ONE of the capitalists of Las Animas county, and of Trinidad, is Mr. Delos Allan Chappell, who was born April 29th, 1846, upon his father's farm in Wayne county, New York. His ancestors were of French extraction originally. Latterly they removed to England, whence they came to this country and ultimately settled in Vermont. His father's mother was related to Ethan Allan of Revolutionary fame. In 1852, the father removed to Michigan, and purchased a farm near Kalmazoo. The son began his education at Olivet College; later attended the University of Michigan, leaving its walls in 1868 when in the junior year. Remaining upon the farm two years after leaving college, Mr. Chappell then went to Chicago and opened an office as constructing engineer of water works; then became a contractor in that line, making that a specialty up to 1883.

While at Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1879, upon that business, Mr. Chappell was approached by some of the leading citizens of Trinidad, who made a request for him to visit that city to put up water works; accordingly he made his first trip to Trinidad that year. It resulted in the present investment, as a private enterprise, which went into operation in

October of 1879. Two years afterwards he organized the same into "The Trinidad Water Works Company," of which he is now president. His first trip was made on business only, to Trinidad. These were followed by others, which continued until Mr. Chappell became so infatuated with the climate, the natural resources and the prosperity of that city and the West generally, that in the winter of 1882 and 1883,he determined to make. that city his permanent place of residence, and removed thither from Chicago at that time.

Upon one occasion, when in Chicago, Mr. Chappell was asked what he thought of the West; that was after one of his first trips. His reply was: “I thought it was a good place to make money, but I would as soon have a barrel of gold and live upon an island in the Atlantic Ocean," referring to his opportunities for spending it. But this view did not last long. He soon realized that the great West was making wonderful progressive strides, and that it presented rare chances, both for fortune-making and fortune spending, which were being rapidly embraced by men of push and capital. Each returning trip more and more deeply convinced him of this, and finally the resolve was made and execut

ed to remove to the West, choosing Trinidad for his home and field of operations.

At this writing, Mr. Chappell is one of the most active and public-spirited citizens of Trinidad. He is president of "The Victor Coal Company," which owns about 4,000 acres of coal land, yielding 250,000 tons per annum; and otherwise largely interested as a capitalist in developing the resources of this promising city and county. In every way practicable has Mr.

Chappell identified himself with Trinidad and the West. Bringing to this wide field the energetic disposition of a citizen of Chicago, he has imparted that spirit to all his undertakings. It has been frequently said to the writer that Trinidad owes much to Mr. Chappell for its present prosperity, and much for tha influx of capital and population which has given the assurance to observers that a great future has already dawned upon Trinidad. H. D. T.

WHILE recently in the bustling city of Pueblo, I found myself attracted to the rooms of the McClelland Public Library. I had read of the movement to establish this Book-Plant in the Pittsburgh of the West while visiting the Boston Public Library during the month of January last. As a proud-feeling resident of Colorado, having my home in Denver, and for the time-being only, at the Hub, I took special interest in the news-item, regarding it as a very important step in the book-culture of the West, or rather, another bright page in the literary history of progressive Colorado. The item which came under observation was this:

"A meeting of the gentlemen having charge of the affairs of the Pueblo

Public Library Association was held in the Board of Trade Building, Tuesday evening. Articles of incorporation were signed, and the following gentlemnn were elected members of the Board of Directors for the ensuing year: M. D. Thatcher, Charles E. Gast, W. L. Graham, ex-Governor Alva Adams, O. H. P. Baxter. M. H. Fitch, C. H. Stickney, Andrew McClelland and Dr. R. W. Corwin.

"Mr. Andrew McClelland then presented the Association with $6,000, and in honor of this generous gift it was decided to call the Association 'The McClelland Public Library of Pueblo.'

"The following officers and committees were then elected --President, Dr. R. W. Corwin; Vice-President,

Charles E. Gast, Esq.; Secretary and Treasurer, A. E. Graham."

Then followed a description of the Library Rooms in the New Board of Trade Building:

"On the fourth floor is the large and beautiful room of the Pueblo Public Library. It is directly over the Board of Trade Hall and occupies the same space on the fourth floor that the hall does on the second and third. The entrance is through double doors, which open directly upon a broad aisle, extending through to the rear end of the room. On either side of this aisle cross partitions divide the room into ten large alcoves, five on each side. Each alcove is lighted by a large window, and at night the entire room will be illuminated by means of combination gas and electric light chandeliers. The dividing of the room in this manner, with the broad aisle in the center, was done at the request of the Public Library Association, with a special view to its use as a library."

In conversation with Mr. Arthur M. Knapp, assistant librarian of the Boston Library, he said that the receipt of new books there averaged more than one per hour each day of the year, and that there were within those walls about 700,000 volumes. Then pointing to the shelves of the upper hall he said: "If these books were placed side by side in a straight line they would be more than six miles long." That is to say, if all the books in the Boston Library were

thus arranged the line would stretch out twelve miles towards Pueblo.

When I left Boston it was with the intention of visiting all the prominent public libraries between that city and Denver, contemplating a trip to Pueblo to see the last link in a chain of libraries which has its location at the foot of the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. This intention was carried out with the exception of St. Louis. On my way westward, therefore, I stopped at Cooper Institute, the Astor, and the Historical Library in New York City; was for a while in the Peabody Institute of Baltimore; spent days in the Washington Congressional Library, and days in the Public Library of Cincinuati. This extraordinary privilege consisted in being in the midst of books numbering fully 2,500,000.

The Denver libraries, consisting of the Union High School Public Library and the Mercantile Public Library, contain about 50,000 volumes-wonderful collections for a city only thirty years old.

Boston did not organize her famous public library until 1847--a full grown and magnificent city before that step was taken under the inspiration of the munificent donation of Joshua Bates. But the same generation that laid the foundations of Denver and Pueblo also established the institutions which have for their object the art and literary culture of the community at large. Thus, education and morality are regard

ed as among the first essentials of good government in building western cities. Such is western enterprise along the lines of intellectual as well as material prosperity.

The citizens of Pueblo attribute with pride and pleasure the credit for this early step, mainly, to Mr. Andrew McClelland, whose donation to this end is recorded above.

It was a great pleasure to the writer to spend an hour in the midst of the two thousand new books which had just arrived as the nucleus of the Pueblo library. The librarian,

Mrs. Lydia J. Terry, was exercising her talents in cataloguing and shelving these beautiful arrivals from the pens of all worthy authors and fresh from the all-powerful press of the land. May the stream of living literature thus opened continue to flow, widening and deepening as the years. go by, until the McClelland Library of Pueblo shall become as large and lustrous a link in the chain of libraries as that founded by Bates of Boston, Cooper of New York, Peabody of Baltimore, and Newberry of Chicago. HENRY DUDLEY TEETOR.

THE advice of Horace Greeley, "Go West, young man, go West!" is perhaps more appreciated and attended with more apparent results, in recent years than when it was first given. What the great journalist, as a close observer of men and events in this country foresaw, is in these later years coming home as conviction to thousands of the earnest, industrious and ambitious young men of the

nation.

Men with these traits of earnestness, industry, integrity and laudable, ambition in their character, will perforce accumulate property, grow in reputation and better their condition,

in any community in which their lines may fall. But as to the average of them, the element of opportunity must necessarily largely control the degree and measure of their advancement and final success.

Horace Greeley foresaw that conditions surrounding average young men upon their entry into active life, in the denser populations of the East, must continually grow more unfavorable, considering such conditions as affecting their chances for ultimate and great success. The truth of his observations is now patent, and rather more of every-day knowledge than matter of speculation and theory,