History of Denver

Panorama of Denver, Colorado, 1898

The history of Denver details the history of the City and County of Denver, Colorado, United States.

19th century

Pike's Peak Gold Rush

The Denver area, part of the Territory of Kansas was virtually unsettled until the late 1850s. Occasional parties of prospectors came looking for gold, then moved on. In July 1858, Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek (in the present-day suburb of Englewood) that yielded about 20 troy ounces (622 grams) of gold, the first significant gold discovery in the Rocky Mountain region. News spread rapidly and by autumn hundreds of men were working the along the South Platte River. By spring 1859, tens of thousands of gold seekers arrived and the Pike's Peak Gold Rush was under way. In the following two years, about 100,000 gold seekers flocked to the region.^[1]

Settlement

Denver City was founded as a mining and supply settlement in Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory, in November of 1858. That summer a group from Lawrence, Kansas, arrived and established Montana City on the banks of the South Platte River. This was the first settlement in what would become the Denver Metropolitan Area. The site faded quickly, however, and was abandoned in favor of Auraria (named after the gold-mining town of Auraria, Georgia) and St. Charles City by the summer of 1859. The Montana City site is now Grant-Frontier Park and includes mining equipment and a log cabin replica.

Larimer Party

Former Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver visited his namesake city in 1875 and in 1882.

In November 1858, General William Larimer, a land speculator from eastern Kansas, placed logs to stake a square-mile claim on the hill overlooking the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek, across the creek from the existing mining settlement of Auraria.

The location was accessible to existing trails and had previously been the site of seasonal encampments of the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Larimer, along with associates in the Denver City Land Company, sold parcels in the town to merchants and miners, with the intention of creating a major city that would cater to new emigrants. The name "Denver City" was chosen to curry favor with Kansas territorial governor James W. Denver, to ensure that the city would become the county seat of then Arapaho County, Kansas. Ironically, when Larimer named it after Denver, he was unaware that the latter had already resigned as governor. In the early years, land parcels were often traded for grubstakes or gambled away by miners in Auraria.

Denver at first was a mining settlement, where gold prospectors panned gold from the sands of nearby Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. But the prospectors discovered that the gold deposits in these streams were discouragingly poor and quickly exhausted. It appeared that Denver City might become an instant ghost town, but discoveries by George A. Jackson and John H. Gregory of rich gold deposits in the mountains west of Denver in early 1859 assured Denver's future as a supply hub for the new mines in the mountains.^[2]

Government

On October 24, 1859, an election was held to form a provisional government for the goldfields. The formation of the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson was approved by a vote of 1,852 to 280, and Robert Williamson Steele was elected Governor. Governor Steele opened the first session of the Jefferson Territorial Legislature in Denver City on November 7, 1859. On December 3, 1859, the legislature approved the consolidation and incorporation of the City of Denver, Auraria, and Highland. On January 1, 1860, Samuel Beall wrote a memorial to the Congress of the United States requesting federal approval for the newly formed Territory of Jefferson. The Congress, embroiled in the tumultuous debate over slavery, failed to consider the new territory. The election of Abraham Lincoln for the President of the United States on November 6, 1860, led to the secession of nine southern slave states and the threat of civil war among the states. The departure of the seceding state delegates and the arrival of newly elected Republican delegates shifted the balance of power in Congress.

On February 28, 1861, outgoing U.S. President James Buchanan signed an Act of Congress organizing the free Territory of Colorado.^[3] On March 25, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed William Gilpin of Missouri the first Governor of the Territory of Colorado. Governor Gilpin arrived in Denver City on May 29, 1861. On April 12, 1861, South Carolina artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter to start the American Civil War. The Colorado General Assembly first met on September 9, 1861. The legislature created 17 counties for the Colorado Territory on November 1, 1861,^[4] including a new Arapahoe County with Denver City as its seat. The legislature approved the reincorporation of the City of Denver, Auraria, and Highland as Denver City on November 7, 1861.^[5] Denver City served as the Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until consolidation in 1902.^[6] In 1865, Denver City became the Territorial Capital.^[4] With its new-found importance, Denver City shortened its name to just Denver.^[6] On August 1, 1876, Denver became the temporary state capital when Colorado was admitted to the Union.^[4], and a statewide vote in 1881 made Denver the permanent state capital.

