218 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 
It has been shown in the discussion of nativity in the preceding pages 
that in the main the early population of the state was composed of the 
children of a restless class of pioneers who, inheriting the spirit of their 
fathers, left their homes in the older states and sought their fortunes in 
the then frontier states of the West. Vigorous, aggressive and discon- 
tented with the steady habits and small returns of industry in their native 
states, they felt themselves impelled to move on and subdue the region 
of the Ohio Valley. This they did, rearing meanwhile a generation in- 
heriting their own restless natures and like themselves imbued with an 
aggressive and adventurous spirit seeking a larger field of activity. 
These early came in great numbers to Colorado. Later on came similar 
children of the pioneers who had settled Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. 
Thus it comes that the most active element of the population of Colorado 
has always been represented by the children or the pioneers of the states 
of the Middle West. When the children of the pioneers of Colorado 
reached maturity, there was no longer the opportunity to move west with 
the prospect of fortune within a short period. A large proportion of the 
children of these pioneers has therefore remained in the state, and, inherit- 
ing the spirit of three or four generations of aggressive and adventurous 
settlers, is apt to prefer mining and speculative enterprises to manu- 
facturing industry with its steadier and smaller returns. 
The environment of those persons that have grown to maturity in 
Colorado has also been such as to keep alive the love of activity and 
achievement inherited from their pioneer forebears and has tended in 
some degree to unfit them for manufacturing industry. 
From the rise and fall of prosperity in the mining industry shown by 
the above table of persons engaged therein, some idea of the effect on 
the development of that attitude of mind in the population which fits it to 
undertake and continue routine industry may be gained. Variations in 
one industry which at various times seem to hold up before the persons 
engaged in other industries whose return is more steady, the possibility 
of sudden wealth, tend to retard the healthful growth of those funda- 
mental activities which are necessary to supply the everyday needs of a 
population. A people constantly tempted by rich mining strikes to 
leave their farms, counters, and workshops and seek their fortunes in 
