|
Chronological List of District Heating
Systems in the United States |
|
|
|
| 1887 Denver City Steam Company | 1879 Steam Map | 1994 Steam System Map |
The Denver City Steam Heating Company was organized in December 1879 by John Wesley Smith and others. The company began supplying steam on November 5, 1880 The company was bought by the Denver Gas and Electric Company in 1909, which became part of the Public Service Company of Colorado.
The Denver system became the oldest operating district steam system in the world in June 1969 after the shut down of the system in Lockport.
Also see History of Denver's Waterworks
References
1858 "The
New Eldorado," Kansas City Journal of Commerce, August 16,
1858
1858 The gold mines of western Kansas, by William B. Parsons
1859 Hand Book to the Gold Fields of Nebraska and Kansas: Being a Complete Guide to the Gold Regions of the North and South Platte, and Cherry Creek ... ; Containing Narratives of Trips to and from the Gold Region in the Years 1858-59, by William Newton Byers and John H. Kellom
1860 An act to incorporate the Capitol Hydraulic Company of Arrapahoe County. February 21, 1860.
1861 "Editorial
Correspondence," The Rocky Mountain News, February 16, 1861,
Page 2.
We were forcibly struck with the great destruction of timber in this
neighborhood within the past two years. Of the fine forests that covered
the hill sides in the Spring of ’59, full two-thirds has now entirely
disappeared, and a majority of the steam mills —the greatest consumers of
fuel —have not yet been running twelve months. We can see no prospect
ahead but a certain and great scarcity of timber, with which to carry on
the mining operations of the country in this immediate vicinity. Vast
quantities are used about the steam mills; for timbering up shafts and
drifts ; and in the thousands of huge fire-places by which the habitations
of the miners and others are warmed. In another year wood must be hauled
for miles, and its cost thereby increased more than a hundred per cent.
1867 An act to change the name of the Capitol Hydraulic Company. January 10, 1867. Shareholders authorized to change name to Platte Water Company.
1869 "The
Kansas Pacific Railway," The Rocky Mountain News, May 17,
1869, Page 1.
Our conviction that the expenses of the road will be considerably reduced
on reaching Denver, are founded greatly on the fact that of the entire
running expenses for 1868 nearly one fourth was for fuel. This was wood,
much of it inferior, purchased at high rates at different points along the
road, or transported at heavy cost from the timbered district near the
Missouri river. By using the coal found near Denver or Cedar Point, it is
estimated that, as it can be distributed along the line eastward at the
company’s convenience and with scarcely any expense except loading, a
saving of 75 per cent, may be gained in this item.
1879 "How
a Whole City can be Heated," American Machinist 2(4):5
(February 15, 1879) | also here
|
1879 "The Holly System of Steam Heating," American Machinist 2(4):8 (February 15, 1879) | also here |
1879 "Heating
by Steam," The Rocky Mountain News, November 18,
1879, Page 5.
The Holly System to be used in Denver.
Endorsement of the Plan by the American Machinist.
Its Success in the States.
Nature of Plan and Interesting Details.
Combination is the rule of the day. It includes not only governments,
railroads, armies, express lines and telegraph companies, but descends to
the small economies of daily life. Light and water have long been
distributed on the combination plan by the aid of machinery and pipes, and
now heat has its turn and the turn includes Denver. For the purpose of
introducing the Holly combination system for heating towns and cities by
steam, Messrs. E. D. Parsons, of this state, and It. W. Bissell, of
Lockport, New York, have taken rooms at a leading hotel, and are talking
up the project in a business-like way. The system is already in use in
Springfield (Massachusetts), Troy, Lockport (New York), Detroit and
Milwaukee, and, under the supervision of General Spinola, will soon have a
foot-hold in New York city. From all of those cities the most flattering
reports arie received, and the general wonder expressed that this manifest
convenience was not thought of before. For the information of the Denver
public, who will be invited in due time to act in the matter, an article
from a recent issue of the American Machinist, a New York publication of
standard worth, is given below. [Rush Walworth Bissell of
Lockport and Elizur Dwight Parsons, a Colorado Springs lawyer]
1879 "Heating
the city by steam," The Rocky Mountain News,
December 16, 1879, Page 8.
Formation of a Stock Company of Local Capitalists for that Purpose.
Articles of incorporation of the Denver City Steam heating company were
filed in the secretary of state’s office yesterday. The
incorporators and directors are George Tritch, Erastus F. Hallack, Leonard
H. Eicholtz and John W. Smith. At a meeting of the directors last evening
the following officers were elected: President — John W. Smith. Vice
President — E. F. Hallack. Treasurer— George Tritch. Chief Engineer — L.H.
Eicholtz. Attorney —J. W. Horner. Secretary — Charles H. Smith.
