180 



COLOKADO. 



ganization to the President of the United States, 

 asking his influence in favor of the early admis- 

 sion of the State into the Union. This the 

 President declined to do, but submitted the 

 whole matter to Congress, as will appear by 

 the following communication : 



I transmit herewith a communication addressed 

 to me by Messrs. John Evans and J. B. Chaffee as 

 United States Senators elect from the State of Colo- 

 rado, together with the accompanying documents. 

 Under the authority of the act of Congress, approved 

 the 21st day of March, 1864, the people of Colorado 

 through a convention formed a constitution making 

 provision for a State Government, which, when sub- 

 mitted to the qualified voters of the Territory, was 

 rejected. In the Summer of 1865, a second conven- 

 tion was called by the Executive Committees of the 

 several political parties in the Territory, which as- 

 sembled at Denver on the 8th day of August. On 

 the 12th of that month, this convention adopted a 

 State Constitution, which was submitted to the people 

 on the 5th of September, 1865, and ratified by a ma- 

 jority of 155 of the qualified voters. The proceed- 

 ings in the second instance having differed in time 

 and mode from those specified in the Act of March, 

 1864, I have declined to issue the proclamation for 

 which provision is made in the fifth section of the 

 law, and therefore submit the question for the con- 

 sultation and further action of Congress. 



(Signed) ANDREW JOHNSON. 



WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 12, 18G6. 



This document was referred to the Senate 

 Committee on Territories, which, on January 

 18th, reported a bill for the admission of Colo- 

 rado into the Union, under the Constitution 

 adopted by her people. 



The population of Colorado, according to the 

 census of 1860, was thirty-four thousand two 

 hundred and seventy-seven, besides from six to 

 eight thousand tribal Indians, principally Arra- 

 pahoes and Utes. During 1860 and 1861 the 

 influx of emigrants, led thither by reports of 

 the abundance and richness of the gold and 

 silver mines among the mountains, was such 

 as to increase the population to upward of sixty 

 thousand. The operations of this class of miu 

 ers being for the most part individual and con- 

 fined to surface working, the superficial deposits 

 of the precious metals were soon exhausted, or 

 at least did not prove sufficiently remunerative 

 to the restless adventurers who worked them. 

 At the same time came reports of discoveries 

 of rich deposits of gold in the new Territories 

 of Montana and Idaho, under the influence of 

 which nearly the whole of the floating popula- 

 tion, which had built up Colorado so rapidly, 

 moved northward to the new diggings. The re- 

 sult has been that the population in 1865 was 

 estimated at several thousand less than in 1860. 

 Other causes have, however, contributed to 

 this result, among which may be mentioned the 

 obstacles to emigration, created by the recent 

 hostilities and depredations of the neighboring 

 Indian tribes, and the high prices of labor and 

 the necessities of life, and also the necessity of 

 a large capital for the profitable working of the 

 mines. 



The mineral wealth of the country is never- 

 theless almost incalculable; and, even under 

 favorable circumstances, it is probable that 



many years will elapse before the veins of gold. 

 silver, copper, iron, and coal, with which the 

 mountain regions abound, can be properly 

 worked. The surface working, or " gulch min- 

 ing," as it is called, has for some time ceased to 

 be profitable, and the chief attention is now given 

 to solid mining, which, for the reasons above 

 enumerated, and also on account of the expen- 

 sive machinery required, and the difficulty of 

 separating a fair percentage of the precious 

 metals from the ore, has for the last two years 

 been prosecuted with comparatively little ac* 

 tivity. Probably not more than twenty-five of 

 the hundred stamp mills in the Territory were 

 in operation during 1865. When expenses re- 

 turn to the currency standard, and travel to 

 Colorado becomes safe, and when the experi- 

 ments now making to give increased produc- 

 tiveness to smelting the ores are completed, the 

 business will undoubtedly become profitable 

 and be actively resumed. Meanwhile the popu- 

 lation now resident in the territory is a perma- 

 nent and industrious one, and forms a' nucleus 

 well adapted for building up a prosperous com- 

 monwealth. The principal centre of the min- 

 ing business at present is situated a little to the 

 north and west of Denver, along and up Clear 

 Creek, and around the towns of Blackhawk, 

 Central City, and Nevada. The second centre, 

 which, however, is now very imperfectly de- 

 veloped, is near what is called the South Park, 

 a beautiful table land of prairie and wood, 

 about fifty miles south of Denver. For actual 

 production of the precious metals, Colorado 

 ranks second only to California. No accurate 

 statistics exist as to the value of the amount 

 produced by her mines, but the most trust- 

 worthy data show that it is not far from twenty- 

 five millions. 



The year 1865 was a disastrous one to the 

 agricultural interests of Colorado. In conse- 

 quence of the difficulty of obtaining food, and 

 particularly grain and vegetables from the East, 

 a larger breadth of land was planted than dur- 

 ing any preceding year. The uplands were 

 found to be even more fertile than the bottom 

 lands, and for the purpose of obviating the ill- 

 effects of the long dry seasons to which the re- 

 gion is liable, preparations were made at great 

 expense to irrigate thousands of acres. The 

 rains proved unusually abundant, and every 

 thing indicated a season of plenty, when the 

 country was visited by immense swarms of 

 grasshoppers, which devoured almost every 

 growing thing. Only a few fields of grain and 

 potatoes escaped their ravages, but not enough 

 of any species of crops was raised to affect the 

 price of imported grain or vegetables. This 

 visitation is, howler, regarded as only an ex- 

 ceptional occurrence, and with proper irriga- 

 tion, which is about to be widely introduced, it 

 is anticipated that the profits of farming will 

 hereafter be large. As a sheep-raising country, 

 the mountain region is known to offer great 

 advantages. 



Two important undertakings were commenced 



