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Colorado and the Four Wests: An Introduction to the Political Economy Section

Added by yongli on 04/24/2017 - 14:28, last changed on 08/23/2022 - 08:04

Coal Miners on Strike

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Why has Colorado’s economy experienced booms and busts? Which Coloradans have profited the most from the state’s natural and human resources? In what ways have Colorado’s cities, towns , and regions competed against one another to secure investment, migration, and authority—and how have they...

Land, Labor, Leisure: An Introduction to the Ecology Section

Added by yongli on 01/27/2017 - 13:13, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 06:40
The environmental history of Colorado is a story of the interplay among land, labor, and leisure. By land, I mean the summation of all the things in the environment that Coloradans did not make: the climate , topography, sunshine, soil fertility, minerals, plants, animals, germs, water , and more...

State Symbols: An Overview

Added by yongli on 10/21/2015 - 16:40, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 06:40
What good are official symbols and emblems? In the abstract, they associate the state or nation with representative features or desirable traits. Symbols usually emphasize something unique, or at least characteristic, about a particular state. The United States and every individual state possess an...

Agricultural Extension Service

Added by yongli on 08/21/2015 - 13:57, last changed on 05/04/2020 - 09:23
The agricultural extension service in Colorado (1887–present) links individuals, organizations, and communities with research experts to address agrarian issues. These issues encompass rural problems associated with farming and ranching, as well as urban topics such as cooperative gardens and...

Alva B. Adams Tunnel

Added by yongli on 06/12/2015 - 15:35, last changed on 05/07/2020 - 11:06
Beneath the glacier -carved peaks and valleys of Rocky Mountain National Park , below the alpine lakes and rushing streams, a concrete-lined tunnel belies the illusion of a pristine wilderness. In 1944, the two ends of the Alva B. Adams Tunnel were connected with a blast of dynamite, creating the...

Animas River

Added by yongli on 02/29/2016 - 16:32, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 12:43
Until recently, the Animas River—known in Spanish as “El Río de las Ánimas,” or “The River of Lost Souls”—was one of only a few undammed rivers in southwestern Colorado. The Upper Animas River Canyon bears the legacy of the longest hard-rock mining operations in southwestern Colorado. The mineral-...

Antiquities Act

Added by yongli on 05/03/2016 - 15:16, last changed on 10/26/2022 - 19:41
The Antiquities Act, enacted in 1906, was the United States’ first federal law recognizing the importance and value of the places and objects that represent the country’s history and prehistory. The act provided for protection of archaeological and historic sites, and gave the President authority...

Arkansas River

Added by yongli on 08/09/2022 - 10:57, last changed on 10/26/2022 - 00:41
Beginning in the central Rocky Mountains near Leadville , the Arkansas River runs nearly 1,500 miles across the Great Plains before emptying into the Mississippi River. The Arkansas is the lifeblood of cities and agricultural communities along its course, from Pueblo at the foot of the Colorado...

Aspen Trees

Added by yongli on 12/01/2021 - 15:17, last changed on 12/01/2021 - 15:17
The brilliant foliage of the quaking aspen ( Populus tremuloides ) provides some of the most iconic and striking scenery in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains . These altitude-loving deciduous trees grow up to fifty feet tall, and their leaves turn a vibrant gold, red, and orange during the fall. Each year...

Barlow and Sanderson Stagecoach

Added by yongli on 11/05/2015 - 10:24, last changed on 10/18/2022 - 06:48
The Barlow and Sanderson stagecoach in Monte Vista is a mud wagon like those that operated in the 1870s and 1880s along Barlow and Sanderson lines in the San Luis Valley . The only regional example of its type, the stagecoach was acquired by the Monte Vista Commercial Club and donated in 1959 to...

Beaver

Added by yongli on 08/01/2016 - 14:28, last changed on 11/08/2022 - 18:43
The North American beaver ( Castor canadensis ) is native to Colorado, and its role as both an environmental engineer and a keystone species has profoundly impacted the state’s ecology and history. Although their populations today are low, beavers continue to shape Colorado’s environments. ...

Bighorn Sheep

Added by yongli on 05/09/2016 - 15:43, last changed on 10/26/2022 - 19:41
The Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep ( Ovis Canadensis ) is one of four native sheep species that inhabit the North American continent and the only one that resides in Colorado. Bighorn sheep play a key role in bringing tourist and revenue into the state. Characteristics and Habits ...

Bison

Added by Nick Johnson on 11/19/2022 - 09:57, last changed on 11/21/2022 - 09:26
The American Plains Bison ( Bison bison ) are large mammals in the Bovidae family, recognizable for their large head, shaggy coats, pronounced hump, and close association with the American West. Bison are commonly and incorrectly referred to as "buffalo," which are Asian and African animals. North...