The chief engineer and secretary will go east in a few days to examine
more thoroughly the practical workings of the works in Milwaukee, Detroit,
Lockport and a few other cities where steam is now used quite extensively,
and to gather such other information and data as may facilitate the
erection of works and the laying of pipes.
1880 History
of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado, by
William E. Vickers
Pages 589-591: John W. Smith
1880 Steam Heating Franchise to Denver City Steam Heating Company, January 5, 1880, Franchises and Special Privileges of the City and County of Denver (1907), Page 349.
1880 "Notice,"
The Rocky Mountain News, January 7, 1880, Page 7.
The Denver City Steam Heating company is now ready to receive
subscriptions to part of the capital stock of the company. Residents of
Denver desiring to subscribe can now do so by calling at the company’s
office, 401 Blake street, on or before the 10th inst., from 10 a.m. to 4
p.m. J. W. Smith. President. Denver, Colorado, January 6, 1880.
1880 "Going
East to Inspect," The Rocky Mountain News, January 15, 1880,
Page 8
By this morning’s Kansas Pacific express, Mr. Charles H. Smith will take
his departure for the east in the interest of the Denver Steam Heating
company. He will be absent six weeks and will visit Chicago, Milwaukee,
London (Canada), New York city, Lockport, Springfield, and other points
where the system is in use, for the purpose of noting the latest
improvements. Of the capital stock assigned to Denver —$100,000— nearly
all has been taken, and negotiations are now under way for a suitable
location for the plant, with the expectation of breaking ground very early
in the spring.
1880 Lockport
Daily Journal, January 26, 1880, Page 4. | also here
|
J. W. SMITH, Esq., President of the Denver steam heating company, is in
the city on business.
1880 "Heating by Steam. Present Aspects of the Proposed Improvement. The Council Liable to Grant a Modified Privilege. Exclusive in Nature but Limited to a Term of Five Years," Rocky Mountain News, January 28, 1880, Page 8.
1880 Letter from Charles
Smith, Denver Tribune, January 28, 1880, Page
Visit to Detroit
1880 Letter from Charles
Smith, Denver Tribune, January 31, 1880, Page
Visit to London, Ontario
1880 "Cities
Heated by Steam," The Daily News (Kingston, Ontario),
January 23, 1880, Page 3. [This is probably the account of Charles
H. Smith of Denver, who recently visited Lockport, Detroit and London]
It may be interesting to shew the estimation in which the system is held,
in the United States generally, by citing the amounts paid by few of the
chief cities for the right to adopt the system, viz. : New York and
Brooklyn, $300,000; Baltimore, $65,000; Chicago, $100,000; Cincinnati,
$50,000; New Haven, with a population of 60,000, paid $18,000; Toledo,
with a population of 40,000, $12,000; Syracuse, 45,000 of a population,
$12,000, &c. In some instances pipes have been laid in certain towns
without the supervision of competent persons; the result has been the
breaking of joints from the expansion not having been attended to; but
when properly laid a small expenditure should be necessary for at least
the first 20 years.
1880 "The
Holly Steam Plan," The Rocky Mountain News, February
5, 1880 Page 8.
General outline of proposed Denver system. Twenty-Three Thousand Feet of
Pipe Will Be Used.
The Plant to Foot Up One Hundred Thousand Dollars.
Obvious Advantages of Cooking in Steam Stoves.
Use of the System in Connection With Fire.
When Solomon, weary with “taking in the town” and other affairs of state,
exclaimed in a moment of surfeited ennui, “There’s nothing new under the
sun,” he formulated a section of truth that applies with peculiar emphasis
to the Holly system of heating cities by steam, successfully introduced at
Lockport, New York, as long ago as 1877, when three miles of experimental
pipe were laid in that favored locality, the home and nursery of rare
mechanical genius, and the abiding place of as many ideas to the square
foot as Boston can prove parentage to theories or Denver to corner lot
schemes, to say nothing of mining discoveries with millions in them. All
this aside, Birdsell Holly’s
STEAM-HEATING PROCESS
is moving rapidly towards general adoption, being helped thereto by
undoubted success in such cities as Milwaukee, Auburn, Detroit and Troy.
Twenty-two cities, exclusive of Denver, will this year put in the system.
In the list are Cincinnati, Brooklyn and New York. The latter metropolis
will make use of three hundred miles of main pipe inside of four years,
and has provided for four boiler stations of one hundred and five boilers
each, enough to make a memorable blow up were it not for the precautions
adopted by the Holly company, whose boilers, of the best United States or
steel plate makes, are tested for one hundred and fifty pounds to the
square inch but never pushed beyond fifty. While the general phase of the
topic is in hand it may be well to observe that the Holly Steam Heating
company is a Lockport institution and that more than one thousand
mechanics are now employed at their works, in filling the orders for
appliances already received since January 1. The annual election of the
company took place in Lockport, January 21, and, as reported in the
Union, resulted as follows :
THE MAIN ORGANIZATION. Directors — D. F. Bishop, B. D. Hall, R. Scott, J.
