Chapter 15: Colorado Expansion

Jul 26, 1859

When we got back to Fort Crius, thirty-seven men had arrived in response to the ads we took out in the eastern and other newspapers. My father had pre-screened them before sending them here. The new men were a bit disappointed when their first job was construction, at least until I reminded them how cold it would get up here in less than three months.

Aaron and forty-three men from the gold mine had also arrived and we greeted each other exuberantly. We talked most of the evening about what we had accomplished here to date.

I was surprised at the progress Reuben and his men had made on the coal mine. Every completed building in town already had a week’s worth of coal. The steam-powered lumber mill was operating from first light to dark, giving the workers just enough time to shut things down for the day before it was too dark to do so safely. The water-powered lumber mill did the same.

In the morning, I led Aaron and his men towards Clear Creek Hot Springs. Since we didn’t stop to hunt, we made good time and arrived early enough that they could look around at everything. The next morning, we got to Mountain Mesa, the area above Clear Creek Hot Springs where most of the potential mine locations were. Poor Aaron was just shaking his head at how many sites we had marked between the two areas. There were now sites marked for nineteen potential gold mines and two silver mines.

Aaron commented that we would need a good road between Fort Crius, Clear Creek Hot Springs, Mountain Mesa, and any other areas we found.

July 29

I got back to Fort Crius today. Aaron and the others had stayed in Clear Creek Hot Springs. Despite having been gone only three days, sixty-two more men had arrived, looking for work. I showed them the start of the route the wagons took to Clear Creek Hot Springs and explained macadamizing to them. Knowing we would need roads and streets, I had brought several sets of the screens to sort rocks for the macadamizing.

The next morning, those men and the seventeen new men who arrived the previous afternoon began work on the road. I went out and blazed the trail, marking trees to make it obvious where the road should go. Several times, I marked trees to remove so the wagons didn’t have to go out of their way to go around them.

Each day, the work crew grew as more men arrived looking for work. They worked hard because I told them the road had to be finished before the mining could begin in earnest. By now, they knew they would be mining gold, not copper or lead. We did lose a few potential employees who took off, hoping to strike it rich on their own.

Knowing I would be heading back to Libertyville soon, I took Reuben aside and asked how the coal mine was coming. He assured me that it was going well, and we would have plenty of coal for this winter. He planned to load up the outlying areas heavily. When I asked, he assured me that his men could run the mine without him. Instead of heading up the coal mining, I left him in charge of Fort Crius and in overall charge of all our operations in Colorado.

I explained my vision for the surrounding area to him. I envisioned the land between us and Auraria filled with fields. The crops we planted on my first trip here were doing well, and might provide enough corn, wheat, and oats for this winter, depending on how many more men showed up. The first cutting of alfalfa would be ready in a week or so.

I also explained my philosophy about pricing things we sold to the outside miners. Before leaving Libertyville, I had discussed it with our bookkeeper, and finally got him to agree with me. Necessities such as food, coal, tools, lumber, and clothing were sold at the same mark-up we sold them for in Libertyville; with an added charge equivalent to what it cost us to ship the goods here. The bookkeeper had already calculated what he thought it was and would continue to monitor the cost. Each shipment from Libertyville would include an updated pricing list for things arriving in that shipment.

Having stood in the frigid waters of a stream and suffered from numb feet while panning for gold, I understood what the miners put up with to earn what they did. I wasn’t going to cheat them by gouging them on the prices of necessities they bought from us.

We priced extravagances like booze, tobacco, and the brothel as outrageously as everyone expected us to. Our prices on those items would compensate us for what we didn’t make overpricing necessities.

When the surveyors finished, I intended for them to return to Fort Crius to show us where our property lines were. I wanted the five thousand private property flyers posted along the boundaries next spring to warn potential miners and settlers that we had already claimed and paid for the land.

I told Reuben that I left Aaron in charge of the mining district to the west. Reuben answered to him about mining issues but was otherwise in charge of Clear Creek Hot Springs and Mountain Mesa. My top priorities were housing, crops, and the roads to Clear Creek Hot Springs and Mountain Mesa. Reuben was excited. Lastly, I was considering running the telegraph here from Libertyville.

Aug 4

On my return from another trip to Clear Creek Hot Springs, I was talking to Aaron when the wagon train of supplies from Libertyville arrived. I noticed the excitement level shoot through the roof with their arrival. The number of wagons surprised me, as did some of the contents.

