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[Illustration: A Portion of Estes Park, with Long's Peak in the Distance.
(See Page 91.)]
COLORADO
THE BRIGHT ROMANCE OF AMERICAN HISTORY
BY
F. C. GRABLE
PAINTINGS BY
ALLEN TRUE
COPYRIGHT 1911
F. C. GRABLE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
THE KISTLER PRESS
DENVER COLO.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
The Old, the New, and the Ocean Between 1
CHAPTER II.
Coronado 14
CHAPTER III.
Light in the East 40
CHAPTER IV.
Lieutenant Pike 54
CHAPTER V.
The Lost Period 75
CHAPTER VI.
Major Long 85
CHAPTER VII.
The Pioneers 99
CHAPTER VIII.
Christopher Carson and His Contemporaries 106
CHAPTER IX.
General Fremont and the Mormons 125
CHAPTER X.
Opportunity 143
CHAPTER XI.
A Vanishing Race 153
CHAPTER XII.
The Lustre of Gold 171
CHAPTER XIII.
Some Men of Visions 184
CHAPTER XIV.
The Stone Which the Builders Rejected 222
ILLUSTRATIONS.
A Glimpse of Estes Park Frontispiece
CHAPTER I. Face Page
The Ocean Explorer 1
CHAPTER II.
Coronado Before a Zuni Village 16
CHAPTER IV.
(_a_) Pike and His Frozen Companion 66
(_b_) One of the Approaches to Cheyenne Mt. 74
CHAPTER V.
The Trapper 78
CHAPTER VI.
The Buffalo Hunter 94
CHAPTER VII.
Pioneers and Prairie Schooner 110
CHAPTER VIII.
A Government Scout 126
CHAPTER IX.
Indians Watching Fremont's Force 134
CHAPTER X.
Ventura, Historian of Taos Indians 142
CHAPTER XI.
(_a_) Indian Chief Addressing the Council 158
(_b_) Winnowing Grain 166
CHAPTER XII.
Making a Clean-up 174
DEDICATED
TO THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO:
Whose work in laying the foundation of the magnificent superstructure
of our great State, as Abraham Lincoln said of the heroes of
Gettysburg, "is far beyond our poor power to add or detract."
PREFACE.
It is Emerson's beautiful thought that all true history is biography,
and that men are but the pages of history. In felicitous language the
author has pictured a period that is indeed the bright romance of
American history. It is the story of the discovery of a new Continent
in the Western Seas; the story of a graceful and cultured people of a
mighty world-power in the Fifteenth Century; the story of the dream of
a great Western Empire to be founded in the New World, where would be
revived all the pomps and chivalries of Castile's ancient court; the
story of the fading of that dream in the splendor of the great
world-idea of the self-government of man carried by the Pilgrim
Fathers to Plymouth Rock in 1620; the story that in the great drama of
life man is ever changing from the old into the new, and from the bad
into the better in unceasing, unchanging, inevitable evolution; the
story of early Colorado, whose ancient Capital, Santa Fe,--in the
sense that Colorado is a part of the old Spanish country--was the
first white settlement west of the Floridas upon all this Western
Continent within the present domain of the United States.
But more than all, it is a story of the human touch of those still
living and of great empire builders not long since passed away, whose
"hands bent the arch of the new heavens" over our beloved State of
Colorado; whose eyes were filled with far-away visions and their
hearts with sublime faith; pioneers and history makers of whom we
would say as Cinneas said when asked by his master Pyrrhus after his
return from his Embassy at Rome, "What did the Roman Senate look
like?"
"An assembly of Kings!" replied Cinneas.
Wendell Phillips, in the greatest of all his lectures, pictures the
"Muse of history dipping her pen in the sunlight and writing in the
clear blue" above all other names the name of his hero "Toussaint
l'Ouverture." The author in these pages which so graphically portray
the early history of our State would not write the name of Colorado
above any sister state; but we can catch between his lines the deep
undertones of the music of the Union, which overmaster all sectional
notes in the thought, that Colorado is a glorious part of it all.
And so it is enough that we read in the title of this book these magic
words, as if traced in the clear sunlight of our mountain skies,
"Colorado--The Bright Romance of American History."