H. Babcock, B. Holly, L. Everett and S. Rogers.
After the election of the directors the following officers were chosen :
President— D. F. Bishop. Vice President— R. Scott. Secretary — B. D. Hall.
Treasurer — I. H. Babcock. Consulting Engineer— B. Holly. Superintending
Engineer— E. P. Holly.
“The company,” says the Union, “is probably the best business
investment ever inaugurated in Lockport. The profits for the past year on
a capital of $25,000 are virtually $213,000, of which $153,000 are paid
in. Of the net profits the inventor of the system, B. Holly, receives ten
per cent.”
By reference to the personal paragraphs in yesterday’s issue of The News
it will be seen that Mr. E. P. Holly, consulting engineer of the company
under notice, is now in this city, called hither by the management of the
Denver Steam Heating company, a combination of local enterprise and money
that is standing a prolonged siege from the legal portion of the city
council, and which is making vicarious atonement for all the sins of
omission, commission and miscalculation that are usually charged against
corporate bodies under the rallying cry of war on monopoly. Mr. Holly is
stopping at the American, and thither went a commissioner of The News for
the purpose of a practical talk on the Denver plan. The conversation
proceeded :
THE ENGINEER TALKS.
"Mr. Holly,” said the commissioner, “ I learn that you have been called
here to prepare the plans for the Denver steam-heating system ? ”
“ Your information is correct,” said the consulting engineer, at the same
time spreading out a series of maps and sketches.
An examination of these papers, neatly and accurately drawn, shows the
location of the “ plant ” on Delgany street, at the foot of Sixteenth. By
“ plant ”is meant a brick building capable of holding twenty boilers, but
which, until the proposed system is extended, will be occupied by six.
From Delgany up Sixteenth to Larimer the plan provides for the laying of
2,400 feet of eight-inch wrought-iron pipe, lap-welded and wrapped with
asbestos and other non-conducting material. From Larimer up Sixteenth to
Champa, the southern boundary of the present district, the main will be
six inches in diameter and 1,600 feet long.
On Larimer again 2,400 feet of six-inch pipe will be laid, extending from
Nineteenth street on the east to Fourteenth on the west, where the West
Denver connection, to be laid in due time, will connect and cross at the
Larimer Street bridge.
On Nineteenth street 1,500 feet of six-inch pipe will be laid up to
Champa, and from the intersection of Nineteenth and Champa to Sixteenth
and Champa this six-inch main will be continued 1,500 more, to a
connection with the Sixteenth street main. This will surround the
NEW HEART OF THE CITY
with six-inch pipe to keep its projects from freezing, including the
proposed court house, city hall, opera house, federal building,
post-office, etc., etc.
Dropping down to Wazee the line of six-inch main runs from Sixteenth west
to Fifteenth, thence to Blake, thence to Fourteenth and thence to Larimer,
where it joins the West Denver pipe. This involves the use of 1,600 feet.
Up Fourteenth to Champa the way is mapped out for 1,400 feet of four-inch
pipe. From Nineteenth to Fourteenth, on Arapahoe street, and from
Sixteenth to Fourteenth, on Champa, the void is filled up with 3,400 feet
of the four-inch pipe, while Lawrence and other intermediate streets are
supplied from 4.000 feet of three-inch pipe and 3,200 feet of pipe two and
one-half inches across.
This piping sums up in feet:
Eight-inch main 2,400
Six-inch main 8,600
Four-inch main 4.800
Three-inch pipe 4,000
Two and one-half inch pipe 3,200
Total number of feet 23,000
This, together with the boilers and building, involves an immediate
expenditure on the part of
THE DENVER COMPANY
of $l00,000, together with the employment of a large number of men.
“Suppose a customer was located at the corner of Nineteenth and Champa,
what are his chances for heat ? ” the commissioner asked.
“As good,” said the engineer, “as if his house was on Delgany, within
sight of the boilers. The loss of pressure in one mile equals four pounds
to the square inch, and this we offset by gauging the distant customer at
ten pounds pressure while the near customer is gauged at six.”
“As distance is added, then, you increase the boilers and put on more
pressure? ”
“ Yes, the building planned now will do for several more mains. The loss
of heat, you know, is not at all in proportion to loss of pressure. The
latter is perceptible only where customers take steam for motive power.”
