THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



If, then, this State is ''flickering out," it is emphati- 

 cally not due to the fact that it "has nothing to attract 

 people." Resembling Utah and, less closely, Colorado 

 in climate and resources, there are reasons which account 

 for its poverty of population and backwardness of devel- 

 opment in comparison with those growing States. It is, 

 perhaps, worth while briefly to review them. 



The men made rich by the mines of Colorado had the 

 gratitude and patriotism to spend their money where 

 they made it. Tabor gave Denver its first important im- 

 pulse by erecting splendid buildings as monuments to his 

 faith in the city's future. Hagerman planted the Mid- 

 land Railway on the Continental Divide, and invested 

 millions in reclaiming arid lands tributary to Colorado 

 commerce. General Palmer, the railroad pioneer, found- 

 ed Colorado Springs, encouraged improvements in every 

 direction, and built his home in the State which had re- 

 warded his daring enterprise. Such was the spirit of 

 most of the successful Coloradans towards the country 

 which gave them their opportunities. The wealth taken 

 from the mines and railroads of Nevada, on the other 

 hand, contributed nothing to the embellishment of its 

 cities or the conquest of its waste-places. It went to 

 build palaces in San Francisco, New York, and London, 

 and to increase the social gayety of Newport and Paris. 

 It would not be just to infer that the difference in the 

 attitude of the two sets of millionaires was wholly luo 

 to their individual characteristics. Circumstances had 

 much to do with it, notably the fact that in Nevada the 

 mining industry was mostly concentrated in a single 

 great camp, which enhanced its speculative character, 

 and the fact that the superlative attractions of California 



