Territorial period to make any great changes in these codes. Various
acts, decisions, and practices made and established by the emergency courts
and other organizations in the years of no law were recognized and ratified,
and provisions also were made for the determination of unsettled affairs
that had arisen during that period by the Territorial courts. A joint
resolution declaring the fealty of the Territory to the National Government
was adopted, and approved on October 3d ; by another, the acts of Governor
Gilpin, including his extraordinary proceedings in connection with his mili-
tary preparations, prior to the meeting of the Assembly, were confirmed, so
far as that body had power to validate them ; the Territory was divided into
seventeen counties and three judicial districts, and provisions were made for
the due organization of tlie former. Memorials to Congress asking for tlie
establishment of a branch mint in Denver City, for the betterment of mail
facilities in certain parts of the Territory, and for the increase of the
compensation to members of the Assembly from the three dollars per diem
allowed by the organic act to six dollars, were adopted and sent forward.
But, as may be remarked here, this desired raise of the legislators' pay was
not accorded until 1867.

The first Assembly also provided by law for increasing its membership
to thirteen Councilmen and twenty-six Eepresentatives, which constitiited
the full number permitted by the organic act. The law provided for the
election of the additional members to take place on December 2d, of that
year ; that another session of the Assembly should begin on the first Monday
in June, 1862 ; and that subsequent sessions of the lawmaking body should
begin on the first Monday in February in each year — a programme which
was changed by the Third Assembly. Hanng concluded its deliberations,
the First Assembly adjourned on November Tth.

The act by which the Assembly divided the Territory into seventeen
counties, and which was approved by tlie Governor on November 1, 1861,
also located their county seats temporarily, and which were to serve until the
preference of their people should be expressed otherwise. The names of the
counties and of their provisional county seate follow here.

Arapahoe County, its county seat to be at Denver City.

Boulder County, its county seat to be at Boulder City.



366 HISTOEY OF COLOEz\DO

Clear Creek County, its coimtv seat to be at Idaho.

Costilla County, its county seat to be at San Miguel.

Douglas County, its county seat to be at FrankstowTi.

El Paso County, its county seat to te at Colorado City.

Fremont County, its county seat to be at Caiion City.

Gilpin County, its county seat to be at Central City.

Guadaloupe County, its county seat to be at Guadaloupe. By an act
approved six days later (on November 7th), the name of this county was
changed to '"Conejos".

Huerfano County, its county seat to be at Autubee (Autobeas' ranch,
at the mouth of the Huerfano River, and upon which there was a small settle-
ment of Mexicans).

Jefferson County, its county seat to be at Golden City.

Lake County, its county seat to be at Oro City.

Larimer County, its county seat to be at La Porte.

Park County, its county seat to be at Tarryall City.

Pueblo County, its countv' seat to Ije at Pueblo City.

Summit County, its co\;nty seat to be at Parkville.

Weld County, its county seat to be at St. Vrain (which consisted of a
few cabins at the site of Fort St. Vrain).

Only six of the provisional seats of county government — Denver, Boul-
der, Canon City, Central City, Golden, and Pueblo — ^have continued to be
county seats to the present time.

As the reader may observe, personal names were given to several of the
counties. "Douglas" was in memory of Senator Stephen A. Douglas, of
Illinois ; "Fremont" honored the "Pathfinder" ; "Gilpin" was, of course, a
compliment to the Governor; "Jefferson"' commemorated Thomas Jefferson;
"Larimer" was for General William Larimer, whom the reader of this
volume knows as a leading pioneer of Denver City; and "Weld" was a
recognition of the worth of the Tei-ritory's first Secretary.

