Railroad Service.— The railroad lines enter ing the city are the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, the Colo rado Midland, the Denver and Rio Grande, the Union Pacific, the Colorado and Southern, the Denver and Salt Lake and the Denver, North western and Pacific. Of these, jointly with others, four continue across the continent, and the Denver and Salt Lake, now under con struction, will make the fifth. The Union Pacific Railroad takes its passengers through Denver to the western coast by way of Cheyenne and Ogden; the Burlington and Rock Island transfer to the Union Pacific, Rio Grande or Santa Fe; and the Santa Fe, whose main line extends south of Denver across the conti nent through New Mexico and Arizona, makes southern connection for Denver. The greatest transportation enterprise of recent years, in volving a six-mile tunnel through the Rocky Mountains, is the construction of the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad, by which the rail dis tance between Denver and Salt Lake City will be shortened 100 miles.
Commerce, As a commercial centre Denver is increasing in importance each year, and a combination of natural conditions gives much promise to the city. In 1890 manu factured products totaled $30,000,000 and in 1915 $62,000,000. The wholesalers sold in 1915 $53,000,000 worth of goods. Foundry, railway and mining machinery are manufactured. Five flouring mills have daily capacity of 3,500 bar rels. Four paint manufactories and one varnish factory have a total annual output of $1,125,000. Window and plate glass is not made in Denver, but mirrors and ornamental art glass made and jobbed in 1915 totaled $750,000. Denver is the distributing point for Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and Kansas. The paints and varnishes produced are especially adapted to dry climate use. The live stock interests of the West centre in the Denver Union Stock Yards and added packing plants; 425,000 head of cattle (chiefly Western) were received in 1915. The packing companies
are at present (1916) increasing their capacity at a cost of half a million dollars; 768,421 head of sheep were received in 1915 and 341,501 hogs were handled at the packing plants. The live stock industry is growing rapidly and money to finance operations is easily obtainable. Denver's proximity to the mining and agricul tural regions of the State has greatly assisted in its upbuilding. The gold production of Colo rado for 1915 was $23,358,608; silver, $4,137,333; zinc, $13,545,212; lead, $3,629,524; coal, 8,537,775 tons; a total, excluding coal, of $50,489,943. Among the leading agricultural products of the State in 1915 were sugar beets, 1,254,913 tons of which were converted into 195,343 tons of sugar. The executive offices of the beet sugar companies, and of many other substantial in dustries, are in Denver.
The population in 1910 was 213,381. In 1916 it was estimated to be 253,000. It is more largely cosmopolitan than is usual in cities of like size. Representative citizens, while more largely from the northern States of the Union, are found from every State as well as from most European countries. Census re turns of 1910 gave 25,300 of foreign birth and 4,000 of negro descent. Only the first genera tion of native Coloradoans have arrived at adult life.
Denver was settled by gold seekers in 1858. The following year it was in corporated as a city by the provisional legis lature and named in honor of Gen. J. W. Den ver, the governor of Kansas. In 1861 it was re incorporated by the first Territorial legislature and became the capital of the Territory in 1867. In 1870, on the completion of the Denver Pacific and Kansas Pacific railroads, it was first con nected with the older settlements of the Mis souri Valley. The bibliography of Denver is found complete in the library of the Colorado Historical Society. The Denver Public Library also has a complete list of books and pamphlets relating to the history of the city from its foundation.