DENVER & EIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 5 



eluded that part of the present State of Colorado which lies east of 

 the crest of the Rocky Mountains. The first house in Denver is said 

 to have been erected by Gen. Larimer on the banks of Cherry Creek, 

 between what are now Blake and Wazee streets. The towns of Mon- 

 tana and Auraria soon disappeared or were swallowed up by the more 

 rapidly growing " City of Denver," as it was known in the early days. 



Denver, though not a mining city, has long been the financial and 

 distributing center of an immense mining region, including the Eocky 

 Mountains from northern Wyoming to southern New Mexico. It has 

 become also a great railroad center, partly because it is a center of 

 distribution and partly because most tourists making a trip to the 

 Far West desire to pass through or stop in this flourishing city. 

 The city has the wonderful health-giving climate of the mountain 

 region, and many who have found the humid, heavy atmosphere of 

 the East depressing have each year sought and been benefited by the 

 dry, exhilarating, and rarefied air of Colorado. 



Denver is now the metropolis of the Rocky Mountain region. It is 

 noted for its broad, clean streets, its handsome residences, and the 

 beauty and number of its public parks. Grass and trees are not nat- 

 ural to Denver, so the people there take the greatest interest in them 

 and are willing to spend time and money freely for a beautiful lawn 

 and a growth of trees. Farther east, where such things are abundant, 

 they are not prized so highly and are generally neglected, so that 

 they do not grow in the perfection that they attain in the semiarid 

 region, where irrigation is possible. 



One of the best known of Denver's parks is the Capitol Grounds 

 and Civic Center, shown in part in Plate II. The Civic Center 

 has recently been acquired by the city and made into a beautiful 

 park. The largest of Denver's playgrounds is City Park, which 

 contains 320 acres and has been beautified by trees, flowers, lakes, and 

 fountains until it is the equal of almost any other artificial park in 

 the country. In it is a zoological garden and a museum of natural 

 history. Washington Park also is becoming one of the beauty spots 

 of the city. Cheesman Park is noted for the magnificent view of the 

 mountains which may be had from its pavilion. Here on a clear day 

 the traveler may obtain a sweeping view of the great Front Range 

 from Longs Peak, 60 miles away on the north, to Pikes Peak, 80 

 miles to the southwest. To assist the traveler to recognize the more 

 prominent peaks a brass plate, upon which are engraved the names 

 of the peaks and the lines of sight pointing toward them, has there 

 been set on a pedestal. This diagram, together with a fairly good 

 map of the State, enables one to place accurately all the more strik- 

 ing mountain features in the vicinity. 

 80697"— 22 2 



