EARLY DAYS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 23 



introduced a bill for an act appropriating $15,000 to the university. 1 

 This measure was defeated on February 6. 2 The defeat is said to have 

 been due to the fact that the Republican members of the legislature 

 had agreed in caucus to vote against any but the most necessary 

 appropriations. 3 It may also have been due to the opposition of the 

 mining districts. 4 



The failure of the appropriation bill and the seeming impossibility 

 of raising the necessary funds in Boulder at that time put an end for 

 another two years to the development of the university. It was seen 

 that without legislative assistance little real progress could be made. 

 As a result, from January 22, 1872, until January 5, 1874, though 

 several meetings were held, the board of trustees transacted no busi- 

 ness. 5 The university site remaining rather bare, the Boulder News 

 proposed on July 4, 1873, that the townspeople should beautify the 

 grounds "as a token of their appreciation of the advantage and honor 

 conferred by the location of the State University at Boulder." 6 So 

 far as is known nothing came of this proposal. 



The board of trustees resumed its activity on January 6, 1874. 

 The business in hand was to prepare for the tenth session of the ter- 

 ritorial legislature, which had then convened. A committee was 

 appointed to prepare a petition to the legislature asking for a $30,000 

 appropriation. Edwin Scudder having died, Ephraim Pound was 

 elected to fill the vacancy and George C. Corning was elected treasurer 

 in his place. 7 The legislative petition was approved of by the board 

 on January 13. 8 J. P. Maxwell and D. H. Nichols had been elected 

 to the territorial House in September, 1873, 9 and upon them devolved 

 the duty of gaining the appropriation from the legislature. They 

 were successful in this undertaking, On February 6, 1874, the 

 governor signed an act appropriating $15,000 to the university, this 



1 Bouse Journal, 9th session, 104. Cf. pp. 92, 108, 172. 



' Ibid., p. 177. 3 Boulder News, September 5, 1873. 



* This is Mr. Maxwell's explanation of the rejection of his bill. 



s Meetings with or without a quorum were held on March 4 and April 1, 1872, July 7, 1873. 



8 Boulder News, July 4, 1873. Cf. ibid., March 7, 1873. 



' Minute Book, pp. 43-44. Cf. Boulder News, January 16, 1874. 



■ Ibid., p. 46. » Boulder News, September ig, 1873. 



