Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. by Various None (smart ebook reader .txt) 📕

Represents A Component Part. The Hardware Clerk Displays A Tent And

Recommends A Fly As Forming A Desirable Addition To An Even Otherwise

"Swell Outfit." The Grocer Provides You With What He Modestly Terms A

"First-Class Outfit," Albeit His Cans Of Fruits,  Vegetables And Meats

Are For The Delectation Of The Inner Man. Frying-Pans And Dutch-Ovens,

Camp-Stools And Trout-Scales,  Receive The Same Designation. And Now

Comes The Crowning Triumph Of This Versatile Term,  As Well As A Happy

Illustration Of What Might Be Called Its Agglutinative And Assimilating

Powers; For When Horses And Wagon Have Received Their Load Of Tent And

Equipments,  And Father,  Mother And The Babies Have Filled Up Every

Available Space,  This Whole Establishment,  This _Omnium Gatherum_ Of

Outfits,  Becomes Neither More Nor Less Than An "Outfit."

The Last Five Years Have Witnessed A Wonderful Material Progress In The

Far West. The Mineral Wealth Discovered In colorado And New Mexico Has

Caused A Great Westward-Flowing Tide To Set In. The Nation Seems To Be

Possessed Of A Desire To Reclaim The Waste Places And To Explore The

Unknown. Cities That Were Founded By "Fifty-Niners," And After A Decade

Seemed To Reach The Limits Of Their Growth,  Have Started On A New

Career. And For None Of These Does The Outlook Seem Brighter Than In The

Case Of The City Of Pueblo,  The Old Outpost Whose Early History We Have

Attempted To Sketch. Its Growth Has All Along Been A Gradual One,  And

Its Improvements Have Kept Pace With This Healthy Advance. Its Public

Schools,  Like Those Of All Far Western Towns Which The Writer Has

Visited Are Model Institutions And An Honor To The Commonwealth. A

Handsome Brick Court-House,  Situated On High Ground,  Is An Ornament To

The City,  And Differs Widely From That In Which Judge Bradford Held

Court Eighteen Years Ago--The First Held In The Territory,  And That,

Too,  Under Military Protection. Pueblo'S Wealth Is Largely Derived From

The Stock-Raising Business,  The Surrounding Country Being Well Adapted

To Cattle And Sheep. The _Rancheros_ Ride The Plains The Year Round,  And

The Cattle Flourish Upon The Food Which Nature Provides--In The Summer

The Fresh Grass,  And In The Winter The Same Converted Into Hay Which Has

Been Cured Upon The Ground. An Important Railway-Centre Is Pueblo,  And

Iron Highways Radiate From It To The Four Cardinal Points. These

Advantages Of Location Should Procure It A Large Share Of The Flood Of

Prosperity That Is Sweeping Over The State. But Enterprises Are Now In

Progress Which Cannot Fail To Add Materially To Its Importance As A

Factor In The Development Of The Country. On The Highest Lift Of The

Mesa South Of The Town,  And In a Most Commanding Position,  It Has Been

Decided To Locate A Blast-Furnace Which Shall Have No Neighbor Within A

Radius Of Five Hundred Miles. With Iron Ore Of Finest Quality Easily

Accessible In The Neighboring Mountains,  And Coal-Fields Of Unlimited

Extent Likewise Within Easy Reach,  The Production Of Iron In The Rocky

Mountains Has Only Waited For The Growth Of A Demand. This The

Advancement And Prosperity Of The State Have Now Well Assured. Many

Kindred Industries Will Spring Up Around The Furnace,  The Bessemer

Steel-Works And The Rail-Mills That Are Now Projected; And A Few Years

Will Suffice To Transform The Level Mesa,  Upon Which For Untold

Centuries The Cactus And The Yucca-Lily Have Bloomed Undisturbed,  Into A

Thriving Manufacturing City Whose Pulse Shall Be The Throb Of Steam

Through Iron Arms. The Onlooking Mountains,  That Have Seen Strange

Sights About This Old Outpost,  Are To See A Still Stranger--The

Ushering-In Of A New Civilization Which Now Begins Its March Into The

Land Of The Aztecs.

