The Hon. Henry M. Teller, senior senator of Colorado, is one of the most interesting men in the Centennial State, and the traveller who may meet and talk with him is impressed with his quiet sincerity, with the sense of reserved power with which he seems endowed, and the refinement and directness of his methods. He is by birth an Eastern man, and a graduate of Harvard; but his mature life has been passed in Colorado. As a lawyer his law office claims much of his time and thought, even with all the great tide of national interests with which he is identified. He is a thorough and, indeed, an astute politician; not in the "machine" sense, but with a very clear and comprehensive grasp of the situation and a large infusion of practical sagacity. Senator Teller is in no sense an enthusiast. He is responsive to high aims and high ideals; he knows what they are, so to speak; he recognizes them on sight; he never falls into the error of under-valuing them; but he is not a man to be carried away by an ecstatic vision, and he would have no use for wings at all where he had feet. He would regard the solid earth as a better foundation, on the whole, than the air, and one more suited to existing conditions.
Senator Teller has had more than a quarter of a century's experience in political life and in statesmanship. For two years he was a member of the Cabinet. For twenty-seven years he has been in the Senate, where, with Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, he shared the highest honor, and the most absolute confidence, in both his flawless integrity and conspicuous ability, that the Senate, and the nation as well, can give to him.
Senator Patterson, the junior senator from Colorado, is a man whom, if he encounters an obstacle does not grant it the dignity of recognition. He instantly discovers the end,—the desired result,—and declares, per saltum, "It is right; it should be done,—it shall be done." Senator Patterson is a man of very keen perceptions and one with whom it is easy to come into touch instantly; he is responsive, sympathetic, full of faith that the thing that ought to be accomplished can be accomplished, and therefore that it shall be. Senator Patterson has the typical American experience of successful men lying behind him. He was on familiar terms with the intricacies of a newspaper office in his youth; he studied in an Indiana college without an annual expenditure of that twenty thousand dollars which some of the latter-day Harvard undergraduates find indispensable to the process of securing their "B. A.," and tradition records, indeed, that the junior Colorado senator, in the prehistoric days of his youth, set out for the fountain of learning with a capital of forty dollars; that he frugally walked from Crawfordsville to Indianapolis that he might not deplete his financial estate which was destined to buy a scholarship, and that in this unrecorded tour in the too, too truly rural region of his early life, he cleaned two clocks on the way in payment for lodging, and that he cleaned them uncommonly well. Of all this traditionary history who shall say? Senator Patterson is a man who would always keep faith with his aims and convictions. He is sunny and full of wit, and full of faith in the ultimate triumph of good things in general, and is, all in all, one of the most genial and delightful of men—and senators.
It is related that Senator Patterson first dawned upon Denver in its primeval period of 1872, when its municipal affairs were conducted by two prominent—if not eminent—gentlemen, one of whom was the champion gambler, and the other the champion brewer of the metropolis. There were eleven thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight other citizens in this municipality besides the brewer and the gambler (and the population was said to have been twelve thousand in all), and the eleven thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight, like "The Ten" of early Florentine history, decided that would "reform the town." Their united effort was to elect Mr. Patterson as Mayor. And a good one he proved; and he has gone on and on, in the minds as well as in the hearts of his fellow-citizens, until now he is the colleague of Senator Teller, and he offers another typical illustration of true American integrity and honorable ambition and success. Personally, Senator Patterson is one of the most winning men in the world, and one delights in his success and the high estimation in which he is held.
The development of Colorado and other parts of the great Southwest during the past half-century has created a new order of employment in that of the government expert,—the specialist in upland or hydraulic irrigation, in engineering and mining problems. The government surveying work has also increased largely, both in extent and in the greater number of specialties now required. The Geological Survey and the Agricultural Department, both included under the Department of the Interior, are rapidly multiplying branches of work that require both the skilled training and ability for original research and accomplishment. These positions, which command government salaries at from some eighteen to twenty-five hundred dollars a year, afford such opportunity for the expert to reveal his value that private corporations and business houses continually draw on the ranks of the government employees. Of late years the demand for the expert irrigation engineer has been so great in Colorado as to seriously embarrass the government forces by drawing some of the best men for private service. Denver is an especial centre for these enterprises, as being the natural metropolis for the vast inter-mountain region and the plains country of the Missouri River. This vast territory will support many millions more of population. In fact, the dwellers within this described territory at this day are but pioneers on the frontier to what the future will develop, although they already enjoy all the benefits of the older states, with countless advantages beside which they cannot enjoy.
