CITIES, AMERICAN. (LEADVILLE, LITTLE ROCK.) 



135 



lished by the Jesuit fathers in Spanish, in the 

 interest of the Church), 2 national banks, and 1 

 loan and investment company. Almost all de- 

 nominations are represented by churches, and 

 several have expensive edifices. In addition to 

 the public schools, there are an academy for 

 both sexes, a female seminary of the Methodist 

 Episcopal Church South, a convent for girls, 

 and a Presbyterian mission school. The court 

 house, opera house, and cathedral are of native 

 brown sandstone. The Las Vegas Hot Springs, 

 six miles northwest of the city, are reached by 

 a branch railroad. There is a fine hotel, with 

 bath house and beautiful grounds and drives. 



Leadville, the county seat of Lake County, 

 Col., 114 miles southwest of Denver. It is the 

 center of the most productive mining district 

 in the State, and is in a basin of the Moquito 

 range of the Elk mountains, at an altitude of 

 10,200 feet. The Arkansas river has its source 

 about 12 miles northeast, and flows at the foot 

 of the bench on which the city is built, 3 miles 

 to the west. Gold was discovered in 1860, in 

 California gulch, which forms the southern 

 boundary of the city, and from which it is esti- 

 mated $3,000,000 in placer gold was taken before 

 the diggings were abandoned in 1867. Carbon- 

 ates of silver and lead were found in 1877, and 

 in the eight months prior to March, 1879, $5,000,- 

 000 in both ores were taken out. In 1880 mines 

 were worked by twelve companies, with aggre- 

 gate capital of $72,000,000, employing from 

 10,000 to 15,000 men. The principal locations 

 were on Carbonate, Freyer, Iron, Evans, Long, 

 and Derry hills, 8 mines of Freyer hill alone 

 having 75,000 linear feet of drifts, levels, winzes, 

 and raises, representing about 2,000,000 cubic 

 feet. The total product in 1880 was 67,721,856 

 pounds of bullion, of which 8,979,399 ounces 

 were silver and 1,688 ounces gold ; 12,410 tons of 

 ore were shipped, and the total value was $15,- 

 025,153. The total product of the district from 

 1860 to 1879 is estimated at $10,700,000, and that 

 of the ten years subsequent is $147,834.186, of 

 which 86,230,111 ounces were silver, 228,091 

 ounces gold, and 442,726 tons lead. The direct 

 profit to the Government from the coinage of 

 Leadville's silver in the period named aggre- 

 gates $12,410,673. Of the total production of 

 the State by mines in 1889 ($35,726,938.15> $12,- 

 460,323.18 were from Lake County. The total 

 area of the explored and proved mineral belt of 

 Leadville district is 9 square miles, and there 

 are 96 producing mines, with a daily output of 

 1,250 tons. The average depth is about 400 feet, 

 the range being from 800 to 100; 3,600 horse- 

 power are in use, and 3,500 men are employed. 

 The estimate of ore in sight is $20,000.000. 

 Leadville has 4 smelting and reduction works, 

 of which the output in 1888 was $6,474,225. 

 The amount paid for labor in mines and smelters 

 alone in ten years aggregates $46,800,000. The 

 railroads are the Colorado Midland, the Denver 

 and Rio Grande, and the Union Pacific. The 

 railroad traffic for 1887 required 32,126 cars. 

 The population in 1880 was 14,820; in 1890 it 

 was 11,159, a decrease of 3.661 (24-70 per cent.). 

 The taxable wealth in 1888 was $9.750,000, and 

 the city had 57 manufacturing establishments, 

 with an aggregate capital of $2,683,000, employ- 

 ing 2,801 persons, and an annual product valued 



at $11,875,000. After 1880 the excitement inci- 

 dent to the discovery of mines subsided, though 

 the value of the last remained, and the growth 

 has been substantial. The city has gas and 

 water works, electric lights, telegraph and tele- 

 phone facilities, and has expended $500,000 in 

 school buildings and in maintaining schools. 

 The High School is a fine building. There are 

 9 churches, costing $175,000, and 2 hospitals, 

 costing over $100,000. Two banks, both na- 

 tional, had a capital, surplus, and undivided 

 profits, March 1, 1890, of $417,575, with deposits 

 to the amount of $1,323,079. There are sub- 

 stantial brick business blocks and handsome 

 modern dwelling houses. Leadville is the seat 

 of a United States land office, the receipts from 

 which in ten years were $557,138.45, for property 

 valued at $27,500,000. There are 3 daily and 

 weekly newspapers. 



Little Rock, the capital of the State of Ar- 

 kansas, and county seat of Pulaski County, on 

 Arkansas river, 300 miles from its mouth. It 

 has railroad facilities by the St. Louis, Iron 

 Mountain and Southern, the Little Rock and 

 Memphis, the Little Rock and Fort Smith, the 

 Little Rock, Mississippi River and Texas, and 

 the Little Rock and Memphis roads. Little 

 Rock was settled in 1819, and its first newspaper 

 was published in 1822. In 1824 the Quapaw In- 

 dians ceded their lands in the vicinity. Growth 

 was gradual until 1880, from which time it has 

 been rapid. . The population in 1870 was 12,380 ; 

 in 1880 it was 13,138 ; in 1890 it was 25,133, an 

 increase of 11,995 (or 77'63 per cent,). The total 

 of merchandise sales of Little Rock for the year 



1886 was $13,790.860, and for 1887 $16,532,276. 

 The cotton receipts for the year 1888-'89 were 

 78,000 bales. The city has 2 'large cotton com- 

 presses and immense warehouses, and is a large 

 market for the staple. The river business for 



1887 was $1,938,000, and for 1888, $2,188,850. 

 The approximate tonnage received by boat, of 

 cotton, cotton 1 seed, and miscellaneous freight, 

 from the South, was 5,000 tons, valued at $100,- 

 000, and from the North 10,000 tons, valued at 

 $400,000. The logs rafted by the river to the 

 city for lumber, shingles, staves, etc., were 5,000,- 

 000 feet, and hewed timber for transshipment 

 to European markets, 100,000 cubic feet. The 

 shingles received by river were from 7,000,000 

 to 8,000,000. The total tonnage handled by the 

 city for 1886-'87 was 130,635 tons, valued at 

 $20,338,000. The assessments in 1887 were $5,- 

 000.682 real, and $2,079,053 personal, the debt 

 being $225,000. In 1889 there were 3 national 

 banks, with aggregate capital of $550,000 and 

 surplus and undivided profits of $236,226, and 

 also 2 private banks. The amount of capital 

 invested in industries in Little Rock, June, 

 1889, was $1,550,000. These included car shops 

 of the Missouri Pacific and the Memphis and 

 Little Rock Railroad Companies, 3 cotton-seed- 

 oil mills (with aggregate capital of $600,000), 

 3 furniture, 1 chair, and 3 cooperage factories, 

 3 foundries and machine shops, 2 factories 

 manufacturing cotton machinery, 2 planing 

 mills, and numerous smaller establishments. 

 Ninety per cent, of the stock and capital is 

 owned by residents. Water is supplied from 2 

 large reservoirs, with a capacity of 20,000,000 

 gallons, at an elevation of 230 feet above the 



