Colorado Springs

“ The climate of Colorado Springs has a perfection that is remarked even in the Centennial State, where, in every part, the climate is unsurpassed in sunshine and exhilaration. Especially, however, is Colorado Springs a summer resort, as is Saratoga or Newport or Bar Harbor. Its season is increasingly brilliant and crowded. People come to stay a day and prolong it to a week, or come for a week and prolong their stay to a month. The driving is fine, the motor cars are abundant, the excursions are delightful, and the air is as curative and exhilarating as is possible to conceive. ”

“ We found much to interest us in Colorado Springs. It is a town of great fame as a health resort, and lies on a splendid plateau, with the background of the Rocky Mountains, and Pike's Peak, in all its snowy splendor, in the middle distance.
Near by is Colorado City, and joining on to that is Manitou, where lie the wonderful mineral springs, from which the city of "Colorado Springs" gets its name.
The wise men who founded the city, knew well that there was no room for expansion in the Alpine clefts where the springs lie; and yet they knew, too, their value as an attraction. ”

“ The city of Colorado Springs possesses many attractions, and is growing in population and wealth. Here is a good-sized collection of pretty homes, built on wide and well-shaded streets, where reside beside the health hunter of independent means the mining king, the wealthy ranch owner, the Eastern capitalist, and the English tourist or speculator. ”

“ COLORADO SPRINGS. A city and county-seat of El Paso County, Colo., 73 miles south of Denver; on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé, the Denver and Rio Grande, and other railroads (Map: Colorado, E 2) . Its location, 6000 feet above the level of the sea, near the base of Pike's Peak and the celebrated mineral springs at Manitou, with a healthful climate, have combined to make the place a much-frequented resort. It is the seat of Colorado College, founded in 1874, and of State institutions for the deaf-mute and blind. ”

“ But perhaps the most striking thing about society in Colorado Springs is its apparent freedom from affliction. One goes to the most delightful dinner parties, there, in the most delightful houses, and meets the most delightful people. Every one seems very gay. Every one looks well. ”

“ Colorado Springs cannot strictly be called a mountain health-resort, for it is actually situated upon the first plateau of the great plains, but is surrounded on three sides by a semi-circle of hills. ”

“ The most available towns for the invalid who has to earn his support are Denver and Pueblo, but there is a moderately wide field from which to choose when health and comfort, and not money, are the main considerations. Colorado Springs combines so many favorable conditions of climate, good accommodations, pleasant society, and natural objects of interest, as to render it, in addition to its sanitary condition, an almost ideal resort for phthisical invalids. ”

“ Along either side of each street are rows of beautiful, thrifty trees, which almost meet their heads over the pass-way, rendering them cool and delightful; while the water rolls in cool, crystal streamlets at either side of every street. The buildings are all remarkably neat; and there are two or three very large and magnificent hotels, with all modern improvements and conveniences. Take it all in all, Colorado Springs is certainly the most beautiful place we had ever seen. ”

“ Colorado Springs is superbly situated where the Rocky Mountains rise from the great plains of the prairie states, surrounded on all sides by foothills save in the south-east, where it is open to the prairie. To the south of the mesa (tableland) on which it lies is the valley of Fountain Creek. To the west is the grand background of the canyon-riven Rampart range, with Pike’s Peak (q.v.) dominating a half-dozen other peaks (among them Cameron Cone, Mt. Rosa, Cheyenne Mt.) 9000 to 12,000 ft. in height. Monument Creek traverses the city. The streets are of generous width (100-140 ft.) ”

“ Here, amid the mountains, seventy-five miles from Denver, upon a plateau at six thousand feet elevation, is the famous city of Colorado Springs, having twenty-five thousand people and being a noted health-resort. ”

“ The high school building in Colorado Springs; the court house, costing a half-million dollars; the new city library of Colorado stone; the thirty-five miles of electric railway; a water system costing over a million of dollars; the admirable telephone system,—these and the fine architectural art would render it a desirable residence city even aside from the group of scenic wonders which has made it famous all over the world.
[Pg 89] General William J. Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs, is one of the great benefactors of the state of Colorado. ”

