Denver

Denver, the capital of Colorado, is situated on the South Platte River, 922 miles W. of St. Louis. It lies on a level plain, 5196 feet above the sea, beyond which rise the snow-capped peaks and deep blue shoulders of the Rocky Mountains. Denver was founded on a barren waste, dry and treeless, in 1858, and the close of the civil war saw it a rising frontier town; in 1870 the population was 4759; in 1880, 35,629; in 1890 it had increased to 106,713. In thirty years the mining-camp had been transformed into the 'Queen City of the Plains,' with stately buildings of brick and yellow stone, and wide, shaded streets, provided with the electric light, and with horse, cable, and electric tram-cars; and it has become the meeting-point of a great network of railways, with four direct routes to the east. It has an abundant water-supply, with 50 miles of distributing mains; many of the houses are heated by steam, supplied by a company owning 5 miles of mains; and through the resident portion streams of water course past the unpaved foot-ways. The clear invigorating air and dry climate of Denver are famous; the mean annual temperature is 48° F., and the rainfall 17 inches. Among the chief buildings are the city-hall, a handsome court-house and post-office, high school (1887), Episcopal cathedral, and the state capitol (commenced in 1886), 383 feet long by 313 wide; the town has also more than sixty churches, a university, and a number of public schools. Denver is the centre of a great agricultural and mining district, and has a large trade in cattle, hides, wool, and tallow. The value of its manufactures in 1890—cottons and woollens, flour, machinery, carriages, &c.—was stated at 30,500,000 (as against 20,000,000 in 1886). It is chiefly, however, to its position as the centre of a great mining region that Denver owes its marvellous progress; the discovery, in 1878, of the fabulous wealth of the Leadville Hills attracted capital and emigration from all parts of the continent. It has a United States assaying mint, and is an important ore market; the daily receipts of ore in some years amounts to near 600 tons, and the product of its great smelting-works is valued at about $25,000,000, while much of the machinery used throughout the state is manufactured here. With the suburbs, the population of the place is now reckoned at 150,000. See also the article COLORADO.