Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 27 - CHI-ELD.pdf/173

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COLORADO — COLOSSI the State. Melons from Eocky Ford and peaches from Mesa county are shipped to the east, and in small quantities to Europe. The report for 1898 shows that the staple grains gave the following yield in bushels: wheat, 6,729,565; corn, 3,113,892; barley, 353,952; oats, 3,063,191 ; rye,. 47,484. The hay product was 1,760,728 tons, and potatoes 2,564,331 bushels. The total value of these products was estimated at $17,349,251, as against $3,047,750 in 1882. It has been discovered by experiments conducted by the United States Government, through the Agricultural College, that the soil along the South Platte, the Arkansas and Grand rivers, and also in the San Luis Valley, is adapted for the cultivation of sugar beets, the average crop being 16 tons to the acre, and the proportion of saccharine matter unusually large. Sugar factories have been built at Grand Junction, Eocky Ford, and Sugar City ; the first with a daily capacity of 3500 tons, and the others of 7500 tons. Stock-raising has always played an important part in the development of the State. The native grasses are especially adapted for fodder. The grama, buffalo, and bunch varieties cure on the stem and furnish nutritive food throughout the year. Before the plains were fenced, large herds drifted to the south during the winter ; but sufficient hay and alfalfa are now cut to feed the cattle during the storms, which at longest are brief. As the industry has grown, laws have been enacted concerning branding, herding, and protection from disease ; and a State Board of Inspectors has been formed. In 1884 the number of cattle was given as 1,005,000, and the number of sheep as 1,497,000. In 1899 the number was as follows: cattle, 754,039; sheep, 930,839; horses, 194,923 ; and mules, 7480. The total assessed valuation was $11,627,730, the assessment being about one-third of the market value. Wool in 1898 averaged seven pounds per fleece, the total clip yielding $840,000. The total value of cattle slaughtered in the packing houses in 1898 was $3,168,000. The value of the dairy product in the same year was $13,267,849. Manufactures.—Since 1888 there has been a considerable growth of manufacturing. There are 18 smelters and reduction plants in the State, situated mainly at Denver, Leadville, Durango, and at Pueblo, where there are also blast-furnaces, a steel plant, and rolling mills. The most improved methods of treating ore are used. The cyanide process, introduced in 1890, is now one of the most important factors in the treatment of low-grade and refractory gold and silver ores. The improved dioxide cyanide process was adopted in 1895. One million barrels of flour were produced during 1899, the fifty mills having a capacity of 2,000,000 per annum. Cotton and paper manufactures are carried on in the vicinity of Denver. According to the United States’ Census of 1900, there were in the State 1792 manufacturing establishments (excluding 1778 classified as hand trades, and 292 others, with a product of less than $500 each). They had a total capital of $59,515,279, an average number of 19,948 wage-earners, and products valued at $91,639,495. This sum includes the value of the gold, silver, lead, and copper smelted, which amounted to $44,625,305. Of the other products, iron and steel (valued at $6,108, 295), flouring and grist mill products (valued at $4,528,062), and foundry and machine shop products (valued at $3,986, 915), were the most important. Railways. —The Denver Pacific, built from Cheyenne, reached Denver in June 1870, and the Kansas Pacific in August of the same year. Then followed the Denver and Eio Grande, to which the earlier development of the State is largely due. In 1886 the Colorado Midland started from Colorado Springs westwards, up the Ute Pass, and through the South Park to Leadville, and then over the Continental Divide to Aspen and Glenwood Springs ; it has right of way over the Denver and Eio Grande line to Grand Junction, there connecting with the Eio Grande Western for Salt Lake City and Ogden, and the Pacific Coast. The Colorado and Southern, connecting Colorado with the south, has become an important system. In 1900 there were fifteen railways, with 4685 miles, in operation. The assessment on railways, tramways, telephones, and telegraphs was $35,533,586. Finances.—The assessed valuation in real and personal property in 1876 was $44,130,205 ; in 1899 the total assessed valuation of all properties was $203,861,746; but this wras regarded by the State Board as too low, and 5 per cent, increase was recommended. Taxes were levied in 1899 to the amount of $4,688,458. The total State debt in 1899 was $2,584,443. The cash in the treasury and uncollected taxes, $849,275, leaving a balance of indebtedness of $1,735,167. The total deposits in the 36 national banks on 13th February 1900, was $45,802,863. Education.—Of the public lands, 3,715,555 acres were granted for the support of schools, 46,080 acres for the University, and 90,000 acres for the Agricultural College. In 1900 the number of persons of school age (5 to 20 years inclusive) wras 160,531. The amount apportioned to the various school districts for 1900 was $62,577, and the total value of all school properties was $6,495,850. The salaries paid to the teachers in the public schools during 1899 and 1900 amounted to $1,423,680. Graded schools are found throughout the State, and high schools in all the larger towns. The State institutions are : the University of Colorado, at Boulder ;