The smelteries in Denver, of which the Grant is the largest, treat millions of pounds of copper and lead, and great quantities of silver and gold, while there are also extensive ones in Pueblo, Leadville, Durango, and other places. There is also a good proportion of Colorado ore which is not treated at all at smelteries, but is of a free-milling order. The revenue from mining has exceeded fifty millions of dollars annually of late years, but the revenue from agriculture exceeds that of the mines, and to these must be added some twenty millions a year from live stock during the past two or three years. In the aggregate, Colorado has an internal revenue of hardly less than one hundred millions a year, and this largely passes through Denver as the distributing point, constituting the Capital one of the most prosperous of young cities. Denver stands alone in a rich region. One thousand miles from Chicago, six hundred miles from Kansas City, and four hundred miles from Salt Lake City, Denver holds its place without any rival.
The ideal conditions of living have never been entirely combined in any one locality on this sublunary planet, so far as human history reveals; and with all the scenic charm, the rich and varied resources, and the phenomenal development of Colorado, no one could truthfully describe it as Utopia. There is no royal road to high achievement in any line. Difficulties and obstacles are "a part of the play," and he alone is wise who, by his own determination, faith, and persistence of energy, transforms his very obstacles into stepping-stones and thus gains the strength of that which he overcomes.
Northern Colorado has great resources even beyond the coal fields that will make it the power centre; with its prestige of Denver, and such surrounding towns as Greeley, Boulder, Fort Collins, Golden, and others, all of which fall within a group of social and commercial centres that will soon be interconnected by a network of electric trolley lines. For the electric road between Greeley and Denver Mr. J. D. Houseman has secured a right of way one hundred and fifty feet wide, the rails being midway between the Union Pacific and the Burlington lines. Mr. Houseman is one of the noted financiers of the East who came to Denver to incorporate and build this road, and his is only one of three companies that are now in consultation with the power company negotiating for the supplies which will enable them to build the proposed new roads.
The Seeman Tunnel, which is to be constructed near Idaho Springs, at a distance of fifty miles from Denver, and which is to be twelve miles in length, although at an elevation of eighty-five hundred feet, is yet to extend under Fall River and the Yankee, Alice, and the Lombard mining districts. It will be one of the marvels of the state, and will penetrate a thousand mining veins. The Continental Mines, Power and Reduction Company, recently incorporated with a capital of three millions, of which Captain Seeman is the president, owns many of the mining veins which will be touched by this tunnel. Many of the veins to which this tunnel will afford approach have not been accessible heretofore for more than four or five months in the year. For the remaining six or seven months travel is practically impossible in these mountains; the "claims" cannot be reached, as they lie in the region of perpetual snow. When the Seeman Tunnel is completed the owner of any claim that is tapped by it can, by paying a certain royalty per ton for each ton of ore mined, obtain the right to work it in the tunnel, thus being able to proceed through the entire year and at a far less cost in production than at present. Regarding this gigantic enterprise, Captain Seeman said, in June of 1906, that the work would be pushed as rapidly as men, money, and machinery could advance it, and, he added: "I consider it one of the greatest tunnels ever attempted, and one that will hold the record for mining tunnels. I am confident that we will strike enough ore within the first two or three miles to keep us busy for years." The Leviathan is one of the first veins that the tunnel is expected to tap,—a vein three hundred feet wide on the surface,—and while already traced for more than three miles, it holds every promise for as yet uncalculated extension. The Lombard is another vein of leading importance which promises to be a bonanza. Gold is the principal mineral that appears in these veins, although silver, lead, and copper are found. Another ore, tungsten, used for hardening in armor plates, large guns, and the best mechanical implements,—an ore valued at six hundred dollars per ton,—has been discovered in these veins. The Seeman Tunnel is located directly under James's Peak.
Another of the remarkable engineering marvels that mark the progress of Colorado is the Moffat road, the new railroad between Denver and Salt Lake City, now open as far as Kremling, which initiated its passenger service in the late June of 1906 with daily excursions, in solid vestibuled trains, making the round trip between Denver and Tolland, Corona (the region of perpetual snow) and Arrow, on the Pacific slope of the Continental Divide, in one day. This vast enterprise is due to the genius and the prophetic vision of President David H. Moffat of the First National Bank in Denver, one of the leaders in all that makes for the best interests and the advancement of the Centennial State, and of the future of Denver the Beautiful. Mr. Moffat says: