62 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
The course of the railroad from Pueblo is directly up Arkansas 
River to its headwaters at Tennessee Pass, near Leadville. East of 
Canon City the river has cut for itself in the plain a valley which 
ranges from half a mile to a mile in width and from 50 to 150 feet in 
depth. As the railroad is generally only a few feet above water level 
the traveler has few opportunities of seeing the country through 
which he is passing, except at places where the hills recede or their 
height is less than usual. The principal views that he gets will be 
those of the valley bottom and of the cliffs that bound it on either 
side. 
The region through which the train is now passing, as well as that 
which it has traversed since it left Denver, was once included in the 
fanciful Territory of Jefferson,’? which was fully organized and car- 
ried on for a number of years but which failed to be sanctioned by 
* Few i ed as the present gener- 
ation are aw that a Territory, 
called the aastity of Jefferson, s 
organized in the mountain region of 
Colorado and Wyoming at the time of 
the great “ rush ” to the Pikes Peak re- 
gion, and that not only was the Ter- 
vigorous action tney could compel 
Con to recognize and legalize 
their actio 
When nin Territory of Kansas Noe 
organized, in 1855, it included all o 
what is now known as nor aseapes int 
lies east of the crest o e Rocky 
Mountains. Thus the se - ae city 
of Denver as well as all of east 
Colorado was within the jurisdiction 
of the Territorial government of Kan 
sas. The control by that government 
was merely nominal, and as its seat 
was far off and difficult to reach the 
people of the mountain district were 
inclined tes pay little attention to its 
authorit 
Mion. ‘old was reported in the Pikes 
k region, late in 1858, the few 
aiall here became imbued with the 
7 
idea that this was the richest part of 
the continent and that when its won- 
derful stor precious metal 
became known ck here 
in numbers so great that some sort of 
government other than that afforded 
by far-off Kansas would be necessary 
for the protection of life and pr 
erty. These pioneers, although they 
were but recent arrivals, did not be- 
lieve in waiting for action by the Ter- 
which they hoped Congress might ap- 
prove and legalize. In the autumn of 
1858 a few men from the settlements 
about Cherry Creek (the site of Den- 
ver) assembled for the purpose of cre- 
ating a new State or Territory. in the 
Pikes Peak region. This new political 
division was to be considerably larger 
than the present State of Colorado, as 
shown by the accompanying sketch 
map (fig. 14), and was to be called 
Jefferson, in honor of the President of 
Purchase, which included most of this 
region. This convention wis in Den- 
ver City in April, 1859, and passed 
a series of resolutions wi einee to 
the organization of the State of Jeffer- 
son, hoping by this action to start it 
full-fledged upon its career of state- 
hood. The convention also issued a 
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