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the School of Mines, at Golden : the Agricultural College, at Fort Collins ; the Normal School, at Greeley ; the School for the Deaf and Blind, at Colorado Springs ; the Industrial School for boys, at Golden, and for girls at Aurora. These are supported by a mill tax, and special appropriations. The State University has an annual income of $70,000, and a library of 19,000 volumes; the School of Mines, an income of $37,000 ; and the Normal School an income of $32,000, and a library of 10,000 volumes. The Agricultural College has an income of $65,500, of which $23,000 is from the United States Government. Experiment stations are conducted in connexion with the college at Fort Collins, Eocky Ford, and Cheyenne Wells. There are two institutions for higher education on an independent foundation. Colorado College, at Colorado Springs, is the oldest existing college in the State. Its property in equipment and endowment is $1,500,000, and it has a library of 30,000 volumes. The University of Denver, under Methodist control, is an outgrowth of the Colorado Seminary, the charter of which was granted in 1864. It has associated Law and Medical Schools. The Chamberlin Astronomical Observatory, with a 20inch aperture telescope, is part of its equipment. (W. F. S.) Colorado Spring's, capital of El Paso county, Colorado, U.S.A. It is situated near the centre of the state, upon the high plains near the base of the Rocky Mountains, on Fontaine qui Bouille river, at the mouth of Monument creek, in 38° 50' N. lat. and 104° 49' W. long., at an altitude of 5985 feet. Its situation is fine, commanding a superb view of the mountains, whose culminating point, Pike’s Peak, rises to a height of 14,108 feet, or more than 8000 feet above the city. It is entered by five railways: the Denver and Rio Grande; the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe; the Colorado and Southern; the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific; and the Colorado Midland. It is the site of Colorado College, which in 1899 had a faculty numbering thirty-three, and was attended by 335 students. Colorado Springs was founded in 1871, upon the construction of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, and has had a rapid growth. In its earlier years this was due to the beauty of its situation and its reputation as a health resort for consumptives. In later years the development of the gold mines at Cripple Creek has given it importance as a supply-point for this great mining camp. Population (1880), 4226; (1890), 11,140; (1900), 21,085, of whom 2300 were foreign-born and 875 negroes. Colossi, once the great city of South-West Phrygia, was situated at an altitude of 1150 feet on rising ground on the left bank of the Lycus {Churuk Su), a tributary of the Mseander, at the upper end of a narrow gorge 2^- miles long, through which the river runs between cliffs from 50 to 60 feet high. It stood on the great trade route from Sardis to Celsense and Iconium, and was a large, prosperous, and populous city (Herod, vii. 30; Xenophon, Anab. i. 2, § 6), until its prosperity was ruined by the foundation of Laodicea in a more advantageous position. The town was celebrated for its wool, which was dyed a purple colour called colossinus. Colossse was the seat of an early Christian Church, possibly founded by Epaphras, to which St Paul addressed an epistle. For some centuries it continued to prosper, but during the 7th and 8th centuries it was gradually deserted under pressure of the Arab invasions. Its place was taken by Khonse (Khonas)—a strong fortress on a rugged spur of Mt. Kadmus, 3 miles to the south, which became a place of importance during the wars between the Byzantines and Turks, and was the birthplace of the historian, Nicetas Khoniates. The worship of angels alluded to by St Paul (Col. ii. 18), and condemned in the 4th century by a council at Laodicea, reappears in the later worship of St Michael, in whose honour a celebrated church, destroyed by the Seljuks in the 12 th century, was built on‘the right bank of the Lycus (Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, vol. i. 1895). S. HI. — 19