Bison Reintroduction

Added by Nick Johnson on 11/20/2022 - 08:10, last changed on 02/19/2023 - 17:36
Conservation efforts and reintroduction of the American bison ( Bison bison ) in Colorado began in Denver during the early twentieth century. By that time, the bison population had declined precipitously since the mid-nineteenth century because of overhunting and the development of cities,...

Black Bear

Added by yongli on 12/01/2021 - 15:39, last changed on 10/25/2022 - 23:39
Curious, intelligent, and opportunistic, the American black bear ( Ursus americanus ) ranges throughout Colorado’s mountains , forests, and riparian areas . Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) estimates there to be around 17,000–20,000 black bears in the state, many of which inhabit areas where...

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Added by yongli on 02/03/2017 - 13:31, last changed on 11/09/2022 - 15:42
Two thousand feet deep, forty-eight miles long, and two million years old, western Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison is one of the most stunning geologic features in the American West. The fourteen miles along the Gunnison River have been protected as a national park since 1999, drawing more...

Black Lives Matter

Added by yongli on 02/08/2022 - 17:10, last changed on 11/09/2022 - 06:39
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an international civil and human rights movement organized in 2013 by three Black women: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. Formed after the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida, the movement began as a social media hashtag and galvanized antiracist...

Bureau of Reclamation in Colorado

Added by yongli on 05/12/2016 - 16:53, last changed on 08/11/2022 - 07:13
The United States Reclamation Service, later renamed the Bureau of Reclamation, was created in 1902 to advance settlement of the West through construction of large dams, reservoirs, canals, and other projects. Since then, the service has played an important role in the development of Colorado’s...

Cannabis (marijuana)

Added by yongli on 02/02/2017 - 16:10, last changed on 08/01/2022 - 07:11

Hemp

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Cannabis ( Cannabis sativa ) is a cultivated annual herb. In Colorado it is best known for producing the medicinal and recreational drug “marijuana,” but it is also grown for a variety of other products, including seed oil, rope, ointments, and clothing. The cannabis plant comes in psychoactive and...

Carter Lake

Added by yongli on 06/28/2021 - 16:53, last changed on 10/25/2022 - 22:51
Carter Lake is a reservoir located in the foothills northwest of Berthoud and southwest of Loveland . Created by three dams, it is approximately three miles long, with twelve miles of shoreline, a maximum depth of 180 feet, and a capacity of 112,228 acre-feet. The federal government built the...

Chronic Wasting Disease

Added by yongli on 08/02/2016 - 15:37, last changed on 11/01/2022 - 17:42
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a contagious neurological disease that affects members of the deer family, causing erratic behavior and weight loss that eventually results in death. CWD is classified as a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), a family of diseases that includes bovine...

Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado

Added by yongli on 08/02/2016 - 16:40, last changed on 09/30/2022 - 01:43
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a New Deal program aimed at reducing unemployment among young men by giving them steady work improving the nation’s landscape, public lands, and infrastructure. When it was implemented in 1933, the CCC was the largest-ever public works program. Today, the...

Clear Creek Canyon

Added by yongli on 05/17/2016 - 13:26, last changed on 10/18/2022 - 10:53
Clear Creek flows from the Continental Divide at Loveland Pass, eastward through a deep and wide glacial valley down to Idaho Springs , where the valley narrows and the stream gradient increases as it enters narrow, relatively undeveloped Clear Creek Canyon. Through Clear Creek Canyon the stream...

Cliff Dwelling

Added by yongli on 11/20/2015 - 14:00, last changed on 05/29/2020 - 01:07
The cliff dwellings of southwestern Colorado are among the world’s greatest archaeological treasures. The term cliff dwelling can be applied to any archaeological site used as a habitation and located in an alcove or rock overhang; however, the most famous cliff dwellings are those created by...

Colorado Avalanche

Added by yongli on 09/21/2016 - 16:01, last changed on 11/12/2022 - 10:32
The Colorado Avalanche, based in Denver , is the only National Hockey League (NHL) team in Colorado, competing in the Central Division of the league’s Western Conference. Formerly the Quebec Nordiques, the team arrived in Denver in 1995 and won the Stanley Cup—the NHL title—in its first season as...

Colorado Ballet

Added by yongli on 02/15/2022 - 15:12, last changed on 10/25/2022 - 23:44
Colorado Ballet is Denver ’s leading ballet-production company. Founded in 1951 by Freidann Parker and Lillian Covillo, the organization now encompasses a thirty-one-member professional performing company, a studio company, an academy for advanced students, and an education and outreach department...

Colorado Climate

Added by yongli on 04/27/2017 - 16:20, last changed on 11/10/2022 - 00:41
Colorado’s combination of high elevation, midlatitude, and continental interior geography results in a cool, dry, and invigorating climate. The average annual temperature for the state is 43.5 degrees Fahrenheit (F), which is 13.7 degrees below the global mean. The average statewide precipitation...

