COUNTY BOUNDARIES OF COLORADO 



203 



The advent of the railway in Colorado left its necessary imprint upon 

 county organization. The Denver Pacific, connecting Denver and Chey- 

 enne, and the Kansas Pacific, otherwise known as the Eastern Division of 

 the Union Pacific, reaching the territorial capital from the east, both came 

 into operation in the summer of 1870. Greenwood and Bent counties 



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Lor k e 



la P/afa 



Wel^ 



A ra p (^ h o & 



Elherf 



Dent 



Cc>r7fyc^j 



Las Ar7/r77<7<5 



Map VI. — 1874 — Ninth and Tenth Assemblies. 



had preceded the Kansas Pacific by some months,' while the activity 

 around the county seat of the former. Kit Carson, caused by the heavy 

 Santa Fe trade springing from the railway at that point, ^ gave a consider- 

 able activity to speculation in territorial lands. The county of Elbert, 

 south of Arapahoe, came with the tenth legislature in 1874 at the expense 

 of Douglas and Greenwood,^ while the latter gave to Bent what Elbert 

 did not need and itself disappeared from the map.-* In this condition, 



' Act of February ii, 1870 {Sess. Laws, 1870, p. 53). 



» The Arkansas Valley Railroad was constructed by Kansas Pacific interests to connect Kit Carson and 

 Pueblo. It was built as far as La Junta, further extension being unnecessary since the Sante F6 had already 

 reached Pueblo by La Junta. The Arkansas Valley was never a success, dosed down in 1877, was sold under 

 foreclosure in 1878, and is today abandoned. (Poor, Railway Manual, 1878, p. 894.) 



3 Act of February 2, 1874 {Sess. Laws, 1874, p. 69). 



♦ Act of February 6, 1874 {Sess. Laws, 1874, p. 61). The Ninth Census, 1870, had givea to Greenwood 

 a population of 310 (Vol. I, Population, p. 16). 