J. F. TUTTLE, JR.
COLORADO--THE BRIGHT ROMANCE OF AMERICAN HISTORY
[Illustration: The Ocean Explorer.]
CHAPTER I.
THE OLD, THE NEW, AND THE OCEAN BETWEEN.
[Sidenote: 1504]
The great Queen Isabella was dead. She had died amidst the splendor of
the richest and most powerful Court on earth, beloved by some for her
noble qualities, and execrated by others for her tyrannical laws, for
the heartlessness and cruelty she had practiced, for the wars she had
kindled, and for the lives she had sacrificed. Because of the
turbulence of the elements, the superstitious believed that her
unconquerable spirit refused to be tranquilized even by death.
Darkness lay upon the world, and the slowly moving funeral cortege
made its way the three hundred miles to Granada, menaced by the
lightning's flash, and accompanied by the thunder's roar, the rain and
the hurricane, and the floods which swept men and horses to their
death. At last, after thirty years of a masterful and memorable reign,
Isabella lay at rest in the marvelously beautiful Alhambra, the burial
place of her choice which she had wrested from the Moorish Kings. And
Ferdinand ruled in her stead.
[Sidenote: 1506]
Less than two years, and there was another notable death in Spain. The
far-seeing eyes of a kingly man looked out upon the world for the last
time. The active hands of a great navigator lay still, folded over the
courageous heart that had long been broken; the heart that had been
thrilled by the acclaim of the populace, and then chilled by the
frowns of its sovereigns; the hands that had been bedecked with jewels
by Ferdinand and Isabella, and later laden by them with chains.
Columbus, the admiral of the ocean, who had joined two worlds by his
genius and accomplished an event whose magnitude and grandeur history
can never equal, and who had filled the center of a stage, brilliant
with the famous actors of his time, had died; died in poverty and
neglect; instead of chimes chanting a requiem in his praise, there was
the rattle of the chains his hands had worn, as they went down into
his sepulchre for burial with him according to his wish. Even his
grave remained unmarked for ten years, until public opinion forced
Ferdinand to a tardy recognition of his duty in the erection of a
monument in honor of one of the greatest men of any age; a man great
in thought and great in action; a man with such a mighty faith that we
stand appalled at its mightiness!
Isabella left a united country; a country at the pinnacle of
greatness. She left a highly organized army; an army wrought out of a
fragment of incompetency. She raised the standard of science and the
arts, and advanced the cause of morality. But the greatest and most
enduring monument she erected was the result of the slight
encouragement and scant help that she gave to the enthusiastic Italian
mendicant, who became the founder of a New World and whose fame will
continue undimmed to the end of time.
[Sidenote: 1516]
"The King is dead" fell upon Ferdinand's unhearing ears. "Long live
the King" greeted the advent of Charles, his successor. Charles, who
was the son of the unfortunate Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and
Isabella; Charles I, King of Spain; Charles V, Emperor of Germany;
Ruler over the kingdom of Naples; Monarch of the New World. Power,
such as the world has seldom seen, centered in this man; an empire so
vast that it encircled the globe, and upon whose domain military
activities never ceased. The cruelties of Spain are proverbial, and
they reached their climax under the rule of Ferdinand, Isabella and
Charles; and under them the decadence of their nation began, which in
four hundred years has never ceased. Now, shorn of every dependency,
its power forever destroyed, it lies crushed, humiliated and broken by
the greatness of its fall.
And here this sketch leaves Old Spain and we sail away across the
ocean five thousand miles, to the New Spain of that period, in a ship
whose sails flap lazily in the breeze, taking more weeks then than
days now by the modern methods of this enlightened age.
