st post to the west in
General Sherman's command. From thence we followed the course of
the Cache la Poudre. On the way we camped near a station of the
Overland Stage Company, for change of horses and for meals, in a
charming and picturesque region. The keeper of the station soon
called and inquired for me, and I found that he was a former resident
of Mansfield, who married the daughter of an old friend. He invited
our party to his house, and there I met his wife, who, in this
region without any neighbors or habitations near, seemed to be
perfectly happy and fearless, though often disturbed by threatened
Indian outbreaks. We were handsomely entertained. It was a great
relief to sleep one night in a comfortable bed, after sleeping for
many nights with two in a narrow wagon. We then proceeded to
Greeley, where we found a small settlement of farmers. From thence
to Denver, we found a few cabins scattered over a vast open plain
stretching as far as the eye could reach to the east, with the
mountains on the west rising in grandeur and apparently presenting
an insurmountable barrier. I have seen many landscapes since that
were more bold and striking, but this combination of great mountains
and vast plains, side by side, made an impression on my mind as
lasting as any natural landscape I have seen.

At Denver, General Sherman and I were handsomely entertained by
the citizens, many of whom General Sherman knew as soldiers under
his command during the war, and some of whom I knew as former
residents of Ohio. They were enthusiastic in their praise of
Colorado. It seemed to me the air was charged with a superabundance
of ozone, for everyone was so hopeful of the future of Denver, that
even the want of rain did not discourage them and some of them
tried to convince me that irrigation from the mountains was better
than showers from the sky. Denver was then a town of less than
5,000 inhabitants and now contains more than 110,000. Colorado
had less than 50,000 inhabitants in 1870, and in 1890 it had 412,198,
an increase of nearly ten fold in twenty years. But this marvelous
growth does not spring from the invigorating air and flowing springs
of Colorado, but from the precious metals stored in untold quantities
in her mountains. From Denver General Sherman had to continue his
inspection to the southern posts, and I was called home to take
part in the pending canvass. I started in a coach peculiar to the
country, with