States.

     The above assertions may at first sight appear exaggerated or startling. The succeeding pages of this book, however, demonstrate that such assertions are made advisedly, as they are founded on facts.