Silver and sin, 1870-1900

Between 1870 and 1890 the city's population increased from less than 5,000 to over 100,000.

In the 1880s silver was discovered in the nearby mountains, leading Denver to a new surge of gaudiness and opulence, typified by Tabor's fancy opera house. The silver madness was as economically unstable as the gold rush 20 years before. The landmark 10-story Brown Palace Hotel in 1893 was designed by noted local architect Frank Edbrooke.

In 1893 financial panic swept the nation, and the silver boom collapsed. By this time, however, the city's economy was gaining a more stable base rooted in railroads, wholesale trade, manufacturing, food processing, and servicing the growing agricultural and ranching hinterland. For example, between 1870 and 1890, manufacturing output soared from $600,000 to $40 million, and population grew by a factor of 20 times to 107,000. It was the nation's #26 city in size.^[7]

The 1880s and 1890s saw more corruption as underworld bosses such as Soapy Smith and Lou Blonger worked side-by-side with city officials and police to profit from gambling and other criminal enterprises. The city provided lavishly for the lusts of the rich miners visiting the city. There was a range of bawdy houses to fit every pocketbook, from the sumptuous quarters of renowned madams such as Mattie Silks and Jenny Rogers to the most squalid "cribs" located a few blocks farther north along Market Street. Gambling flourished as sharp-eyed bunco artists exploited every chance to separate miners from their hard-earned gold. Edward Chase ran scrupulously honest games in several elegant establishments and regularly entertained many of Denver's most influential leaders. By 1880 Denver's vice district ranked only slightly behind San Francisco's Barbary Coast and New Orleans's Storyville. Most of the city's seamiest attractions were within a few steps of the railroad station, but newsstands sold guidebooks that provided additional addresses. Sin was good for business; visitors spent lavishly, then left town. As long as madams conducted their business discreetly, and "crib girls" did not advertise their availability too crudely, authorities took their bribes and looked the other way. Occasional cleanups and crack downs satisfied the demands for reform.^[8]

Music halls

In legitimate entertainment, music stood high, beginning with the Apollo Hall in 1859. The Denver Theatre, home of the city's first opera performance in 1864, the Tabor Grand Opera House (1881)and the Broadway Theatre (1890–1955) brought in internationally renowned performers. Many other theaters were built, most of which did not last very long. Denver churches were also important venues for music performances in the last half of the 19th century.^[9]

Festival of Mountain and Plain

Promoted by William N. Byers publisher of the Rocky Mountain News the Festival of Mountain and Plain was a great 3 day party featuring parades, masquerading, music and dance which nominally commemorated the settlement of the West. From 1895 to 1902 it provided relief from the economic and psychological depression resulting from the Panic of 1893 which devastated silver mining in Colorado.^[10]

Panorama of Denver circa 1898.

Twentieth century

The Colorado State Capitol

Progressive era: 1900-1945

By 1890, Denver had grown to be the fifth-largest city west of the Mississippi River, and surpassed Omaha in population by the turn of the 20th century.^[11] The era of the 1890s played an important role in Denver's history, as this is when the city began to take on a "big city" image. The population doubled between 1900 and 1920, reaching 256,000. Growth rates slowed somewhat, as the total in 1940 was 322,000, with few people as yet living in the suburbs.

Local boosters created the National Stock Growers Conventions in 1898 and 1899. The National Western Stock Show began in 1907 as an annual event attracting cattlemen from a wide region. The Progressive Era brought an Efficiency Movement, typified in 1902 when the city and Denver County were made coextensive;^[12]

Denver pioneered the juvenile court movement under Judge Ben Lindsey (1869–1943), a nationally famous reformer.^[13] Mayor Robert Speer was a prominent progressive who gave the city world leadership in building parks. Boasting itself the "Queen City of the Plains," Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1908, then waited 100 years for its return.