Perhaps These Thoughts Were Occupying Our Minds As We Climbed The

Bluffs For A Visit To This Incipient Pittsburg. The Equipage Did No

Credit To The Financial Status Of The Iron Company,  As It Consisted Of

A Superannuated Express-Wagon Drawn By A Dyspeptic White Horse Which

The Boy Who Officiated As Driver Found No Difficulty In Restraining.

Two Gentlemen In charge Of The Constructions,  Their Visitor And Two

Kegs Of Nails Comprised This Precious Load. The Day Was Cloudless And

Fine,  Albeit A Colorado "Zephyr" Was Blowing,  And The Party,  With

Perhaps The Single Exception Of The Horse,  Felt In Fine Spirits. The

Jolly Superintendent,  Who Both In Face And Mien Reminded One Of The

Typical German Nobleman,  Was Overflowing With Story,  Joke And Witty

Repartee. The Site Of The Works Was Reached In The Course Of Time.

Excavations Were In Progress For The Blast-Furnace And Accessory

Buildings,  And Developed A Strange Formation. The Entire Mesa Seems

Built Up Of Boulders Packed Together With A Sort Of Alkali Clay,  Dry

And Hard As Stone,  And Looking,  As Our _Distingue_ Guide Remarked,  As

Though Not A Drop Of Water Had Penetrated Five Feet From The Surface

Since The Time Of The Flood. Two Blast-Furnaces,  Each With A Capacity

Of Five Hundred Tons,  Will Be Speedily Built,  To Be Followed By

Rail-Mills,  A Bessemer Steel-Plant And All The Accessories Of Vast

Iron-And Steel-Works. With The Patronage Of Several Thousand Miles Of

Railway Already Assured,  And Its Duplication In The Near Future

Apparently Beyond Doubt,  The Success Of This Daring Frontier Enterprise

Seems Far Removed From The Domain Of Conjecture.

[Illustration: Old Si Smith.]

All This Was Glowingly Set Forth By The Courtly Superintendent,  Who,

Though But Three Months In The Country,  Is Already At Heart A Coloradan

That There Are Some Things About Frontier Life Which He Likes Better

Than Others He Is Free To Admit. Among The Few Matters He Would Have

Otherwise He Gives The First Place To The Tough "Range" Or "Snow-Fed"

Beef Upon Which The Dwellers In This Favored Land Must Needs Subsist. "I

Heard A Story Once," Said He,  "About A Young Man,  A Tenderfoot,  Who,

After Long Wondering What Made The Beef So Fearfully Tough,  At Length

Arrived At The Solution,  As He Thought,  And That Quite By Accident. He

Was Riding Out With A Friend,  An Old Resident,  When They Chanced To Come

Upon A Bunch Of Cattle. The Young Man'S Attention Seemed To Be

Attracted,  And As The Idea Began To Dawn Upon Him He Faced His

Companion,  And,  Pointing To An Animal Which Bore The Brand "B.C. 45,"

Savagely Exclaimed,  'Look There! How Can You Expect Those Antediluvians

To Be Anything But Tough? Why Don'T You Kill Your Cattle Before They Get

Two Or Three Times As Old As Methuselah?'"