I had expected the barrels of moonshine, or corn whiskey. Two thousand bottles of the stuff were a surprise. I guess Mr. Berg intended to put his new bottling equipment to good use and had been a very busy man. In addition to the moonshine, there were kegs of African sorghum beer, kegs of regular beer, and even kegs of mead.

The women in Libertyville were obviously using their new toy. Eighteen wagons loaded with nothing but wood crates filled with cans of preserved food bore testament to that. Someone had pasted a small, printed label on each can telling what the contents were. Some were cans of produce from their gardens. Other cans held beef stew, ham chunks, or beans with ham chunks added. I expected that one can of those would be a good Sunday supper for a miner.

Canned goods meant we needed can openers, or we risked damaging the blade of our favorite knife. The new price list had prices for the new items, as well as revised pricing for the clothing, boots, flour, other food staples, and other items we brought last time. I noted that a big shipment of Aigle boots had arrived. The new miners in Auraria, Denver City, and the other mining camps reportedly springing up in the area would love those. All the men working for us in the streams already had a pair.

The miners from Auraria and Denver City had followed the progress of our supply wagons through reports from new miners who arrived. More than a hundred of them followed the wagons into town, eager to buy our goods. We started unloading the wagons into the mercantile as quickly as we could. I made sure the men inside had the new price list before they started selling anything. I even stayed and helped refill shelves and tables for the rest of the day. Our innovative saloonkeeper had two of his saloon girls outside at a portable bar selling drinks to the thirsty miners waiting in line for the mercantile.

The bread oven was busy all day and night for three days. The majority of the Auraria miners bought at least one loaf of the fresh bread. With the enticing smell of fresh-baked bread permeating the air of Fort Crius twenty-four hours a day, it probably added incentive to the men to buy a loaf.

Two more steam-powered lumber mills were included in the shipment, as well as a larger stamping mill. Those would go to Clear Creek Hot Springs, along with two of the three heavy steam-powered hoists to lift miners and ore out of the bowels of the earth when the mines got deep enough. The angle of the seam of coal here meant we would need a hoist for it very soon.

In all the excitement, I almost missed the fact that our first windmill in town was up and operating, meaning the well was finished. Soon, I hoped, we could get started on a water tower like the one in Libertyville. Despite the freezing temperatures and the brisk winds that made the temperature feel even colder, I hoped that the thick rock base would keep the water from freezing.

The two pianos in the wagons survived the trip miraculously unscathed, despite the butt-breaking bouncing of the wagons each time the wheels hit something.

Aug 5

While the men from the supply train took a couple of well-deserved days off, we prepared for the return trip. Along with the alcohol, more casks of gold and silver coins arrived. We were the main, and probably only source of currency in the area other than gold dust and nuggets. The small smelter set up just outside of town refined any gold dust and nuggets the Auraria miners used to pay for their purchases. We also set up an assay office and started buying gold dust and nuggets--for a fee, of course.

While the amount of gold was nothing like Paha Sapa provided, more than four million dollars in gold dust and ingots were ready to return to Libertyville. Under cover of darkness, we loaded crates of gold in ten separate wagons. The weight wasn’t the reason we split the gold up; I had learned a bit of strategy from the Missouri mines and the way they split up the gold among their wagons.

Aug 6

Unlike my last return trip to Libertyville, this one was a secret shared by every miner within a hundred miles. Last time, only a few people outside of Fort Crius knew that we were actively panning for gold in Clear Creek, and none of them knew how successful we had been. This time, word had spread about our mining claim and the fact that we had found multiple sites where we were mining gold and silver. Just the amount of gold we took in payment for the goods we sold was enough to interest the type of men who were inclined to try stealing the wealth of others.

More than a thousand miners knew the supply wagons had arrived and that much of what they carried had sold in the last couple of days. When we returned to Libertyville, people would correctly assume our wagons carried the gold.

We left after a pre-dawn breakfast, eighty-three wagons returning from whence they came. I rode out ahead of the wagon train scouting for trouble. Flower and Little Deer insisted on riding with me. Several times during the day, I had to stop to interview groups of men headed for Fort Crius. Fortunately, they seemed to be traveling in groups of from ten to twenty-five.

Even though my father interviewed them once, I had a bad feeling about a few. I gave those men forty dollars for their time and trouble. Most of those continued on to Colorado, now intending to strike it rich on their own.