Religion

The Social Gospel was the religious wing of the progressive movement which had the aim of combating injustice, suffering and poverty in society. Denver, Colorado, was a center of Social Gospel activism. Thomas Uzzel led the Methodist People's Tabernacle from 1885 to 1910. He established a free dispensary for medical emergencies, an employment bureau for job seekers, a summer camp for children, night schools for extended learning, and English language classes. The Baptist minister Jim Goodhart set up an employment bureau, and provided food and lodging for tramps and hobos at the mission he ran. He became city chaplain and director of public welfare of Denver in 1918. Besides these Protestants, Reform Jews and Catholics helped build Denver's social welfare system in the early 20th century.^[14] Myron W. Reed was the leading Christian socialist in the American West in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. He came to the city in 1884 as pastor of the affluent First Congregational Church. Christian socialism, for Reed, meant that the state should manage production and instill cooperation to provide what he called "the comfortable life" for all. He was a leader in the city's Charity Organization Society, even while questioning that organization's efforts to distinguish the "worthy" from the "unworthy" poor. Reed spoke out for the rights of labor unions and was voted out of his pulpit during the bitter 1894 strike at Cripple Creek. He ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1886 and worked for Colorado's Populist party in the 1890s. A former abolitionist Reed spoke out for African American and Native American rights while denouncing Chinese and eastern European immigrants as dependent tools of corporations who were lowering "American" standards of living.^[15]

Women leaders

Women suffrage came early, in 1893, led by married middle class women who organized first for prohibition and then for suffrage, with the goal of upholding republican citizenship for women and purifying society. The Denver Fortnighly Club played a major role. Caroline Nichols Churchill, edited and published the Colorado Antelope, subsequently the Queen Bee, beginning in 1879 and boasted that she and her journal played a crucial role in the passage of the referendum in 1893 that granted the vote to women in Colorado. There was a strained relationship between the radical and eccentric Churchill and the mainstream women, as Churchill was a confrontational and outspoken proponent of the equal rights of minority ethnic groups.^[16]

World War II and after

Until World War II, Denver's economy was dependent mainly on the processing and shipping of minerals and ranch products, especially beef and lamb. During the war and in the years following, specialized industries were introduced into the city, making it a major manufacturing center. Population expanded rapidly, and many old buildings were torn down to make way for new housing projects. Many of Denver's finest buildings of the frontier era were demolished, such as the Tabor Opera House, as the city has expanded upward and outward and acquired new lands for buildings and parking lots.

Labor unions

Labor unions were active in Denver, especially the construction and printing crafts affiliated with the AFL, and the railroad brotherhoods. After being welcomed at the 1908 Democratic National Convention, held in Denver, the AFL unions, who formed the Denver Trades and Labor Assembly, generally supported Democratic candidates.^[17] A major strike in 1920 by workers on the street railroads led to violence with seven dead and 52 seriously wounded until federal troops arrived.^[18]

In 1902 Arapahoe County was split into three parts: a new consolidated City and County of Denver, a new Adams County, and the remainder of the Arapahoe County to be renamed South Arapahoe County.

In early 1913, members of the Industrial Workers of the World, known as the Wobblies, conducted a free speech fight in Denver. City authorities had refused to allow IWW organizers to speak to people on street corners. Union members challenged the policy, with the aim of filling the jails to put pressure on city leaders. The Wobbly tactic, which they had employed successfully for half a decade throughout the North and West, clogged the courts so they couldn't handle anything but free speech cases. Taxpayers complained that they were being forced to feed "whole armies of jailed Wobblies."^[19] In her autobiography, Emma Goldman wrote of twenty-seven IWW members, arrested during the Denver free speech fight, who were "tortured in the sweat-box for refusing to work on the rock-pile. On their release they marched through the streets with banners and songs..."^[20] The union eventually won the right to speak to workers, and within a year had formed two Denver "branches."^[21]

Politics

The 1908 Democratic National Convention was staged to promote Denver's prominence, and to signify the city's participation on the national political and socioeconomic stage.

