In the quarter of a century--with the sixth year now added--since Colorado became a state there has passed over twenty million acres of government lands into the individual ownership of men whose capital, for the most part, consisted solely of the horses and wagon that they brought with them. Of this vast area there are some two and a half million acres under agricultural cultivation, which are assessed at a valuation of some twenty-five millions. The Boston and Colorado smelter, established in 1873, has produced a valuation in gold, silver, and copper of nearly ninety-six millions. In the year of 1905 the Colorado mines,--gold, silver, lead, copper, and zinc,--all told, produced nearly ninety million dollars.
The population of Colorado is increasing rapidly, not only by the stream of immigration that pours in of those who come _con intentione_, but to a considerable degree by those who come only as tourists and visitors, and who become so fascinated with Colorado's charm, and so impressed with her rich and varied resources, that they remain. The development of this state is one of the most remarkable and thrilling pages in American history. It is the story of personal sacrifice, personal heroism, personal devotion to the nobler purposes and ideals of life that no one can read unmoved.
"There can be no backward movement, not even a check in the steady tramp of such a conquering army," said the "Denver Republican" editorially. "Before it, mountains melt into bars of gold, of silver, of copper, lead, zinc, and iron. It passes over virgin soil, and behind it spring up fields of grain and groves of fruit. It brings coal from distant fields, rocks from far-away hills, and its artisans mould and weld and send out tools of trade and articles of merchandise to all the world.
"It pushes the railroads it needs to where it needs them, and the world comes to marvel at its audacity. It finds to-day what yesterday it needed and to-morrow it must have. It waits only the world's needs or pleasures to find yet other ways to supply them."
The prosperity of Colorado is a remarkable fact in our national history. By some untraced law, defects, faults, misfortunes, or crimes are always made more prominent than virtue and good fortune. The crime is telegraphed everywhere, the good deed is passed over in silence--as a rule. And so the strikes, and the outlawry, and the discords and troubles of Colorado have been very widely heralded, while there has been less general recognition of the firm and just governmental authority that has held these outbreaks in check, and has almost succeeded in ending them entirely.