“ There are also near Colorado Springs those mineral waters which give it its name, and of which the people are so proud that they have turned Colorado Springs into a prohibition town, and have made drinking the waters, as it were, compulsory. This is an interesting example of people who support home industries. There is a casino at the Springs, where the Hungarian band plays in summer, a polo field, a manufactured lake for boating, and hundreds of beautiful homes, fashioned after the old English country-house, even to the gate-keeper’s lodge and the sun dial on the lawn. ”

“ Few visitors to Colorado Springs will fail to carry away a grateful and pleasant impression of the English doctor who has found vigorous life and a prosperous career in the place of exile to which his health condemned him in early manhood, and who has repaid the place for its gift of vitality by the most intelligent and effective championship of its advantages. These latter include an excellent hotel and a flourishing college for delicate girls and boys. ”

“ The climate and air of Colorado are considered of great benefit to asthmatic and pulmonary sufferers, and the charming parks are likely to become the great natural sanatoriums of North America. Thousands of people flock to Denver, Colorado Springs, and other sections of the State to regain their health. The various mineral springs are also adjuncts to the remedial nature of the climate. The hot sulphur springs of Middle Park and Wagon-Wheel Gap, and the hot iron and soda springs of Manitou, Cañon City, Glenwood Springs, and Idaho Springs are famous. ”

“ A skillful landscape engineer has taken advantage of every natural beauty, and studied the best topographical effect in laying out the streets, parks, reservoirs, drives, walks, trails, and lookout points. It is a spot that must be seen to be appreciated, and every visitor whose opinion has been learned has come away captivated. There are building sites for all tastes. Some have a grand outlook, taking in a sweep of the valley for a distance of fifty miles.
Colorado Springs is the county seat of El Paso County, has a population of 12,000, and stands at an elevation of 5,982 feet. ”

“ CHAPTER XIX. FROM DENVER TO SAN FRANCISCO.
Colorado Springs, the fashionable watering place of all Colorado, was to be our next stopping place. Leaving Denver on the night of October 27th, we were obliged to change from the broad-gauge cars in which we had been traveling, into narrow-gauge cars, in which we journeyed as far as Ogden, and they seemed for a time cramped and uncomfortable as compared with the "Q." outfit.
We soon became used to them, however, and managed to enjoy ourselves as thoroughly as though we had no end of room in which to turn around and stretch ourselves. ”

“ The City Hall and business blocks are substantial structures, and the Opera House a fine brick building, is a gem inside, perfect in its arrangements, and fitted and furnished with exquisite taste."
The above description is accurate enough, but it is not right to our ideas to speak of Colorado Springs as a "city." It is only a decent-sized, picturesque town. But the Americans name even five or six houses cities, e.g. the City of Lancaster, in the Antelope Valley, which consisted of an hotel, a rail station, and two or three shops! ”

“ Denver and Colorado Springs pretend to be jealous of one another; why, it is impossible to understand. One is a city, and the other a summer or health resort; and we might as properly compare Boston and Newport, or New York and Tuxedo. In both cities the Eastern man and woman and the English cousin are much more in evidence than the born Western man. These people are very fond of their homes at Denver and at the Springs, but they certainly manage to keep Fifth Avenue and the Sound and the Back Bay prominently in mind. ”

“ The multitudes of mineral and hot springs in Colorado are a fascinating and interesting facet of the Mountain Province. Some are located along major faults, where the rocks are so broken and shattered that groundwater can move freely toward the surface. Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, and Eldorado Springs are on the fault complex that forms the east edge of the Front Range. ”

“ The wide range and freedom of life in Colorado Springs is equally enjoyable. The artist, the thinker, the writer, finds an ideal environment in which to pursue his work. [Pg 85] This beautiful residence city, founded by General Palmer in 1871, has now a population of some thirty thousand, and although lying at the foot of Pike's Peak, it is yet on an elevation of six thousand feet above the level of the sea. ”