Invention of the cheeseburger was claimed by Louis Ballast who operated Denver's Humpty Dumpty Barrel drive-in. He applied for a patent on his invention in 1935.^[22]

Since 1945

Up until World War II, Denver's economy was dependent mainly on the processing and shipping of minerals and ranch products, especially beef and lamb. During the war and in the years following, specialized industries were introduced into the city, making it a major manufacturing center. Population expanded rapidly, and many old buildings were torn down to make way for new housing projects. Many of Denver's finest buildings of the frontier era were demolished, such as the Tabor Opera House, as the city has expanded upward and outward and acquired new lands for buildings and parking lots. By 1950 middle class families were moving away from downtown to larger houses and better schools; the subsurbs started the rapid growth.

Denver was a gathering point for poets of the "beat generation." Beat icon Neal Cassady was raised on Larimer Street in Denver, and a portion of Jack Kerouac's beat masterpiece On the Road takes place in the city, and is based on the beat's actual experiences in Denver during a road trip. Beat poet Allen Ginsberg lived for a time in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, and he helped found the Buddhist college, Naropa University or the "Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa" in nearby Boulder.

Denver was selected to host the 1976 Winter Olympics to coincide with Colorado's centennial anniversary, but Colorado voters struck down ballot initiatives allocating public funds to pay for the high costs of the games, so they were moved to Innsbruck, Austria. The movement against hosting the games was based largely on environmental issues and was led by then State Representative Richard Lamm. Lamm was subsequently elected as Colorado governor in 1974.

Recent politics

Federico Peña (1983–1991) became the city's first Latino mayor in 1983. One of his central campaign messages was a promise of inclusiveness targeted at minorities. Latino turnout reached 73% in 1983, a contrast to the usually low Latino rates elsewhere.

In 1991, at a time the city was 12% Black and 20% Latino, Wellington Webb won a come-from-behind victory as the city's first black mayor (1991–2003). The Hispanic and Black minority communities supported each other's candidates at 75-85% levels.^[23] Webb, who won 44% of the white vote, reached out to the business community, promoting downtown economic development and major projects such as the new airport, Coors Field, and a new convention center. During his administration, Denver built the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library in the historic Five Points Neighborhood, and helped pass several neighborhood bonds for infrastructure improvements citywide.

Businessman John Hickenlooper was elected mayor in 2003 and reelected in 2007 with 87% of the vote.