[Sidenote: 1519]
Hernando Cortez sprang from a noble but impoverished family. Educated
for the law, he chose an adventurous life instead, and at the age of
nineteen left Spain for San Domingo to try his fortunes in the New
World, resulting in his brilliant conquest of Mexico; a country whose
early history we can only imagine. The unknowable is there; for its
secrets lie buried beneath the weight of centuries. Tragedy is there;
for what derelict, never heard of more, dropped in from over the seas
and cast its human wreckage on those unknown shores for the beginning
of a nation? Who were those who may have been lost to home and friends
and wandered in from Asia over that narrow strip of land long ago
submerged? Whence they came, whatever their nation or color, they were
human beings, with thoughts and affections like ours, whose beginnings
we can never fathom. They grew in numbers, had flocks and herds, and
gold and jewels. They had tribal governments, with differing customs
and languages. They had the wandering habit. The streams, the
mountains, and the plains beckoned them and they came and went, happy,
care-free and prosperous. Some one among them said: "Let us all come
together and unite as a people; establish a uniform government; build
a city, and select some one of our number to rule over us." And it was
done. Mexico City was built and became the Capital. Montezuma was made
the ruler. They had laws and Courts of Justice; they had
well-constructed and highly-decorated buildings, with architectural
features the equal of some European structures prized for their beauty
and durability. Their streets were laid out symmetrically, and their
parks and landscape gardening added to the city's attractiveness. They
had a system of canals and well-developed agriculture; an organized
army and thoroughly equipped ships. Whence came this high
civilization? We can never know. We only know that it existed. Two
million people lived in and adjacent to Mexico City. They were rich,
intelligent and contented, until the coming of Cortez; and when he
reached the shores of Mexico in the Spring of 1519 it was a memorable
day for them. He came in ten ships with six hundred Spanish soldiers.
He disembarked, and when the last man was ashore and all the
ammunition and guns and supplies were landed, he performed a feat of
courage bordering on the sublime. He set his ships on fire, and he
stood with his resolute men and saw them burn to the water's edge,
knowing that the flame and smoke and destruction meant for each that
he must conquer or die. And they marched away, a handful against a
host, and they won!
But the fall of Mexico, like the fate of most nations, came from
within and not from without. What could six hundred do against a
united two million. That was where Cortez shone. To create discord,
distrust and jealousy; to make them fight each other; to unite the
disaffected under his own banner, was the work of a diplomat and
general, and he was both. To their everlasting disgrace, the
dissatisfied of the native race accomplished for Cortez the downfall
of their own nation. And when, two years after he began his
destructive warfare, the City of Mexico had been utterly destroyed;
when a race had been subjugated; had been stripped of its vast
treasure of gold and jewels for the greater glorification of the
luxurious Court of Spain; had lost thousands by slaughter; then, and
not till then, did the insurgents know that they had encompassed their
own ruin. They were enslaved by the Spaniards. The last chapter in
their national life was written. The Aztecs, as a people, were no
more. They were given the name of Mexicans by the Spaniards, for
"Mexitl" the national War God of the native race. Mexicans they have
continued to this day, and Cortez as Captain General ruled over the
Mexican Territory which he called "New Spain." He set four hundred
thousand of the enslaved natives to rebuilding the City of Mexico, but
their hearts were in the ruins of the old city, and not in the
building of the new--for Cortez saw to it that there should be nothing
in the new Spanish city that would remind them of the ancient grandeur
of the old. Ten years after its completion there were not a thousand
people in it. The old population was melting away, dying off from
over-work in the mines to which they had been driven, and where they
sickened from disease and hunger and heart yearning for the families
from whom they had been forcibly separated, while nearly seven million
dollars a year of their earnings were being sent to Spain, taken from
the richest silver mines in all the world.
You were great Empire builders, oh Spain! But your wanton cruelty to
mankind will forever cloud your glory as the eclipse darkens the sun!
You permitted the Inquisition! You pitted strength against
helplessness, burned thousands alive, and confiscated their property!
You permitted the slaughter of twelve hundred thousand human beings in
the West Indies, and never heard their pitiful cry, until the lack of
earnings ceased to swell the income of the Crown, and then you carried
captives from the mainland to take the place of the dead! You
permitted the institution of the American slave trade, which only
ended at Appomattox, with the destruction of hundreds of thousands of
American soldiers, and millions of money!