“ Then the Denver system includes manufactures ? ”
“Every purpose for which steam can be used, from running a planing mill
down to boiling an egg.”
“Or spoiling a beefsteak ?”
“No, that’s one advantage about steam cooking. Let me call your attention
to an item in the Lockport Journal of September 4, 1879.”
The commissioner did not resent this attention raid, but for the better
information of his readers presents this extract from the journal called
up:
COOKING BY STEAM.
One of the most remarkable features of the present age is the large number
of useful and labor-saving inventions which have been brought into
practical use. Prominent among which, for utility and comfort, must be
classed the Holly system of steam heating. * * * To be used in connection
with this system, Mr. John Ashcroft, of New York city, has invented a
patent steam stove and broiler, which answers the purposes for which it
was designed, and is ultimately destined to come into general use wherever
the system of steam heating is in vogue. It is not so much our purpose in
this article to speak of the style of the apparatus, which will be of
various patterns to suit all classes, as to speak of the merits of this
stove, which has already stood the tests of connoisseurs and practical
scientists, who thoroughly understand such business, ail of whom were
surprised at the manner in which the cooking was done, and conceded that
it is especially designed for the purpose for which it is to be used.
Yesterday, in this city, an exhibition and trial of the cooking qualities
of this stove and broiler were made in the presence of about twenty-five
or our best-known citizens, prominent among whom were Birdsall Holly
(inventor of the Holly steam-heating system), Harvey Gaskell
(superintendent ot the Holly Water Works company), Barnet D. Hall
(secretary of the steam heating company), Leroy Chadwick and William
O’Keefe. * * * With the steam pressure ranging from nineteen to
twenty-seven pounds to the square inch, or an average of about
twenty-three pounds pressure, the roast beef was finely carbonized or
browned, and was remarkable for its justness and
THE DELICIOUS FLAVOR
it retained. The chickens were browned, very tender and of fine flavor.
The white potatoes were both mealy and well baked. The ham, which was
broiled in the short space of three minutes, instead of being hard when
cold, remained soft and juicy. The mutton chops and beef steak were
especially commented on for their tenderness and fine flavor. A loaf of
bread was baked in the oven in the short space of forty minutes, and when
taken out it had a good brown crust — but what was more remarkable, the
bread was returned to the oven and allowed to remain there one and
one-half hours without being injured in the slightest particular. The
coffee was boiled in one of Mr. Ashcroft’s patent pots in about ten
minutes, without losing any of its aroma. * * * This cooking by steam is a
wonderful improvement upon the ordinary mode, and cannot help but come
into general use. * * * By means of this stove and broiler the meats,
vegetables, etc., can be either fried, broiled or baked without being
scorched, and no food can be spoiled from over cooking. Food which
generally emits an unpleasant and offensive odor in cooking, by the
ordinary methods, can be prepared for eating, by this process, without
emitting the slightest disagreeable smell. Mr. John Ashcroft’s patent will
prove a blessing to the already over-burdened housewife, by lightening her
labors, and doing away with many of the onerous difficulties incident to
preparing food by the common methods. * * * This morning an exhibition was
given to a number of ladies of this city, who have the Holly steamheating
system in their buildings, which met with general satisfaction.
PRESIDENT SMITH ON THE STAND.
At this point in the proceedings Mr. John W. Smith, president of the
Denver Steam Heating company, walked into the room, and from him the
commissioner gleaned :
“ Well, how is the steam stock going ?”
“It’s about half taken,” said the wary president—“ we can sell the rest
when the council gives assurance that the enterprise will not be hampered
with immediate competition.”
“ Then, if the council comes to time, you will be ready for work?”
“ Yes, we want to commence early in the season, to give the new houses a
chance. If the council will give us the protection we ought in reason to
get for a new enterprise of this bulk, we will give Mr. Holly the contract
and have the works put up and the pipes laid in first-class style. We aim
to make no mistakes.”
The use of the term “ mistakes ” led the commissioner to think of breaks,
etc., and to set his mind at rest he questioned the engineer :
“ Suppose a break occurs in your mains, or you want to let in a new
customer, must all the rest wait for dinner or complain of the cold ?"
“Not at all. The system laid down here (pointing to the chart) has
thirty-nine sections of pipe, each independent of the other. In the class
of material we use breaks seldom or never take place, and if we want to
let in a new customer the process is completed in
LESS THAN TEN MINUTES,
before the pipes in the houses on that section have time to cool.”
“Can this steam be made useful in case of fire?”
"That is one of its obvious good points. By the use of a little
contrivance, which takes up small room, an apartment can be instantly
flooded with steam, and that, as you know, will put out any fire quite as
quickly as water and with far less damage.”
Thinking this a good point to stop at and one well worthy of consideration
from the council and the property-owners of Denver, the commissioner
withdrew.
