COLORADO. 



127 



laturr. and was favored by the Society for the 

 I'IV-MTV ni ion <>t Forests, t'nder the act of Con- 

 gress authorizing the reservation of sources of 

 water supply, the President made a tiroclama- 

 ii.. i. to that" fleet, Oct. 10, 18U1. The White 

 i IMP plateau is described as an undulating 

 taNe-land, 9,000 to 11,000 feet high, one of the 

 principal sources of water supply for the Grand, 

 White, and Yam pa rivers. Considerable opposi- 

 tion has been developed among the people in the 

 region, on the ground that there are both mineral 

 and agricultural lands within the reservation ; 

 that there are already many settlers and claims lo- 

 cated in it; that the timber lands of the Rio Blanco 

 are all within its boundaries; and that the United 

 States is under contract with the Utes to sell the 

 land at $1.25 an acre and turn the proceeds over 

 to the tribes interested. On the other hand, it 

 is asserted that the land is too high for farming ; 

 that there are no valuable mineral claims within 

 it ; that the rights of settlers, of whom there are 

 but few, are well secured by the terms of the 

 proclamation; that the preservation of the timber 

 lands is necessary for the water supply ; and that 

 without the park all the large game in the State 

 will disappear within twenty years. With regard 

 to the Utes, it appears that the treaty made with 

 them in 1881 stipulated that as fast as the land 

 on this reservation should be sold the amounts 

 realized from it should be placed to their credit 

 to pay for the land to which they were removed, 

 so that if the land is taken for national purposes 

 the present reservation could be turned over to 

 the Utes in payment. 



The proposed park has an area of 1,184,480 

 acres. In winter it is mostly covered with a great 

 depth of snow, but " in summer it is a vast natu- 

 ral garden of luxuriant grass and flowers, groves, 

 parks, crystal lakes and streams, interspersed 

 with odd-shaped peaks and rugged caRons." 



The land comprising Lost Park has also been 

 withdrawn from settlement and entry, with a 

 view to its being ultimately set apart as a na- 

 tional park and timber reservation. Lost Park 

 is in Jefferson and Park Counties, and contains 

 approximately 720,000 acres. 



The Capitol. The new Capitol has been more 

 than three years in building. It has employed 

 560 men, at average wages of $4 for eight hours' 

 labor. The basement, without the storage rooms 

 below, reaches from the outside bottom to the 

 flooring of the first story, a height of 16 feet. 

 The first story is 21 feet, the second 20 feet 4 

 inches, the third 18 feet 4 inches high. Thirty-two 

 steps, covering a width of 97 feet, with beautiful 

 ornaments on both the sides, lead from the bot- 

 tom to the flooring of the first floor. The por- 

 tico has a length of 106 feet and a width of 20 

 feet "> inches. Stones were used which have a 

 length of 17 feet, a width of 3 feet 9 inches, and 

 a height of 2 feet 9 inches. They weigh 30.000 

 pounds. For the building were used 250,000 

 cubic feet of granite, 160,000,000 bricks, and 

 450.000 cubic feet of building stone. 



Western Congress. The third session of the 

 Congress of the Western Counties began at On ray, 

 June 14. The principal subject of discussion 

 was railroad transportation. The rates, it was 

 asserted, are so high as to interfere seriously 

 with the growth of the section. An anti-pool 

 resolution was passed, and also one appropriat- 



ing $500 for the purpose of enforcing the inter- 



state commerce law in Colorado. 



Political. On April 215 a State convention 

 of free-coinage clubs was held at Denver. Dele- 

 gates were appointed to the National Silver Con- 

 vention, to meet at Washington in Ma/. The 

 resolutions below express the aims of toe con- 

 vention : 



Whereat, Silver was demonetized in 1878 by fraud 

 and in the interest of the money power of the coun- 

 try ; and 



Whereas, The circulating medium is not sufficient 

 for the transaction of the ordinary business without the 

 unnecessary payment of gain to the millionaires that 

 have grown up under our system of government ; and 



Whereas, The time has come that, in behalf of the 

 laborers of all classes the farmer, the mechanic, and 

 the miner a firm stand must be taken in behalf of 

 honest money ; and 



Whereas, Silver is the money of the people, and the 

 continued demonetization of it will cause a financial 

 panic more direful iu its results than is found in his- 

 tory ; therefore, be it 



kesolved, That we are in favor of the free and un- 

 limited coinage of silver, first, lost, and all the time, 

 as paramount to all other national issues. 



j&golved, That the time has come when no longer 

 the division of party should be made upon any party 

 political deferences, and that we send greetings to the 

 silver men of the South and all other States and Ter- 

 ritories, asking them to meet us upon this proposition 

 for their and our coming good. 



Resolved, That it is the sentiment of this conven- 

 tion that the Colorado State conventions of all parties 

 should instruct their delegates to the national con- 

 ventions held for the purpose of nominating candi- 

 dates for President and V ice-President to withdraw 

 from said convention if they do not succeed in getting 

 free-coinage planks in their party platforms, with 

 nominees who are unquestionably iu favor of the full 

 remonetization of silver. 



On Nov. 8 a Governor and other State offi- 

 cers and two Representatives in Congress were 

 elected, as well as a successor to Chief-Justice 

 Helm, of the Supreme Court, who resigned in 

 September to become a candidate for the office 

 of Governor. At that time also the following 

 proposed amendments to the Constitution of the 

 State were submitted to the electors : 



Section 3 of Article X of the Constitution of the 

 State of Colorado shall be amended so as to read as 

 follows : Section 3. All taxes shall be uniform upon 

 the same class of subjects within the territorial limits 

 of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied 

 and collected under general laws, which shall pre- 

 scribe such regulations as shall secure a just valuation 

 for the taxation of all property, real and personal : 

 Provided, that the household goods of every person 

 being the head of a family, to the value of f '200. shall 

 be exempt from taxation. Ditches, canals, and flumes 

 owned and used by individuals or corporations for irri- 

 gating lands owned by such individuals or corpora- 

 tions, or the individual members thereof, shall not be 

 separately taxed so long as they shall be owned and 

 U.M-.I exclusively for such purpose ; and Prodded, fur- 

 ther, that the provisions or this section shall not iitlW-t 

 such special assessments for benefits and niun'u-ij.al 

 imprnvements as the coiporate authorities of cities, 

 towns, or improvement districts may assess and col- 

 lect under provisions to be prescribed by law. 



SEC. 2. Section 11 of said article shall be amended 

 BO as to read as follows : Section 11. The rate of taxa- 

 tion on property for State purposes shall not exceed 4 

 mills on each dollar of valuation. 



The Prohibition party met in May and nomi- 

 nated an entire State ticket. There was some 

 discussion on a proposition to place the words 



