AND PACIFIC COAST GUIDE.

U2

 

Charles was laid out, where Hast Denver
now stands.

In the following spring, the town was
sold, and the purchasers named the place
Denver. On the 2ist of April, 1859, the
first printing press arrived in Aurara, and
in 27 hours from its arrival, the first cop
of the Rocky Mountain News was issued,
with Wm. N. Byers and Thomas Gibson
as editors and proprietors.

May 7th, 1859, two “ Pike’s Peak” ex-
press coaches arrived, 19 days from Leav-
enworth.

In July, 1860, the U. 8. postoffice was
first opened in Denver, previous to which
it cost 25 cents to $1.00 for ach letter, be-
sides the U. 8. postage, according to the
amount of competition. Vow, how changed!

Rar~Roaps—The following roads h ve
their termini in Denver: The Kansas P»-
cific, Denver Pacific,Col rado Central, en-
ver, South Park & Pacific and the Denver
& Rio Grande.

Toe Kansas Pacrric RAILWwAY—was
completed from the Missouri River in the
fall of 1870, and trains run regularly. The
depot is on the east side of the Platte
River, on the bottom land, a half-mile north
of the city, where is also the depot of the
Denver Pacific and the Denver & Rio
Grande.

From Denver, the course of the K. P.
trains is down the Platte, along the table-
land for a few miles, and then turns to the
eastward, passing for 250 miles over a high
“rolling prairie” adapted wholly to
grazing purposes, except in small places
where the road crosses Kiowa, Wolf and
Comanche creeks, and the branches of
Bijou Creek and in Bijou Basin; and as a
stock country, a greater portion of this
region has no superior.

THe Denver, Soura Park & Pacrric
Rar~RoaAD—A narrow gauge road under

| this title was organized and surveyed in

  
 
  
  
  
 

 

1874. The line starts from Denver and fol-
lows up the Platte River and Deer Creek,
and enters the South Park within a dis-
tance of about 65 miles, thence to the San
Juan country, with Salt Lake as an ob-
jective point.

The line will traverse—within the first
100 miles—a country rich in gold, silver,
coal, copper, and many other minerals;
the finest and most extensive timber lands;
the salt region of the South Park, near
where are the most valuable quarries of

anite and lime; through extensive graz-
ing lands, where game is abundant and

the scenery the most enchanting.

In the spring of 1875, the road was com-
pleted to Morrisons, 16 miles, and is now—
March ist, 1878—being pushed ahead vig-
orously through the canyons, and will be
completed within a few months to a point
in the South Park, 75 miles distant. We
will now take a run down the

Denver & Rio Grande R.R.

The General offices of this road are at
Denver, Colorado,

 

GEN’D. WM. J. PALMER..........-200000 President.
W.-W. BORST. 28. 500) cane Superintendent.
G.C, DODGE. s ic.0.5 cece Gen’l Passenger Agent.

his enterprise is the “pioneer, three-foot,
narrow gauge freight and passenger rail-
road of the world.” Its objective point is
El Paso and the “ City of the Montezumas”
—Mexico.

The work of grading commenced in
March 1871, and the first train reached Col-
oradv Springs October 27th, of the same
year; distance, 76 miles. June 15th, 1872,
the road was completed to Pueblo, 44 miles
further. The branch to Canyon City—40
miles—was completed in July, 1874, and
the main line to El Moro, 86 miles
south of Pueblo, in April, 1876. Work
was commenced in May, 1876, on the line
from Cucharas—over the Sangre de Christo
Mountains, via Veta Pass, to Garland—220
miles from Denver— and completed Au-
gust 6th, 1877, making the total mileage
of the road and branches 297 miles.

The road is now being extended, and we
learn, will be completed to the Rio Grande
River, in the center of San Louis Valley—
60 miles distant from Garland—by May,
1878, where a new town is being laid out,
called ‘“ Almosa.”

Is the time far distant when the tourist
will hear, on approaching the depot in
Denver, “All aboard for Santa Fe, City of
Mexico, Panama, and Cape Horn?” Quien
sabe? But we must away. The traveler
making the first trip on a narrow-gauge
road, will be surprised to find how com-
fortable the cars are, and how smoothly
they ride.

Leaving Denver, the cars run along
through the western edge of the city, cross
Cherry Creek, which rises in the Arkansas
Divide, 50 miles to the south, and canyons
through Plum Creek Divide, 40 miles
above the city, the read passing the com-
pany’s machine shops 2 2-10 miles distant
on. the right.

The grand old mountain range looms up