1880 Letter from Charles H. Smith about steam heating in Detroit, Denver Tribune, January 28, 1880. No copy of this has been found.
1880 Letter from Charles H. Smith about steam heating in London, Ontario, Denver Tribune, January 31, 1880. No copy of this has been found.
1880 "Heating
by Steam," Letter from Charles H. Smith, Denver Tribune,
February 10, 1880, Page 6.
Visit to Troy and Lockport.
Of all the places I have visited, Troy is the nearest to perfection and is
obtaining better results from consumption of coal then even the Lockport
company is. Everything is systematized, a record of every pound of
coal consumed and every pound of water evaporated.
1880 "The
Steam Heating Project," The Rocky Mountain News,
February 24, 1880, Page 8.
While Birdsill Holly, superintendent of the Lockport Steam Heating
company, was here a few days since, he made a proposition, subject to
approval by his company, to furnish all the material and lay four miles of
main pipe, the work to be commenced in May and to be finished in August of
this year. The Denver company will accept Mr. Holly’s proposition as soon
as a sufficient amount of its capital stock is subscribed to justify the
undertaking.
1880 "Steam
Heating," The Rocky Mountain News, April 7, 1880,
Page 8.
Preparing for Commencing Operations at Once. The Works to be Completed and
In Use by Next Winter.
1880 "A
Two-Mile Contract," The Rocky Mountain News, April 25, 1880,
Page 4.
At a meeting of the directors of the Denver City Steam Heating company,
held yesterday, a contract was awarded to D. F. Bishop, of Lockport, Ohio,
for laying two miles of pipe for the company.' Work will begin at once,
and as a member of the company said to a News reporter last night, "it
remains with the public to say whether more extensions shall not be
immediately inaugurated."
1880 Lockport
Daily Journal, May 1, 1880, Page 4. | also here
|
A contract was signed Saturday evening by the President of the Holly Steam
Combination Company, of Lockport, N. Y., and the Denver City Steam Heating
Company, by which the former company agrees to furnish and lay two miles
of main pipe for the use of the latter. According to the terms of the
contract the pipe is to be all laid by the latter part of August, and if
the citizens of Denver come forward and subscribe liberally to the stock
of the Denver company, a further contract will be made for the laying of
two miles additional.— Denver Tribune, April 27th
1880 The
Rocky Mountain News, May 11, 1880, Page 8
The Denver City Steam Heating company commenced excavating for the
foundation of their large boiler station depot to-day near the gas works.
William Egerer has the contract for the stone foundation, and will
commence laying stone to-morrow. The building will be 75 feet by 140 on
the ground; the walls above ground will be brick, and with a brick smoke
stack 75 to 100 feet in height, large enough to receive the smoke from
twenty-four boilers of 100 horse power each. The depot is to be finished
early next month, at which time the company will commence laying the main
pipes in the streets of Denver.
1880 "The Denver Steam Heating Co is pushing its work rapidly," The Plumber and Sanitary Engineer 3:234 (May 15, 1880)
1880 Lockport
Daily Journal, June 15, 1880, Page 3.
Next week the Holly Steam Company will ship several car loads of material
to Denver, CoL The system will be put in operation in the above city with
all possible dispatch.
1880 "The Steam Heating Works," The Rocky Mountain News, July 2, 1880, Page 5.
1880 “Colorado
as Seen by a Visitor of 1880,” by Rezin H. Constant, Colorado
Magazine, 12(3):111 (May 1935)
August 5, 1880. An immense building is being erected and well along,
at the foot of 16th for heating the City by Steam
1880 "Progress of Steam Heating," The Rocky Mountain News, September 3, 1880, Page 1.
1880 Weekly
Register Call, September 17, 1880, Page 1
The charge for heating rooms by the new Steam heating company at Denver,
will be $5 per year for each 1,000 cubic feet of space. This manner of
assessment, however, will be only temporary. When the company has
everything in full working order, steam meters will be put into each
building.
1880 "Heating by Steam," Denver Tribune, November 4, 1880, Page 8
1880 The
Rocky Mountain News, November 10, 1880, Page 8.
The success of the Holly steam heating works in this city is an
established fact, both for heating purposes and for running machinery in
all parts of the city. The pipes have been connected with the engine at W.
J. Kinsey’s, and the remit exceeds their brightest anticipations. Although
the connection is made near the dead end of the pipe, everything runs
smooth as clockwork, the pressure scarcely varying a degree since the
connection was made. Safety and economy will lead many to adopt this
system.
1880 "Heating
Cities by Steam," Chicago Tribune, November 13, 1880, Page
14.
