DEN^^R & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 61 



which is the greatest field of good coking coal in the West, and coal 

 for fuel can be obtained from the same field or from the Canon City 

 field, on the west. Iron ore is available in southern Wyoming and 

 possibly in other parts of the mountain region, and altogether Pueblo 

 is remarkably well located to become a large and prosperous manu- 

 facturing city. 



At Minnequa, a suburb of Pueblo, on the mesa to the south, is the 

 great plant of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. There also are smelters 

 for the reduction of the gold and silver ores of the mountain region, 

 as well as other manufacturing plants. Pueblo is the countj^ seat 

 of Pueblo County. Here is the State Asylum for the Insane, a 

 " palace " for the display of the mineral resources of the county, and 

 numerous business blocks, hotels, and amusement parks. 



Pueblo is one of the historic places of Colorado. The first record 

 of occui^ation of this region by the white man is that of the explor- 

 ing party of Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike, which camped at " The Forks," 

 as he called the confluence of Fountain Creek and Arkansas River, 

 in November, 1806, and built a log breastwork for defense. The 

 party made this camp before they attempted to scale the great peak 

 which they saw far off and which is now known as Pikes Peak. The 

 next American party to visit the site of Pueblo was that of Maj. 

 Long, in 1820. After this time it was visited by many explorers 

 and hunters, and James Beckwourth — a mulatto who had lived among 

 the Indians — claimed the honor of establishing in 1842 the first 

 permanent settlement where Pueblo now stands. Here was built an 

 adobe fort, called Fort Napeste, which is said to have been the Indian 

 name for Arkansas River. In 1859 a settlement was begun on the 

 east side of Fountain Creek, which was called Fountain City. A 

 year or two later a rival town was laid out on the banks of the 

 Arkansas and named Pueblo. For a number of years the growth 

 of these pioneer settlements was slow, and it was not until the 

 Denver & Rio Grande Railroad reached the Arkansas in 1872 that 

 the settlements consolidated and began their phenomenal growth. 



On leaving the station at Pueblo the train begins its real west- 

 ward journey. From Denver to Pueblo its course has been nearly 

 due south along the mountain front, but when it turns west at 

 Pueblo it must travel 41 miles before it again comes to the foot of 

 the mountains, for the range that forms the mountain front from the 

 north line of the State to Colorado Springs terminates in Cheyenne 

 Mountain, a few miles south of Colorado Springs, and here the 

 mountain front is offset to the west 25 or 30 miles, to a point west of 

 Canon Cit3^ This southern range, which is the Wet Mountains, 

 continues southward for some distance and dies out, and still farther 

 south there is another westward offset, the Sangre de Cristo Range, 

 which extends as far as Santa Fe, N. Mex. 