Aug 7

Shortly after noon, I smelled wood smoke and sensed trouble. With my wives staying well behind me, ready for anything, I crept closer, finally finding a camp with twenty-one men. They were laughing and bragging about how rich they would be after today, and what they would do with their riches.

I sent Flower back to warn the wagons since Little Deer’s English still left much to be desired, as did my Arapaho. We were both improving, though. I sent Little Deer to alert the Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors who I knew were in the area keeping an eye on us to make sure we got through safely. They probably already knew the bandits were here, but I wanted to be sure.

An hour later, a scout rode into the bandit’s camp, increasing their number to twenty-two. He warned that the wagons were only fifteen minutes away. The talking stopped as everyone got busy, double-checking that their weapons were loaded and at hand. They put out the campfire, made sure their horses were securely tethered, and headed for the road.

Half the men hid on each side of the road, waiting. A sapling they had already chopped down was propped against a tree near the road. One of their men was standing atop a rise, watching for the wagons. When he waved, they pushed the sapling so it fell, blocking the road.

I almost jumped out of my skin when Little Deer and Flower waved at me from twenty feet away, letting me know they were both back. Little Deer signed that the Ute and Arapaho warriors were already behind the men on both sides of the road and would attack when the first shot was fired, either by me or by the bandits.

I thought about it, wondering if it was right to take preemptive action against the bandits. They hadn’t done anything illegal yet. Then again, I heard them making plans for what they would do with all the money. I watched them set up an ambush when their scout announced our wagons were only minutes away. I decided that dropping the tree across the road, knowing our wagons would have to stop, qualified as the beginning of their attack. I wasn’t going to wait for them to start shooting at our wagons, possibly wounding or killing our people.

I signed back that I would begin firing at a count of three. Little Deer raised her hand and made some strange sign I didn’t recognize. Then she sighted her rifle on one of the bandits. I fired at the leader, hitting him in the chest and dropping him. Little Deer and Flower fired a split second later, and our shots were echoed from all around us as the Ute and Arapaho warriors added their support.

I didn’t even get a second shot off. The second man I was aiming for was hit from behind and fell forward. I think everyone only fired a single shot. I waited for nearly a minute trying to determine if all the bandits were dead or wounded too badly to be of danger. Seeing and hearing nothing, I started crawling towards the area where the bandits had been hiding.

Flower caught my attention, signing for me to stay put. When I signed back asking if there were still bandits alive, she just motioned again for me to wait.

Ten minutes later, I nearly had a heart attack when one of the Ute warriors stepped out from behind a tree just five feet from me. I was starting to question whether I was losing my touch because I was spending less time in the woods than I used to. I had known when Grey Fox was behind me in Leavenworth even though he had been silent. In the last hour, two of my wives and a Ute warrior had all gotten close to me without me realizing it.

“We captured four of the bandits and have two more badly wounded. The rest are dead,” he said in passable English.

I thanked him, and he led me to the six live bandits. One of the wounded men died before I got there. The other wasn’t far behind and died right after I arrived. Once the wagons arrived, we discussed the four remaining prisoners. The warriors had captured the four men who were hiding where none of the others could see them. We decided to go ahead and hang them; they wouldn’t have hesitated to kill us.

I took each bound man off and questioned him where the others couldn’t hear. I asked if there were others in their gang who weren’t here, wondering if there was a ringleader somewhere nearby, or possibly a group hoping to seize part of our land. All four men told the same story. They were just a bunch of discouraged miners who came here to strike it rich. They didn’t come out and say so, but I got the impression they weren’t willing to work hard enough to be successful.

Three of them started robbing and killing other miners. They made enough that they kept doing it. Eventually, they met other disgruntled miners who joined them. There were so many men showing up every day, and men getting discouraged and leaving, that nobody noticed when a miner disappeared.

While they were shopping for supplies in Fort Crius, they realized how much gold we were taking in and decided to rob us, and then head west to buy land in Oregon or California. When I pressed them on any other miners who knew about the attack, one of the men commented that the other miners would have killed them if they knew what they planned to do. They all knew we charged a fair price for the food, clothing, and tools we sold, not gouging them the way they had expected. The miners realized that we were charging higher for the booze and the brothel but were grateful that we didn’t gouge them for the supplies they needed to survive.