We Took A Long Ride That Afternoon Under A Peerless Sky,  With Blue

Mountain-Ranges On One Hand,  Whose Ridges,  Covered With Snow,  Seemed

Like Folds Of Satin,  And On The Other The Great Billowy Plains,  Bare And

Brown And Smooth As A Carpet. The White Horse,  Relieved Of The Kegs Of

Nails,  Really Performed Prodigies Of Travel,  All The More Appreciated

Because Unexpected. A Stone-Quarry For Which We Were Searching Was Not

Found,  But A Teamster Was,  Who,  While Everything Solemnly Stood Still

And Waited,  And Amid The Agonies Of An Indescribable Stutter,  Finally

Managed To Enlighten Us Somewhat As To Its Whereabouts. These Adventures

Served To Put Us In excellent Humor,  So That When The Road Was Found

Barricaded By A Barbed Wire Fence,  It Only Served To Give One Of The

Party An Opportunity To Air His Views Upon The Subject--To Argue,  In

Fact,  That The Barbed Wire Fence Had Been An Important Factor In

Building Up The Agricultural Greatness Of The West. "For What

Inducements," He Exclaims,  "Does The Top Rail Of Such A Fence Offer To

The Contemplative Farmer? None,  Sir! His Traditional Laziness Has Been

Broken Up,  And Great Material Prosperity Is The Result."

Whatever Causes Have Operated To Produce The Effect,  Certain It Is That

The West Is Eminently Prosperous To-Day. Everywhere Are Seen Growth,

Enterprise And An Aggressiveness That Stops At No Obstacles. Immigration

Is Pouring Into Colorado Alone At The Rate Of Several Thousands Per

Week. The Government Lands Are Being Rapidly Taken Up,  And The Stable

Industries Of Stock-Raising And Farming Correspondingly Extended.

Manufacturing,  Too,  Is Acquiring A Foothold,  And Many Of The Necessaries

Of Life,  Which Now Must Be Obtained In The East,  Will Soon Be Produced

At Home. The Mountains Are Revealing Untold Treasures Of Silver And

Gold,  And The Possibilities Which May Lie Hid In The Yet Unexplored

Regions Act As A Stimulus To Crowds Of Hopeful Prospectors. But While

Colorado Is Receiving Her Full Share Of The Influx,  A Tide Seems To Be

Setting In Toward The Old Empire Of The Aztecs,  And Flowing Through The

Natural Gateway,  Our Old Rocky-Mountain Outpost. It Is Beginning To Be

Found Out That The Legends Of Fabulous Wealth Which Have Come Down To Us

From The Olden Time Have Much Of Truth In Them,  And Mines That Were

Worked Successively By Franciscan Monks,  Pueblo Indians,  Jesuit Priests

And Mexicans,  And Had Suffered Filling Up And Obliteration With Every

Change Of Proprietorship,  Are Now Being Reopened; And That,  Too,  Under A

New Dispensation Which Will Ensure Prosperity To The Enterprise.

Spaniard And Priest Have Long Since Abandoned Their Claim To The Rich

Possessions,  And Their Doubtful Sway,  Ever Upon The Verge Of Revolution

And Offering No Incentive To Enterprise,  Has Given Place To One Of A

Different Character. Under The Protection Of Beneficent And Fostering

Laws This Oldest Portion Of Our Union May Now Be Expected To Reveal Its

Wealth Of Resources To Energy And Intelligent Labor. And It May

Confidently Be Predicted That American Enterprise Will Not Halt Till It

Has Built Up The Waste Places Of Our Land,  And In This Case Literally

Made The Desert To Blossom As The Rose. Thus Gloriously Does Our New

Civilization Reclaim The Errors Of The Past,  Building Upon Ancient Ruins

The Enlightened Institutions Of To-Day,  And Grafting Fresh Vigor Upon

Effete Races And Nationalities. And Now,  At Last,  The Spanish Peaks,

Those Mighty Ancient Sentinels Whose Twin Spires,  Like Eyes,  Have

Watched The Slow Rise And Fall Of Stately But Tottering Dynasties In The

Long Ago,  Are To Look Out Upon A Different Scene--A New Race Come In The

Might Of Its Freedom And With Almost The Glory Of A Conquering Host To

Redeem A Waiting Land From The Outcome Of Centuries Of Avaricious And

Bigoted Misrule,  And Even From The Thraldom Of Decay.

George Rex Buckman.

[Illustration]

Lost.

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