Denver

A brief visit to Denver's.

Sam Stone

Denver

Part Four

For centuries Colorado served as home for various indigenous tribes. They brought many traditions which live on even today.

For many tribes Denver served as a gathering point. This was before Denver was known by the name we know now.

In the beginning, when the whites began to heavily populate the area, it was called Denver City after the Kansas Territorial governor James Denver. Later, when Denver became a territory, the term City was dropped.

In 1858 gold was discovered at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains by a group of prospectors from Georgia.

Not long after, hoards of new prospectors with mules, picks, shovels, and a head full of dreams, swarmed the area.

Tents, tepees, crude wooden buildings, and lean-tos all dotted the shoreline of the Platt River.

Just like that, Denver had become a new Boom Town.

A 14,000 foot mountain called Pikes Peak became both a rallying point and a landmark. It was here the rally cry of “Pike Peak or Bust” was born.

The mountain was named in honor of Zebulon Pike. He attempted to scale the mountain on several occasions, but never reached its summit.

Turns out it was more bust than anything else. The fact of the matter was, very little gold was ever found in the area.

But the people of Denver were a resilient lot, surviving the great fire of 1863 which wiped out the downtown business section. A year later the great flood which came down from Cherry Creek swept away another large chunk of the town. Twenty people lost their lives on that occasion. Just over a million dollars in damages were done. Following the flood came the Indian Wars. Stagecoach stations were closed down and supply lines were cut off.

These hardened people, however, not only survived, but somehow thrived amongst the calamity that befell them.

The Union Pacific Transcontinental Railroad bypassed Denver in 1869 leaving it isolated amongst the mighty Rocky Mountains.

This did not deter the spirit of the people of Denver who miraculously raised well over $300,000 dollars and built “their own damned railroad.” It met up with the Union Pacific somewhere around Cheyenne.

Soon afterwards the Kansas Pacific Railroad crossed the plains to Denver.

Not long after that, silver, lots of it, was discover in the little town of Leadville. Denver became a Boom Town once again.

During the 1860s the Arapaho and Cheyenne seemed to be the two major tribes of the area. They didn't seem to like each other too much.

In 1864 the Sand Creek massacre occurred. 163 Arapaho were slaughtered. Most were women, children, and old men. It was not the Cheyenne who had done it. It was the US Calvary led by  Colonel John M. Chivinton.

On a late summer day Sam sat on his horse overlooking a mountainous landscape. He was headed southwest. He had heard tales of a red headed lady who had built a scandalous reputation somewhere near Gunnison. It wasn't clear if she was the same as his red headed demon, but he had to go to see for himself. It became obvious, after a month of searching, she was not in Denver.

Karallenna's Pueblo family turned eastward heading toward Kansas territory.

The Redheaded Demon and Sam were headed in opposite directions.

The year was 1870. The Kansas Pacific Railroad had just completed it final stretch to Denver.

Author's Note

Some the the information presented may not be completely factual, but they are close. Most information was gathered from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Lorry]

There is nothing sadder than an attempted climb of a mountain or peak, more so than two failed attempts, but at least his name lives on.
And now I can see why you set your story where you did, because A, you had the wild west, and B, setting it in Scotland or Ireland would be insane, because you'd spend at least three lifetimes chasing redheads! 😊
And now they are off in opposite directions...although I have a funny feeling their paths might eventually cross again. 😊