Bibliography

• Arrington, Leonard J., and John R. Alley, Jr. Harold F. Silver: Western Inventor, Businessman, and Civic Leader. 1992. 250 pp. In the 1930s-1960s Silver grew rich by inventing a portable sugar beet piler and a sugar diffuser that sharply lowered costs in the sugar industry; he was even more successful in inventing continuous process coal mining machinery.
• Barth, Gunther Paul. Instant Cities: Urbanization and the Rise of San Francisco and Denver (1975) excerpt and text search
• Brosnan, Kathleen A. Uniting Mountain and Plain: Cities, Law, and Environmental Change along the Front Range (2002) says Denver modernized by laying waste to the environment in late 19th century
• Brundage, David. The Making of Western Labor Radicalism: Denver's Organized Workers, 1878-1905 (1994) excerpt and text search
• Campbell, D'Ann. "Judge Ben Lindsey and the Juvenile Court Movement, 1901-1904." Arizona and the West 1976 18(1): 5-20. Issn: 0004-1408
• Carver, Sharon Snow. "Club Women of the Three Intermountain Cities of Denver, Boise and Salt Lake City between 1893 and 1929." PhD dissertation Brigham Young U. 2000. 356 pp. DAI 2000 61(5): 2000-A. DA9972727 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Dickson, Lynda Fayes. "The Early Club Movement among Black Women in Denver: 1890-1925." PhD dissertation U. of Colorado, Boulder 1982. 288 pp. DAI 1982 43(6): 2115-2116-A. DA8221063 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Dorsett, Lyle. The Queen City: A History of Denver (1983), well-illustrated with focus on business elites and politicians
• Edwards, Susan Jane. "Nature as Healer: Denver, Colorado's Social and Built Landscapes of Health, 1880-1930." PhD dissertation U. of Colorado, Boulder 1994. 325 pp. DAI 1995 55(10): 3283-A. DA9506327 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Foster, Mark S. Henry M. Porter: Rocky Mountain Empire Builder. U. Press of Colorado, 1991. 184 pp. Porter (1838–1936) was a railroad magnate and hospital builder
• Goodstein, Phil H. Denver from the Bottom Up: A People's History of Early Colorado. Vol. 1: From Sand Creek to Ludlow. 2003. 488 pp. a left-wing approach to old-fashioned political history
• Goodstein, Phil H. Denver in our time: A people's history of the modern Mile High City (1999)
• Gutfreund, Owen D. Twentieth-Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape. 2004. 297 pp.; Denver is one of three case studies
• Hendricks, Rickey and Mark S. Foster. For a Child's Sake: History of the Children's Hospital, Denver, Colorado, 1910-1990. U. Press of Colorado, 1994. 209 pp.
• Hero, Rodney. "The Election of Hispanics in City Government: An Analysis of the Election of Federico Peña as Mayor of Denver," Western Political Quarterly 40 (March 1987): 93–105;
• Hero, Rodney. and Kathleen Beatty. "The Election of Frederico Peña as Mayor of Denver: Analysis and Implications," Social Science Quarterly 70 (June 1989): 300–310.
• Jones, William C. and Kenton Forrest. Denver: A Pictorial History from Frontier Camp to Queen City of the Plains. 1973. 334 pp.
• Kaufmann, Karen Malmuth. "Voting in American Cities: The Group Interest Theory of Local Voting Behavior." PhD dissertation U. of California, Los Angeles 1998. 251 pp. DAI 1999 59(9): 3629-A. DA9906182 case studies of Denver 1983-1995. Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Kelly, George V. The Old Gray Mayors of Denver. Boulder, 1974. 266 pp.
• Knapp, Anne Curtis. "Making an Orderly Society: Criminal Justice in Denver, Colorado, 1858-1900." PhD dissertation U. of California, San Diego 1983. 324 pp. DAI 1984 44(11): 3467-A. DA8405206 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Leonard, Stephen J. and Thomas J. Noel. Denver: Mining Camp to Metropolis (1990), the standard history
• Ling, Richard Seyler. "The Social Construction of Synthetic Charisma: A Sociological Examination of the 1983 Denver Mayoral Campaign." PhD dissertation U. of Colorado, Boulder 1984. 246 pp. DAI 1985 45(7): 2261-A. DA8422625 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Miller, Jeff. Stapleton International Airport: "The First Fifty Years." Boulder: Pruett, 1983.
• Morley, Judy Mattivi. Historic Preservation and the Imagined West: Albuquerque, Denver, and Seattle. 2006. 204 pp.
• Noel, Thomas J. The City and the Saloon: Denver, 1858-1916 (1996) excerpt and text search
• Noel, Thomas J. Colorado Catholicism and the Archdiocese of Denver, 1857-1989 (1990) full text online
• Noel, Thomas J. Denver Landmarks & Historic Districts: A Pictorial Guide (2001)
• Noel, Thomas J. Mile high city: An illustrated history of Denver (2001)
• Noel, Thomas J. and Barbara S. Norgren. Denver: The City Beautiful and Its Architects, 1893-1941 (1987)
• Peterson, Eric ed. Frommer's Denver, Boulder & Colorado Springs (2007) excerpt and text search
• Pickering, John Richard. "Blueprint of Power: The Public Career of Robert Speer in Denver, 1898-1918." PhD dissertation U. of Denver 1978. 247 pp. DAI 1979 39(11): 6920-A
• Portrait and Biographical Record of Denver and Vicinity Colorado (1898), many short biographies full text online
• Reese, Carol McMichael. "The Politician and the City: Urban Form and City Beautiful Rhetoric in Progressive Era Denver." PhD dissertation U. of Texas, Austin 1992. 567 pp. DAI 1992 53(4): 969-A. DA9225704 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Rose, Mark H. Cities of Light and Heat: Domesticating Gas and Electricity in Urban America 1995. 229 pp. case study of Denver and Kansas City
• Smiley, Jerome C. History of Denver: with outlines of the earlier history of the Rocky Mountain country (1903); Smiley (1858–1924) compiled a large amount of information in 950pp; available on cd-rom
• Stefanco, Carolyn J. "Pathways to Power: Women and Voluntary Associations in Denver, Colorado, 1876-1893." PhD dissertation Duke U. 1987. 263 pp. DAI 1988 49(4): 932-933-A. DA8810886 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Taylor, Mary Jean. "Leadership Responses to Desegregation in the Denver Public Schools: A Historical Study, 1959-1977." PhD dissertation U. of Denver 1990. 364 pp. DAI 1990 51(6): 1866-A. DA9030097 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Webb, Wellington E. and Cindy Brovsky. Wellington Webb: The Man, the Mayor, and the Making of Modern Denver (2007) 404 pages excerpts and text search

