OCR Text |
Show CHAPTER XIV. SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. Denver and Auraria were separated by Cherry Creek, at that time a very insignificant stream, which had a flow of water in the spring, from ten to twenty feet wide and about six inches deep. The "high water" continued two or three months, after which it diminished to a silvery, thread like current. The rise and fall of the stream was considered of so little consequence that houses were built close to the water's brink, and many in the channel itself. Two flattened pine logs with a rough board railing, formed a foot bridge from bank to bank, where Larimer street now crosses. A flour barrel had been sunk at this point, which supplied the citizens with water. Rivalry between the towns ran high. Society was full of "envy, hatred, malice and all uncharitableness." "Are you a Denver man or an Aurarian ?" was the one absorbing local question. On the last week of March, 1860, the citizens held a mass meeting and passed the following: "WHEREAS, The towns at and near the mouth of Cherry creek are, and of right ought to be, one; therefore, be it Resolved, That from this time Auraria proper shall be known as Denver City, West Division, and we hereby authorize the board of directors to change the name on the plat accordingly." At the close of the year 1860, there were sixty thousand people in the Territory, and Denver had a population of about four thousand. Even at this early day the young metropolis was fairly supplied with the three great 63 |