A Successful Test of the Mains in Denver. Denver Tribune, November
6
1881 Crofutt's
Grip-sack Guide of Colorado: A Complete Encyclopedia of the State:
Resources and Condensed Authentic Descriptions of Every City, Town,
Village, Station, Post Office and Important Mining Camp in the State,
by George A. Crofutt
Page 32: The Denver City Steam Heating Co. was incorporated December 15th,
1879, to supply steam by the Holly system or any other to heat dwelling
houses, stores, shops, factories, and other buildings, and for motive
power to run machinery and other purposes. The company's works are located
near the Platte River and gas works, foot of 18th street, are of brick;
they have six 300-horse power boilers, and over two miles of pipe laid
from their works. Steam was first turned on November 5th, 1880, and was a
success from the start. The American Hotel, several engines and many
offices are using the steam and declare it to be a great saving. The
company have ordered more pipes, and they will be laid and the steam
supplied in all parts of the city as soon ss possible. The company has a
capital stock of $500,000, and $100,000 has already been expended in their
works and business. We notice among the incorporators J. W. Smith,
Geo. Tritch, and E. F. Hallack. pioneer names in Colorado twenty years
ago. These men have made their fortunes in the State, and are now all
using it to introduce a steam heating system at once ample, cleanly,
pleasant, always ready and cheap.
1884 "The
Distribution of Steam in Cities," by William P. Shinn, Vice
President New York Steam Company, Transactions of the American
Institute of Mining Engineers 12:632-638 (February 1884) | also here
|
Page 631: In Denver, Colorado, the system has been in use during
four years, for heating only. The company has nearly three miles of eight,
six, four and three-inch mains, and fifteen 50 horse-power boilers,
supplying 150 consumers. Upon an investment of $150,000, the company
earned net, during the season of 1882–83, $7863, or 5 ²⁄₁₀ per cent., and
the net savings for the season of 1883-84 were estimated at $10,000, or 6
⅔ per cent.
1887 Sanborn
Fire Insurance Map from Denver, Denver County, Colorado (1887)
Plate 15: Denver City Steam Heating Company
1895 "Pioneer
of Enterprise," The Rocky Mountain News, November 16, 1895,
Page 8. (includes portrait)
Death of One of the City's Founders In Oakland.
End of J.W. Smith's Illness
At the Ripe Age of Four Score Years the Builder of the Denver pacific
Passes Away in the Bosom of His Family-Deceased Was One of the Most
Energetic Spirits of the Plains, and Made Money Rapidly in Promoting
Various Improvements.
Another of Denver's pioneers has passed away. Word was received in the
city last evening that John W. Smith died in Oakland, Cal., yesterday
afternoon of Bright's disease. Mr. Smith has been seriously ill with the
dread disease for some weeks and it was known for some time that the end
was liable to come at any time, but nevertheless the news of his death
will be received with keen regret by hundreds of his old friends in this
city, with whom he labored long and faithfully to make Denver the city it
is today, and few were more closely identified with the history of the
city than was John W. Smith.
Mr. Smith was born in Pennsylvania and was 80 years of age last September.
While still a young man he moved to Kansas in 1858 and two years later he
caught the Pike's Peak fever and started for Denver in May, 1860, arriving
here June 3 with a long train of wagons loaded with merchandise for a
general store, machinery for a planing mill, a flouring mill and a quartz
mill.
This advent in Denver showed the character of the man. He did not come to
look around and decide what to do. He came to do and brought the material
for a town with him. The flour mill and planning mill were located in
Denver, and the quartz mill was planted on Left Hand Creek in Boulder
County.
All of the ventures proved successful and Mr. Smith at once proceeded to
identify himself with the country. He was full of enterprise and gave his
whole heart and energy to developing the resources of the country. He was
prominently identified with the coming of the railroads to Denver, being
one of the constructors of the Denver Pacific, the first line to enter the
city from Cheyenne; and a heavy contractor on the Kansas Pacific.
Later he was prominently identified with the construction of the Denver,
South Park & Pacific and originated and built the Denver, Utah &
Pacific, now owned and operated by the Burlington between Denver and
Lyons. Every large enterprise of the early history of Denver found Mr.
Smith one of the leading pushers and his efforts were always crowned with
success. He founded the Colorado Saving Bank in 1872, the first
institution of the kind in the West.
One of his earliest ventures was the construction of the American House,
for many years the largest and best appointed hotel in the West. He was a
man of great force of character, energetic, public spirited and a
wonderful financier, accumulating great wealth. That he was liberal and
open-hearted the handsome little stone chapel, known as Smith Chapel,
which he constructed in Smith's addition to West Denver in 1882 and
presented to the United Brethren, will bear witness, though he was not a
member of any church.
He was one of the originators and founders of the Denver steam heating
plant and was connected with many other enterprises of the city and state.
