COLORADO. 



119 



of them are exhausted, and only one or two 

 show signs of a failing supply. Large deposits 

 of excellent iron-ore are being worked at Sa- 

 lida, in Chaffee County ; and in the San Luis 

 Valley, in Las Animas, Boulder, Jefferson, El 

 Paso, and Arapahoe Counties, there are im- 

 measurable stores of the metal awaiting future 

 demand. Even in the Leadville silver-mines, 

 iron-ore is yielded, as an incidental product, in 

 sufficient quantities to supply a large part of 

 the demand of the Pueblo Iron and Steel Works. 

 Of oil-wells the State has at present but three 

 one, nine miles south of Canon City, 1,448 

 feet deep ; one, six miles north of the same 

 city, now only eighty-five feet deep ; and one 

 other, in the same vicinity, which was bored 

 to the depth of 1,200 feet, and then abandoned, 

 though not until oil was obtained in small quan- 

 tities. It is the opinion of experts that great 

 oil discoveries are yet in store for Colorado. 



The State is growing rapidly in agricultural 

 importance. The soil is naturally of high fer- 

 tility, and, through the cheap and effective 

 method of irrigation by which the farmer is 

 able to make a stream of water follow the plow 

 almost at will, the risk of damage from long 

 droughts is reduced to a minimum. The wheat- 

 lands are made to yield twenty-five bushels to 

 the acre, and the luxuriantly growing native 

 grasses furnish an abundance of excellent hay 

 and forage. The extremely cold weather of 

 the winter of 1880-'81 caused an unprece- 

 dented mortality among the herds of cattle on 

 the plains. Herdsmen estimate the loss at 

 nearly thirty-three per cent of the total stock 

 in the State. The tax-list of 1880 showed a 

 total of 541,563 head of cattle in the State, 

 but, as it is well known that about one third 

 of the herds escape the assessor, the actual 

 number was probably quite 850,000. The 

 number at the close of the year 1881 was es- 

 timated at not over 600,000, with a valuation 

 of $16,000,000. The early spring and fine 

 summer enabled the stock-raisers to make up 

 for their winter losses in the year's sales, which 

 surpassed those of any previous year, the price 

 being from eight to twelve dollars higher per 

 head than in 1880. Sheep also suffered se- 

 verely in the storms of March and April, from 

 forty to seventy-five per cent of the flocks 

 perishing, according to location and the degree 

 of exposure. The estimated number of sheep 

 in the State is now 1,000,000, and their value 

 is $3,000,000. 



It was believed that 100,000 buffalo skins 

 would come from the Yellowstone region in 

 1881. This is without precedent in the fur 

 trade. The last season 30,000 were received 

 from the same region. The winter of 1880-'81 

 having been very severe and long, immense 

 herds of bison concentrated in the few valleys 

 where they could find subsistence. Their de- 

 struction continued during several months. 



The population of the State, by counties, 

 with the native and foreign distinguished, as 

 returned by the census of 1880, is as follows: 



The population of the principal cities in 1880 

 is here given : 



Trinidad 2,226 



Buena Vista 1,975 



Pitkin 1,893 



Canon City 1,848 



Breckenridge 1,628 



South Pueblo 1,443 



Greeley 1,808 



Ouray 1,004 



Denver 85,718 



Leadville 15,185 



Silver Cliff 4,674 



Colorado Springs 4,279 



Pueblo 8,317 



Georgetown 8,210 



Boulder City 8,176 



Golden 2,731 



Central City 2,626 



The records of the Auditor of State show 

 the assessed valuation of Colorado for the year 

 1881 to be $96,059,985.48. The valuation of 

 1878 was $43,072,648.26 ; for 1879, $59,590,- 

 761.30; for. 1880, $73,050,761.89, showing a 

 steady annual increase of about thirty per cent. 

 The number of acres of assessable land in the 

 State is 2,155,340, which, with improvements, 

 is valued at $15,168,790. The State Board of 

 Equalization, in April, increased the assess- 

 ment-rate on the main lines of railroads run- 

 ning through the State by $500 per mile. 

 This makes the rate $6,500 per mile on broad- 

 gauge and $5,000 per mile on narrow-gauge 

 roads. With 1,584 miles of railroad in the 

 State, this gives a valuation of $11,638,055. 

 The other items of the tax-list are as follows : 

 Merchandise, $6,674,322; capital and manu- 

 factories, $865,626 ; town and city lots, $32,- 

 910,993 ; horses, numbering 70,133, $2,732,568 ; 

 mules, $458,128; asses, $6,558; cattle, num- 

 bering 411,970, $4,611,359; sheep, numbering 

 634,542, which is far below the real number, 

 $1,000,041; swine, $19,102 ; goats, $5,277; all 

 other animals, $30,247; musical instruments, 

 $239,230; watches and clocks, $250,513; jew- 

 elry, gold and silver plate, $106,866 ; money 

 and credits, $3,473,847 ; carriages and vehicles, 

 $767,753; household property, $607,138; all 

 other property, $13,354,120; bank and other 