Eight of the counties were of great dimensions, and a large area in
the southeastern quarter of the Territory, between Douglas County and the
Arkansas River, which had by treaty been defined and set apart as a reserva-
tion for the Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indians, was not included in the county
divisions. The entire western slope together with the North Park, the
mountain valley of the Arkansas above the site of the present town of Buena
"Vista, the Rio Grande Valley above the north line of New Mexico, and all
that part of the drainage basin of the San Juan River that lies within
Colorado, were embraced by Summit, Lake, Costilla, and Conejos counties.
These nominally included the whole of the ranges of the Ute Indians, for
whom specific reservations were provided in that part of the Territory in
later years. Weld County, in the northeastern quarter of the Territon-, was
considerably larger than the State of Vennont; Arapahoe, long and narrow,
extending from the eastern boundary of the Tenitory to the 105th meridian,
which marks the eastern line of the present Jefferson County, was a match
for the State of Connecticut as to size, and which it retained until a few
years ago; Douglas, also long in proportion to its width, stretching from
the Territory's eastern boundary to the western limits of the present county
of that name, contained about as many square miles as are in Connecticut
and Rhode Island combined; and Huerfano, lying south of the Arkansas
River and of Pueblo County, and extending to the southern boundary of the



HISTOEY OF COLORADO 367

Territon-, was even larger than Weld, as it spread from the eastern boundary
to a north-and-south line lying several miles west of the 105th meridian.

The act dividing the Territory into three judicial districts, which super-
seded the temporary divisions that Governor Gilpin had made in July, was
approved on November 8, 1861. The counties of Arapahoe, Boulder, Doug-
las* EI Paso, Larimer, and Weld constituted the First District, to which
Chief Justice Hall was assigned. The Second District consisted of the
counties of Clear Creek, Gilpin, Jefferson, Park, and Summit, and to which
Judge Armour was assigned. The Third, assigned to Judge Pettis, included
the counties of Conejos, Costilla, Fremont, Huerfano, Lake, and Pueblo.
The districts practically were the same territorially as those which had been
defined by the Governor.

The official machinery of a majority of the counties was organized dur-
ing the winter of 1861-62, and by the coming of the following spring was in
operation in these in varying degree of eflBciency.

Another of the more important enactments of the Territory's First As-
sembly was a measure, approved Xovemlier 7th, incorporating Auraria,
Denver, and Highland as the City of Denver, otherwise "Denver City". The
act was substantially the same as the "law" by which the "First Assembly"
of "Jefferson Territory'" had consolidated and "chartered'" the towns under
the same name, and which was "ratified" by their citizens in the fore part of
April, 1860. The act of incorporation by the Colorado Assembly gave Den-
ver City its first lawfully-constituted municipal government, but it did not,
because the Assembly could not, change the status of titles to real estate.
The cure for the crippled condition of the latter was provided by Congress
in May, 1864. Like remedies for similarly impaired titles elsewhere in the
Territory came from the same authority in subsequent years.

Governor Gilpin had appointed Denver City as the meeting-place of the
First Assembly, as he was authorized to do by the organic act. But that
law had clothed the legislators and the Governor with power thereafter to
establish the capital of the Territory wherever within its limits that they
might deem best for the public welfare. By an act approved on Xovember
5th, the First Assembly designated Colorado City as the capital ; and by the
law providing for the increase of the Assembly's membership to the full
number pennitted by the organic act, also provided, as I have said, that the
Second Assembly should meet on the first Monday in June, 1862. But
before the intervening months had passed, it was discovered that a blunder
had been made in apjjointing the first ilonday in Jime as the day on which
the Second Assembly should meet, as it fell witliin the Federal fiscal year
ending June 30, 1862, the appropriations for which, as we have seen in a
preceding chapter, included certain sums for certain purposes to aid in sup-
port of the Colorado Government. The Federal appropriation for the Terri-
tory's legislative division of its government, the sum of which was but
$20,000, was not only insufficient to the expense of two Assemblies, but
Congress did not intend that there should be two within one fiscal j'ear.

Therefore the meeting of the Second Assembly was postponed until
July 7th, by which time the Federal appropriations in behalf of the Territory
for the new fiscal year would be available. The additional members, who
had been elected in the preceding December, were Councilmen N. J. Bond,
H. E. Hunt, William A. H. Loveland, and J. B. Woodson, together with
Henry Altman, successor to S. M. Bobbins, resigned; and Eepresentatives



368 HISTORY OF COLORADO

M. S. Beach, John Fosher. Jose Francisco Gallejos, J. AY. Hamilton, C. G.
Hanscome, M. B. Hayes, R. R. Harbour, Joseph Kenyon, Jose Raphael
Martinez, D. C. Oakes, D. Powell, William M. Slaughter, and Wilbur F.
Stone. The enlarged Assembly met at Colorado City on July 7th ; Init, as
we shall see presently, did not long remain there. The meeting practically
was an adjourned session of the First Assembly, and was generally so con-
sidered by the members of the latter, and which it evidently was intended
to be by the act that had provided for the increase of membership. But as
it was held in Colorado's second fiscal year with respect to Federal appro-
priations, and also for other reasons, it ranks historically as that of the
Second Assembly. The constructive work of this Assembly, as well as that
of Colorado's later law-making bodies, is reviewed in another chapter of this
volume, and which deals generally with the subject of legislation by our
Territorial Assemblies and State Legislatures.