See also

• Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory
• Arrappahoe County, Jefferson Territory
• Arapahoe County, Colorado Territory
• City and County of Denver, Colorado
• History of Colorado
• Territory of Kansas
• Territory of Jefferson
• Territory of Colorado
• State of Colorado

References

1. ^ Gehling, Richard (2006). "The Pike's Peak Gold Rush". Richard Gehling. Archived from the original on 2008-06-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20080628172253/http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Falls/2000/index.html. Retrieved 2007-06-12. 
2. ^ Robert L. Brown (1985) The Great Pikes Peak Gold Rush, Caldwell, Ida.: Caxton.
3. ^ "An Act to provide a temporary Government for the Territory of Colorado" (PDF). Thirty-sixth United States Congress. 1861-02-28. http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/territory.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-12. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} "State Government History". State of Colorado, Department of Personnel & Administration, Colorado State Archives. April 18, 2001. http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/arcgov.html. Retrieved November 28, 2006. 
5. ^ "Colorado Municipal Incorporations". State of Colorado, Department of Personnel & Administration, Colorado State Archives. December 1, 2004. http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/muninc.html. Retrieved November 28, 2006. 
6. ^ ^{a b} About Denver. The City and County of Denver. Retrieved on July 20, 2006.
7. ^ Leonard and Noel (1990) pp 44-45
8. ^ Clark Secrest. Hell's Belles: Prostitution, Vice, and Crime in Early Denver, with a Biography of Sam Howe, Frontier Lawman. 2nd ed 2002, heavily illustrated.
9. ^ Henry Miles, "Where Music Dwells: Denver's Earliest Concert Spaces." Colorado Heritage 2002 (Sum): 32-46.
10. ^ "The Festival of Mountain and Plain" Pages 383-390 Proceedings of the Second Annual Convention of the Denver National Live Stock Association...with an Appendix on the City of Denver and Its Resources, (1899) compiled by John McNamara, Secretary, Association Festival of Mountain and Plain
11. ^ US POPULATION HISTORY FROM 1850: 50 LARGEST CITIES
12. ^ Since then both the city and the county have been governed by a nonpartisan mayor and nine-member council.
13. ^ See
14. ^ Jeremy Bonner, "Religion," in Rick Newby, ed, The Rocky Mountain Region (Greenwood Press, 2004) p 370
15. ^ James A. Denton, Rocky Mountain Radical: Myron W. Reed, Christian Socialist. 1997.
16. ^ Jennifer A. Thompson, "From Travel Writer to Newspaper Editor: Caroline Churchill and the Development of Her Political Ideology Within the Public Sphere." Frontiers 1999 20(3): 42-63. Issn: 0160-9009 Fulltext: in Jstor
17. ^ See Webb (2007) p. 82, 189, 366
18. ^ Edward T. Devine et al. The Denver tramway strike of 1920 (1921) online edition
19. ^ Labor's Untold Story, Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais, 1974, page 174.
20. ^ Emma Goldman, Living My Life, Dover Publications, 1970, page 534.
21. ^ David Brundage, The Making of Western Labor Radicalism: Denver's Organized Workers, 1878-1905, 1994, pages 161-162.
22. ^ magazineUSA.com | U.S. Originals | Cheeseburger & Hamburger History
23. ^ Karen M. Kaufmann, "Black and Latino Voters in Denver: Responses to Each Other's Political Leadership." Political Science Quarterly 2003 118(1): 107-125. ISSN: 0032-3195 Fulltext: Ebsco

External links

• City and County of Denver website
• Soapy Smith: Denver Crime Boss
• The Blonger Gang
• 1905 Magazine Article with photos