He erected no less than five flouring mills in Denver besides one in
Boulder County; constructed the first and only woolen mill ever
established in the West and a large number of stamp mills at various
points in the mountains.
California Investments
He left Colorado in 1883 for California where he went to construct the
California & Nevada railroad, of which he is the principal owner. He
made his residence in Oakland, where he died. He had seven children, all
of whom are still living. They are Charles H. Smith of this city, who was
with him when he died in California, where he was called some weeks ago by
the news of his father's serious illness, Mrs. H. M. Porter, Mrs. Margaret
G. Rice, Mrs. Martha Hart, Mrs. Anna R. Caypless, Mrs. M. M. Clark, all of
this city, and Albert Smith of Boston.
Although Mr. Smith has been away from Denver for some years he was still
interested in many of its enterprises, his son, Charles H. Smith, taking
care of his interest here. He was admired and respected by all who knew
him and his death will be regarded as a public calamity. It was not known
last evening what arrangements would be made for the funeral, whether his
remains would be brought here for burial or interred in California.
His children have the sympathy of the entire community in their
affliction, all being well known and prominent citizens.
1895 John Wesley Smith (24 Sep 1815 - 16 Nov 1895) grave
1901 History
of Denver, With Outlines of the Earlier History of the Rocky Mountain
Country, edited by Jerome Smiley | also here
|
Page 223: In the autumn of 1858 the foot-hills, gulches and mountain
slopes around here were thickly overgrown by the native forests. The trees
were pine, spruce, and balsam fir, with some aspens scattered among them.
They were not of a size to be called monarchs of the forest, but were of
fair proportions. The South Platte and its tributaries were fringed with
cottonwoods and willows, and altogether the local landscapes were most
pleasing to the eye. The settlements at Cherry creek and the subsequent
mining operations were followed by great havoc in the timbered areas. Logs
for cabin-building and wood for fuel called for the destruction of many
trees, and when the saw-mills got to work among them, trying to supply the
insatiable demands for timber and lumber for building and mining purposes,
the forests were eaten away with amazing rapidity, the growths of
centuries disappearing in a few years, leaving the country around Denver
in its present comparatively deforested condition. The
inroads made the first autumn and winter for cabin-building material and
for the huge wood-piles thought necessary for the fuel supply, made large
openings in the standing timber in the general vicinity of the towns.
1909 "Denver
Gas and Electric Company," Electrical World 54(22):1315
(November 25, 1909)
Negotiations are on foot through which the Denver Gas & Electric
Company expects to purchase the Denver City Steam Heating Company. The
stockholders of the latter corporation will meet Nov. 22 for the purpose
of voting upon the question of sale. If the transfer is made, it is the
purpose of the purchaser to erect a new plant and enter actively into the
business of furnishing steam heat to the business section of Denver. The
payment for the Steam Heating Company will, it is stated, be made by an
addition to the new stock which the reorganized Denver Gas & Electric
Light Company was about to issue. The new company will have authorized
issues of $10,000,000 in capital stock and $25,000,000 in bonds. The plan
of reorganization has been outlined heretofore in these columns.
1909 "Gas Company Deal for Heat Plant Near End," The Daily News, November 30, 1909, Page 11.
1912 "John W. Smith," by Richard E. Leach, The Trail 4(8):5-8 (January 1912) (with portrait)
1915 Colorado
Pioneers in Picture and Story," by Alice Polk Hill
Pages 166-168: John W. Smith
1918-1993 Historic Steam Sales and Revenue
1935 The
Real Pioneers of Colorado, by Maria Davies McGrath, 3:288
JOHN W. SMITH (1860)
John W. Smith was born in Pennsylvania September 24, 1815. With his wife
and children he moved to Lancaster, Kansas, a small town 8 miles from
Atchison in 1858. For 2 years he conducted a general mercantile business
at this point. In 1860, with a wagon train loaded with merchandise for a
general store and machinery for a planning mill, a flour mill, and a
[gold-] quartz mill, he crossed the plains, reaching Denver on June 3. He
also brought with him a cash capital of about $20,000.
The quartz mill was set up on Left Hand Creek in Boulder County, the
planning mill, which was the first ever brought within the boundaries of
the present State of Colorado, was established in Denver. The flour mill,
which was a small French portable burr grist mill, he set up in Denver and
ground therein the first corn and wheat ever milled in this region. The
American House he erected in 1868 was for 10 years the largest and best
hotel in Colorado. John W. Smith, not content with but one line of
activity, was at different times in his career, merchant, miller
manufacturer, miner, irrigationist, hotel proprietor, banker, and railroad
builder. He enjoyed equal success in whatsoever pursuit he followed.