During the first seven years of the Territorial period, Colorado's As-
semblies were migratory in their habits, and the Ten'itory's capital was
a shifting proposition. As the reader has seen in the full text of the Terri-
tory^"s organic act, which is apj^ended to Chapter XV., it directed that the
first session of the Assembly should be held at such time and place as the
Governor should appoint; and further provided that "at said first session, or
as soon thereafter as they shall deem expedient, the governor and legislative
assembly shall proceed to locate and establish the seat of government for
said Territory at such place as they may deem eligible; which place, however,
shall thereafter be subject to be changed by the said governor and legislative
assembly". There were three ravenous municipal aspirants for the honor
and advantage of becoming the permanent seat of the Territorial Govern-
ment — Denver City, Golden City, and Colorado City ; and after each of these
had been more or less duly tried, Denver finally kept the prize.

As mentioned in a former chapter, the Territory's First Assembly met
in Denver City on September 9, 1861, pursuant to a proclamation by Gov-
ernor Gilpin; and, as we have seen, continued its sessions there until its
adjournment on November 7th, but had made Colorado City the capital two
days before quitting its deliberations. As it was generally expected that the
Territory would become a State within a few years, unless the Civil War
should upset everything, the choice of Colorado City ostensibly was for the
reason that that town was very near the center of the Territoi"y and there-
fore would be more convenient in the meantime for the great body of the
people, and doubtless would prove to be the better place for the seat of
government under Statehood. But the more potent reason for preferring
Colorado City sprang from the jealousy of Denver City's growth and vault-
ing pretensions among the "country members", a term which, in Denver
parlance, applied to all who did not reside in that strenuous community.
Many of the country members alleged that the citizens of the metropolis at
the mouth of Cherry Creek were "trying to monopolize everything", and
because of this grasping disposition were in favor of "taking them down a
peg or two", while most of the members from the southern parts of the
Ten-itory were averse to Denver City "on general principles".

However, Colorado City proved disappointing. Its facilities for enter-
taining such a company of sojourners as the lawmakers constituted fell far
short of the requirements, and the town afforded no building adequate to
the needs of the Assembly. A log-cabin of moderate size had been provided




GOVERNOR JAMES B. GRANT



HISTORY OF COLORADO 369

for the purposes of a capitol, and of which some use was made by commit-
tees. But the meetings of the two houses, during the Assembly's brief stay
at Colorado City, were held in the town's hotel, which was of a very primi-
tive type. On the fifth day of the session, July 11th, in a Joint resokition,
which was approved on the 15th, they resolved

"That when this Legislative Assembly adjourns this afternoon, it stand ad-
journed to meet at Denver City, on Wednesday, the 16th day of July, 1862, at 10
o'clock a. m.

But the change was not accomplished without tlie use of a little strateg}',
as Judge Wilbur F. Stone, who was a meml>er of the House, has related in
the following:

"The southern men were opposed to adjourning to Denver, and they went away
and hid in the woods, and the Sergeant-at-Arms couldn't find them. Finally we
sent men out with flags of truce to bring them in, and getting them together in
Mother Maggart's hotel, under pretense of compromising the matter, locked the
doors on them, finished the vote, and got the adjournment to Denver."

The Assembly met at Denver on the 16th, in accordance witli the resolu-
tion, but the adjournment thither did not result in fiising the seat of
government at that city, as a majority of the members still were determined
to defeat the ambition of that metropolis to become the permanent capital
of the Territory. So, by an act that was approved on August 4th, the
governmental headquarters were located at Golden - City;." whicbj late in 1860
had had a population of one thousand, and was the, .ijidsf aggressive rival
with which the Cherry Creek municipality had to deal:" Bt>^ (the-,, Assembly
remained at Denver until it adjourned si7ie die, on August 15th.

