Sign In

First edition of this excellent railroad map of Colorado, surrounded by text promoting the Colorado Loan & Trust Company lands in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, with a map of the San Luis Valley on the verso.

The verso map identified lands in Saguache, Costilla and Conejos Counties which are available for sale, with the water rights necessary to irrigate the lands and create working ranches also available from the Colorado Loan & Trust Company. The remainder of promotional brochure includes an extensive informational / testimonial pitch to would be farmers to invest in this part of Colorado, along with some encouraging images of typical ranch and farm scenes in the region.

A fine early map of Colorado, promoting the lines of the Denver & Rio Grande, as it expanded througout Colorado. The lines under construction includes lines to going to Silverton, Ouray and Lake City, with proposed lines noted between Crested Butte and Delta, Grand Junction and Red Cliff, and Denver and Salida.

The Colorado Loan & Trust Company was established in 1883 by Theodore C. Henry. Upon his arrival in Denver, Henry became directly interested in the Denver Circle railway, with owned a large amount of real estate in South Denver. Henry also bought the Denver Daily "Tribune," which was afterward consolidated with the "Republican."

Located in the Tabor block, the Colorado Loan & Trust Company was opened in 1883 and capitalized at $300,000. Henry became interested in financing the irrigation systems of the San Luis Valley, the Grand Valley, the Uncompahgre Valley, the Lower Platte Valley and the Arkansas Valley. Henry organized the Fruita Town company in the Grand Valley, where the experiment of fruit growing on a large scale in that valley was entered upon and laid out the town of Henry, now Monte Vista, in the San Luis Valley; also the towns of Atwood, Mosca and others.

Unfortunately, the overall investment scheme was not a successful one and Henry lost much of his fortune in these ventures.