“ The great Santa Fé (1873) , Burlington (1882) , Missouri Pacific (1887) and Rock Island (1888) systems reached Pueblo, Denver and Colorado Springs successively from the east. In 1888 the Colorado Midland started from Colorado Springs westward, up the Ute Pass, through the South Park to Leadville, and thence over the continental divide to Aspen and Glenwood Springs. The Colorado & Southern, a consolidation of roads connecting Colorado with the south, has also become an important system.
Population.—The population of the state in 1870 was 39,864 ”

“ Men of means from the East owning large herds of cattle and sheep that roam over the great western plains from Montana to Mexico have found it best to make a home for themselves nearer their business interests, and seeking the best place have come to Colorado Springs. Others interested in the mineral wealth of the Rocky Mountains, especially in Colorado, Utah, and Old and New Mexico, have also settled here. ”

“ There is so little snow that cattle and sheep feed upon the plains through the winter with perhaps a few days' exception, on the short buffalo grass, which retains its nourishment in this dry climate like made hay, which it really is.
"The surface soil of Colorado Springs is a coarse, sandy loam, into which the moisture sinks rapidly. It is never muddy here for more than a few hours, so that our streets and walks are practically hard and dry. ”

“ Bloomer made her first journey to Colorado, its mountains and magnificent scenery. This was repeated in subsequent years, the last trip having been made in 1894, only a few months before her death. During these tours she spent many days in Denver, Leadville, Idaho Springs, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and Manitou. All the points round the latter famous watering place were visited. She rode through the Garden of the Gods, Monument Park, and Cheyenne Cañon, and traversed the great caves opened up in the mountains. ”

“ Henry Ward Beecher once said that while the new birth was necessary to a true Christian life, it was very important that one be born well the first time. Colorado Springs was born well. It was organized on the colony plan, and the first stake was driven in July, 1871. Intelligent and far-seeing men were leaders of the enterprise, and in no way was their sagacity more apparent than in the insertion, in every deed of transfer, of a clause prohibiting, upon pain of forfeiture, the sale or manufacture of alcoholic beverages on the premises conveyed. ”

“ The prosaic toil, as some may deem it, of the spade, and the plough; and the pastoral occupation of stock-raising and dairy farming, are better wealth-makers than the pick of the miner, or the labors of the mining engineer.
The great day of our run through the giant attractions of the mountains comes to a close at Pueblo, a busy railroad centre, where our track bends to the north, and brings us at nightfall to Colorado Springs. ”

“ Recalling the temperance proclivities of the Springs, it is unfortunately not strange that a drive to Colorado City in the long summer evenings should prove so attractive to the ardent youth of untamed blood. ”

“ Williams, and Laura met her at a church picnic. The wife of a millionaire cattle king, she owned a handsome house in Denver and a beautiful country home near Colorado Springs. Mrs. Williams took a great fancy to the demure young actress and declined to say good-bye in Denver until Laura had promised to go and spend a week with her at her country ranch.
"It's a lovely spot, dear," she said. "I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself. My house is perched up on the side of Ute Pass, and overlooks the whole Colorado Canon, two thousand feet below. It is a wonderful spectacle. You must come. ”

“ It is situated on a plain 6,000 feet above sea-level, and is a health resort for victims of lung troubles. The city is the center of the gold mining district of Colorado, and the seat of Colorado College, sanitariums, St. ”

“ Equally untenable is the contention of Colorado that there are really two rivers, one commencing in the mountains of Colorado and terminating at or near the state line, and the other commencing at or near the place where the former ends, and, from springs and branches, starting a new stream to flow onward through Kansas and Oklahoma towards the Gulf of Mexico. From time immemorial the existence of a single continuous river has been recognized by geographers, explorers, and travelers. ”