An act of the First Assembly had designated the first Tuesday in Sep-
tember as the day on which future general elections — for members of the
Assembly, Delegate in Congress, and county officers — should be held. But
as the Federal appropriation for the Territorj-'s legislative division of
government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1863, would be exhausted
by the e.xpenses of the Second Assembly, that body, by a joint resolution,
provided that no election be held for members of tlie Assembly until the
first Tuesday in September, 1863. In consequence of tliis arrangement,
there was a legislative hiatus of seventeen months between the adjournment
of that Assembly and the advent of its successor.

The Third Assembly convened at Golden City on the first Monday in
February (as had been provided by the First), 1864, and which was the first
day of that month. For reasons similar to those that had caused the Second
to leave Colorado City, this body of lawmakers, on February 4th, adjourned
to Denver for the remainder of the session, but without having formally
transferred the capital to the Cherry Creek city. Among the acts of this
Assembly was one which changed the beginning of legislative sessions from
the first Monday in February to that of January. The Fourth Assembly met
at Golden City on January 2, 1865, and there held forth imtil the close of
its career. The members of the Fifth gathered at Golden on Januarj- 1,
1866, but on the next day adopted a motion to remove to Denver, where all
its other business was transacted. But, as in the case of the Third, the
desertion of Golden by the Fifth did not include a formal transfer of the
capitol to Denver. The Fifth having changed the meeting-day from the
first Monday in January to that of December, the Sixth Assemblj-, which was

Vol. 1—24



STO HISTOEY OF COLOEADO

loyal to Golden and made no migration, began its session there on December
3, 1866. The Seventh convened at C4olden City on December 3, 1867 ; but,
pursuant to an act approved on December 9th, fixing the seat of government
at Denver City, and which was of immediate effect, this Assembly adjourned
on that date to reconvene at Denver, where it remained until it reached tlie
limit of its existence.

Since that time Denver has been the capital of Colorado without inter-
mission. The Eighth Territorial Assembly met there on January 3, 1870 —
the meeting-day having again been changed; the Ninth, on January 1. 1872 ;
the Tenth, on January 5, 1874; the Eleventh, last of the Territorial series,
convened there on January 3, 1876. Although the capital had teen a shift-
ing entity \mtil December, 1867, much the greater part of the executive
business in the meantime was transacted in Denver.

During the entire Territorial i>eriod, Colorado had no capitol. The
Legislative Assemblies, as well as the judicial and executive officers, occu-
pied rented quarters, here and there, and usually the two branches of the
lawmaking body were not housed under the same roof. Like conditions at-
tended the State administrations until the majestic structure that now
stands upon Denver's Capitol Hill became ready for use, about fifteen years
ago.

In the fifteen years during which Colorado was under the Territorial
form of government it had eight executive administrations, two of which
were under Governor Edward M. ]\IcCook, with an interval of fifteen months
between them, but which together covered only three and one-half years. In
the frequent changes of the executive, the unsatisfactor)' character of that
system of government and the state of political affairs in the Territory are
reflected. William Gilpin, the first Governor, appointed in March, 1861,
and who, as I have already related, assumed the discharge of his duties at
the beginning of the following summer, was, for reasons that are stated in
the next chapter, but which were not directly connected with political mat-
ters, removed by President Lincoln in the spring of 1862. Gilpin was suc-
ceeded, on April 19th, of that year, by Dr. John Evans, of Illinois, whose
home had been in Evanston, now a suburb of the city of Chicago, and for
whom the suliurban town had been named. Evans served until October 17,
1865, when his resignation, which he had tendered in anticipation of occupy-
ing a higher political position — a seat in the United States Senate — became
effective. To take the place of Governor Evans, President -Johnson had sent
Alexander Cummings, of Pennsylvania, whose earlier distinction was that
of having founded, in June, 1860, the newspaper known as the New York
Worldj which later was made by other hands a notorious publication. Hav-
ing sent his resignation to Washington late in April, 1867, much to the
gratification of the overwhelming majority of the Territory's citizens, Cum-
mings was succeeded on May 27th by A. C. Hunt, a pioneer of Colorado,
and who also was, as we have seen above, the first Governor of the Territory
who had resided in it before his appointment. Hunt was summarily re-
moved by President Grant to provide a place for General Edward M. Mc-
Cook, of Washington City, a former army comrade of the President, and
who took the office on June 15th, 1869. McCook remained Governor until
April 17, 1873, when his removal by the President took effect. His successor
■was Samuel H. Elbert, who had come to Colorado from eastern Nebraska in
1862, in consequence of his appointment by President Lincoln to the Secre-



