1898 Denver CO by Pen & Picture

Above: State Capitol

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DENVER

Upon what meat doth this our Denver feed
- That she is grown so great?"

A stranger arriving in Denver at the end of a railroad journey of 600 miles over the plains from the Missouri River, as he realizes the size of the city, usually involuntarily asks himself -- What justifies the existence of Denver? Is it not already too large? Can it be possible that the city will continue to grow?

Thorough investigation, however, demonstrates that Denver is the natural and inevitable outcome or product of the development of Colorado and the surrounding States and Territories. So far from being too large, it will continue to grow proportionately to the development of the surrounding country.

1859-1870. The Denver of 1859 was a very primitive frontier settlement 700 miles west of the nearest railroad point, the pioneers having been attracted by the discovery of placer gold in the local streams. The operation of such placers and the discovery and operation of gold bearing fissure veins in Gilpin, Clear Creek, Boulder, and other counties found Denver in 1870 with 4,731 people.

1870-1880. The building of railroads, the great development of gold and silver mining, the exploiting of the coal fields of the State, the construction of irrigating canals, the vast extension of the cultivated area, the planting of orchards, the establishment of factories, etc., found Denver in 1880 with a census population of 35,628.

1880-1890. The further rapid development of the vast and varied resources of the State in all lines found the census population of Denver proper, exclusive of adjacent suburbs, 106,713 in 1890.

Above: City Hall

1890-1898. The collapse of Argentine securities and the Baring failure in London in 1890, followed by the Australian collapse, the closing of the Indian Mints and the repeal in 1893 of the silver purchasing clause of the Sherman Act, resulted in financial stringency and commercial depression and stagnation throughout America and the civilized world. In this Denver shared and to that extent her wonderful growth was temporarily checked, although her population today, according to the conservative estimate of the compilers of the Denver City Directory, is about 165,000. From 1890 to 1893 Denver somewhat outgrew the State, but from 1893 to 1898 the State has outgrown Denver, and all indications now point to renewed and decided growth on the part of the city. Since 1859 she has passed through several similar evil periods, and in each case the result proved that she had simply been gathering her strength for another period of abnormal growth, progress and prosperity. The present and future great development of gold mining throughout Colorado, and other causes, indicate that Denver will double in population within the next ten years.

The Hon. William Orton, long president of the Western Union Telegraph Co., and a member of the governing committee of the New York Stock Exchange, visited Denver years ago on official business in company with the president of the Kansas Pacific Railway Co., and inspected every point in the State accessible by car, traveling only by day. On his return to New York he delivered an address, in which he took occasion to say that, in his opinion, "The four great cities of this continent are to be New York, Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco."

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