The power and fame of Cortez had grown beyond the limit set by the
Crown of Spain. Every forceful and successful man in the Dominion of
Spain was a marked man; not marked for preferment and encouragement,
but marked for humiliation and disgrace. The battles that Cortez had
won for the King were forgotten; the treasure he had sent home counted
for naught; and for the territory he had subjugated, there was no
appreciation. His authority was ended. An officer and soldiers came
from Spain to take him back, not with honor, but in ignominy. He
arrested the officer, and induced the soldiers to join his army. He
was so powerful that he thought he could be King of the New World.
Finally, threats and promises secured his peaceable return to Spain,
where all promises were broken, and his life was tempest-tossed until
he died.
[Sidenote: 1528]
Then Nuno de Guzman was named Governor General of New Spain. He
started out to duplicate the successes of Cortez, whose ability he
lacked, as well as the opportunity. He hunted in vain for another
Mexico City to conquer and despoil. He pushed Northward hunting for
riches, slaughtering the natives, burning their villages, and laying
waste their country. He conquered a great territory on the western
coast of Upper Mexico, along the Gulf of California, which he called
"New Gallicia." His rule was so ruthless, cruel and desolating, that
even Spain, hardened as she was to suffering, was shocked with his
barbarous persecution of the natives, and after seven years, a warrant
was sent out from Spain for his arrest and trial, on charges of
inhuman cruelty. He was deprived of his office, taken to Mexico City,
held there a prisoner for several years, and was then returned to
Spain.
[Sidenote: 1535]
Don Antonio de Mendoza, known as the "Good Viceroy," succeeded to the
rule of Mexico, and put in practice a new policy, one not before tried
in the New World, that of kindness. It had come too late for many, for
the dead were everywhere, and the living had settled into a degree of
hopelessness that a whole decade of kind treatment could do little
toward counteracting. Three hundred and seventy-six years have passed
since that day, and the scars of those sixteen years of Spanish murder
and plunder have not yet been removed.
With which our narrative ends as to the mis-rule of New Spain.
[Sidenote: 1536]
Pamfilo de Narvaez had been made Governor of Florida in 1527 by the
Spanish Government, with a grant to explore and colonize a vast
territory bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. He outfitted in Spain,
sailed to Cuba where he repaired his vessels, thence into the Gulf of
Mexico, meeting with storms that drove him out of his course, and so
confused his mariners that they lost their reckoning. Consequently, he
was left by his ships with his three hundred men and horses on the
coast of Florida, instead of on the coast of Texas, as he thought.
They rode away into the wilderness and nearly all to their death.
Their wanderings, hardships and sufferings, the mind cannot conceive
nor the pen describe. They worked to the West and North, crossing
rivers and swamps, plains and mountains, through heat and cold, hungry
and finally starving when their last horse had been used for food,
mistreated by hostile Indians, lost and in despair. Beating their
spurs into nails, they made boats, and using the hides from their
horses for sails, they were borne down one of the Gulf Rivers, and out
into the swift ocean current where they were carried to sea and
drowned--all save four. Eight years after they had disembarked on the
Florida Coast, these four were found by some slave catchers, away up
on the Coast of California, whither they had wandered, and taken to
Mexico City. Their sufferings had been so great, that when they
reached civilization, they could no longer appreciate comforts. They
continued to sleep on the ground, to eat unwholesome food, and to
cling to the primitive habits they had formed. Slavery had in the
meantime become so common, that Mendoza bought of the three Spaniards
the negro, Estevanico, to act as guide to the far North, to which
country Mendoza proposed to send an expedition.
[Sidenote: 1539]
Fray Marcos, a Priest from Italy, had been a participant in the
conquest of Peru, was a historian and theologian, picturesque in
appearance and language, and was next to Mendoza in power. He was
selected to go North on a visit preliminary to the proposed
expedition, with the negro as guide. Rumors were in the air, and
growing all the time, of wonderful cities and untold treasure in the
North. Even the three returned Spaniards, rested from their
wanderings, hinted at the fabulous wealth of which they persuaded
themselves they had heard. The tales grew with the telling, so that
Fray Marcos felt that he must be able to verify these reports, which
he did, with the result that when the Coronado expedition found they
did not exist, he had the great misfortune to ever after be called the
"Lying Monk."