HISTOEY OF COLORADO 371

taryship of the Territorj'. Elbert filled the position most capably for a
little more than one year, when he, having in turn been removed by Presi-
dent Grant, yielded the office, on July 24, 1874, to McCook, whom the
President had appointed to another term of mismanagement of Colorado's
affairs. But the pressure of public opinion caused President Grant to ter-
minate McCook's second tenure of office in Colorado within a year. John L.
Eoutt, of Illinois, was appointed to succeed him, and who took the helm on
March 31st, 1875. Governor Eoutt served as chief executive of the Terri-
tory until Colorado's admission into the Union, in 18T6. and was chosen to
be the first Governor of the State.

Under our Territorial plan of government the Secretary of a Territon'
is a more important executive officer than the Secretary of State in a State
government, inasmuch as he has charge of the public accounts, and also be-
comes Acting Governor should the Governor be incapacitated from discharg-
ing his duties or have occasion temporarily to be absent from the Territory.
During the fifteen years of Territorial apprenticeship, Colorado had a greater
numljer of Governors than of Secretai-ies, that of the latter being limited to
five; but the terms of one. General Frank Hall, covered more than half the
period. The term of the first Secretary, Lewis L. Weld, who was appointed
late in March, 1861, ended on April 19, 1862, coincident with the removal of
Governor Gilpin ; but the time of his actual service was less than that of ten
months. Weld, who was naturally a competent and rather a brilliant man,
but of somewhat unsteady habits, was followed by Samuel H. Elbert, who
held the office until May 2, 1866, relinquishing it by resignation. As the
reader has seen, he became Governor of the Territory in a later year. Elbert
was succeeded by Frank Hall, who served, by reappointments, seven years
and ten months, retiring on February 12, 1874, with a record of exceptional
excellence. The next Secretary was John W. Jenkins, who retained the posi-
tion until August 16, 1875. During the interval between Governor McCook's
confirmation for his second tenure by the United States Senate and his ar-
rival at Denver, Secretary Jenkins refused to recognize Governor Elbert as
the chief executive and assumed to be the Acting Governor. So, for a short
time, the Territory nominally had two Governors, each having an office in
the business section of Denver. But most of the people declined to accept
the Secretary's jurisdiction, and Governor Elbert held on, as it was his duty
to do. until the coming of McCook. The successor of Jenkins was John
Taffe, who remained Secretary until the transition from Territory to State
was completed, in November, 1876.

In most of the instances in which the Secretary of the Territory acted
as Governor the duties that he had to perform were of a routine nature;
but during the terms of Elbert and Hall, each of these officers sened ably
as Acting Governor at times in which prompt decision and superior executive
ability were required.

Our Territories are represented in the United States Congress — in the
lower branch, only — by Delegates, who are but little more than the Wash-
ington agents of their constituents. They receive the same pay and allow-
ances as Eepresentatives from States, may introduce bills and take part in
debates, but have no vote on legislation. Five men so represented Colorado
successively during the Territorial period, as here stated :

Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861 — March 4, 1863), Hiram P.



372 HISTOKY OF COLORADO

Bennet, elected August 16, 1861, and who took his seat on December 2d, of
that year.

Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4. 1863— March 4. 1865). Hiram P.
Bennet (reelected).

Thirty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1865— March 4, 1867), Allen A.
Bradford.

Fortieth Congress (March 4, 1867— March 4, 1869), George M. Chil-
cott.

Forty-first Congress (March 4, 1869— March 4, 1871). Allen A. Brad-
ford (second term).

Forty-second Congress (March 4. 1871 — March 4, 1873), Jerome B.
Chaffee.

Forty-third Congress (March 4, 1873 — March 4, 1875), Jerome B.
Chaffee (reelected).