In 1883 he became ill, and his physicians advised a change of altitude. He
left Denver for Oakland, California, where he resided up to the day of his
death on November 16, 1895, at over 80 years of age.
1950 "Heating-System Expansion at Denver and use of Precast-Concrete Manholes," by Robert F. Throne, Proceedings of the National District Heating Association 41:267-274 (May 1950)
1951 "One Plant Heats 160 Downtown Buildings," The Rocky Mountain News, May 17, 1951, Page 61.
1960 Miss Steam Heat, May 1, 1960
1965 Denver City Steam Heating Company: history and development, 1879-1966, from the Denver Public Library, titled "History of Company Steam System"
1971 One hundred years of progress, Public Service Company of Colorado.
1972 "Downtown Denver Renewal Stimulates Steam Heat Business," District Heating 57(3):10-11 (Winter 1971-1972)
1973 "All Hail the Denver Pacific: Denver's First Railroad," by Thomas J. Noel, The Colorado Magazine 50(2):91-116 (Spring 1973)
1976 Public Service Company of Colorado: Providing Energy for More Than a Century
1989 One
Hundred Years of Energy: Public Service Company of Colorado and Its
Predecessors, 1869-1969, by Ellen Kingman Fisher
Pages 160-161: One of the companies acquired in 1911 was the Denver
City Steam Heating Company. The steam heating operation was begun by hotel
man John W. Smith, who built the city's first flour mill, and in 1869,
Denver's first modern hotel. His hotel, the American House, located at
Sixteenth and Blake Streets, was so popular that Smith could not afford to
use valuable space for boilers to heat his establishment. Therefore,
he looked for a suitable location for the steam heating equipment, which
he found at Nineteenth and New Haven Streets near the railroad tracks and
a coal supply. After building the steam plant he constructed pipes
underground for six blocks to convey the steam to the American
House. The plant grew and demand from other businesses increased at such a
rate that on 12 December 1879 he organized the Denver City Steam Heating
Company to supply his hotel and other businesses. By the time the Denver
Gas and Electric Light Company acquired the Denver City Steam Heating
plant in 1910, it was owned by Henry M. Porter. and served much of the
business section of the city. The new company added to its capacity and
upgraded its facility.
Page 495: "History of the Company Steam System," mimeographed copy,
no date.
1990 "Increased Pressure Brings Valued Comfort to Mile High City," District Heating and Cooling 76(2):42-44, 49 (Fourth Quarter 1990)
1995 "Steam
on the Frontier: District Heating in Denver, 1880-1995,"
by Jan E. Wagner and Morris A. Pierce,
ASHRAE transactions 101:893-903, Part 1; PB: 1517 | pdf
|
In late 1879 a group of Denver businessmen led by pioneer John W. Smith
incorporated the Denver City Steam Heating Company to supply heat and
power to their frontier own. The following summer they installed a Holly
district steam system, including a boiler plant and several thousand feet
of underground steam pipe laid under unpaved streets. On November 5, 1880,
the company began supplying steam to downtown Denver. Henry M. Porter,
Smith`s son-in-law, became president of the company in 1888 and replaced
the distribution system with larger pipes in anticipation of asphalt
paving. Although rarely meeting the financial expectations of its owners,
the system grew over the years and in 1909 was acquired by a predecessor
to the Public Service Company of Colorado. The Denver steam system is the
oldest commercial district heating company in the world and continues to
supply steam for heating and cooling to a large portion of downtown Denver
from its original plant location.
2008 "Denver's 128-year-old System System: 'The Best is Yet to Come," by Jan Wagner and Stephen P. Kutska, District Energy 94:(4):16-20 (Fourth Quarter 2008)
2013 Engineering Assessment – Denver District Steam System, Prepared By Public Service Company of Colorado Engineering and Construction, March 15, 2013
2022 "Denver's
'Oldest Working Thing' Has Been Flowing for 155 Years," by Brian K.
Trembath, January 24, 2022
Construction on the Ditch resumed in the fall of 1864 under the leadership
of John Wesley Smith, who was hired by the Colorado Hydraulic Company to
oversee the project. Smith employed giant canal digging machines that were
described by the Rocky Mountain News as being pulled by 16-20 cattle and
could "do the work of a hundred men per day."
Under Smith's leadership the Ditch, which quickly became known as Smith's
Ditch, snaked its way towards Denver.
2022 The Historic City Ditch, Littleton, Colorado, by Larry Borger, May 2022
2026 Denver has a plan to heat and cool buildings without fossil fuels. It involves … sewage?, May 20, 2026, NPR
The American House Hotel | Interior view This hotel was built by John W. Smith in 1869
Denver Public Library Time-Travelers Map
Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company
© 2024-2026 Morris A. Pierce