Colorado Constitution

Added by yongli on 03/13/2020 - 16:01, last changed on 02/07/2023 - 19:40
The Colorado Constitution establishes the basic framework of the state’s government. Written and ratified in 1876, it has served as the state’s original and only constitution. As in other states, ultimate power rests with the people and is exercised by their representatives in the executive ,...

Colorado Fisheries

Added by yongli on 12/29/2015 - 11:47, last changed on 08/11/2022 - 07:19
Colorado, home to the headwaters of the Colorado River , the Arkansas River , the Rio Grande , and the South Platte River , offers a diverse palette of fisheries to the angler and nature enthusiast. The most iconic of these fishing opportunities are those related to trout in the mountain streams...

Colorado Foundation for Water Education

Added by yongli on 05/18/2016 - 16:20, last changed on 05/07/2020 - 10:57
In Colorado, water is a valuable and limited resource, and competition is only becoming more of a challenge. That’s why the Colorado Foundation for Water Education (CFWE), a non-advocacy nonprofit organization, works statewide to promote increased understanding of water resources so Coloradans can...

Colorado Fuel & Iron

Added by yongli on 09/29/2016 - 16:45, last changed on 01/31/2021 - 16:42
The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) was a coal and steel company based in Denver and Pueblo . Most of its coal mines were located in southern Colorado. Its only steel mill was located in Pueblo. The firm came into existence as a result of a merger between the Colorado Coal and Iron...

Colorado Geology

Added by yongli on 06/24/2016 - 14:26, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 12:43
The Earth beneath the rugged mountains and serene plains of Colorado records an ancient saga. Broad tropical seas teemed with life, while reptiles roamed on shore. Continents converged and collided, building massive mountains, only to be torn apart by the movements of colossal tectonic plates...

Colorado Mountain Club

Added by yongli on 06/15/2016 - 11:33, last changed on 11/04/2019 - 13:51
The Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) has been a potent force in shaping environmentalism in Colorado. Its members developed an intimate relationship with nature through the CMC’s conservation work and recreational activities. The CMC’s appreciation of wilderness, a legacy of early environmental...

Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Added by yongli on 05/03/2016 - 16:02, last changed on 10/26/2022 - 19:41
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is the state agency that manages wildlife and oversees outdoor recreation in Colorado. The agency operates the state park system, administers hunting and fishing licenses, conducts research on chronic wasting disease and other subjects related to maintaining...

Colorado Poetry

Added by yongli on 09/30/2016 - 10:47, last changed on 10/25/2022 - 09:44
In 2007 Mary Crow, Colorado Poet Laureate from 1996–2010, wrote a “Poetic History of Colorado” suggesting five basic areas of Colorado poetry: “Western,” Chicano, Beat, performance, and experimental poetry. This essay leans on those themes she identified, with some additional thoughts. ...

Colorado River

Added by admin on 08/01/2014 - 09:38, last changed on 01/29/2021 - 16:00
The Colorado is the premier river of the American Southwest. Rising in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, this river and its tributaries provide water and hydroelectric power for nearly 35 million people in the United States and Mexico, as well as habitat for several fish species found only in...

Colorado Rockies

Added by yongli on 02/02/2017 - 15:54, last changed on 10/25/2022 - 15:41
The Colorado Rockies arrived in Denver in 1993 and is the only professional baseball team in the Rocky Mountain West. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball’s National League West Division. Having made the MLB playoffs three times in their short history, the Rockies lost to the Boston Red Sox...

Colorado Symphony

Added by yongli on 02/08/2021 - 16:31, last changed on 11/16/2022 - 00:38
The Colorado Symphony is Denver ’s main orchestra and one of the few major orchestras in the Rocky Mountain region. The organization traces its roots to the Denver Symphony, which was established in 1934 under Horace Tureman and became fully professional in 1945. Led by conductor Saul Caston , the...

Colorado Water Institute

Added by yongli on 04/03/2017 - 16:10, last changed on 10/04/2020 - 01:07
The Colorado Water Institute (CWI), an affiliate of Colorado State University (CSU) since 1965, exists for the express purpose of focusing the expertise of higher education on evolving water concerns and problems in the Centennial State. History Formerly known as the...

Colorado–Big Thompson Project

Added by yongli on 08/15/2016 - 13:27, last changed on 05/04/2020 - 08:36
The Colorado–Big Thompson Project (C–BT) is the largest transmountain water diversion in the state of Colorado. Built between 1938 and 1956, the C–BT Project provides supplemental water for municipal, industrial, and irrigation purposes in northeastern Colorado. Water from the C–BT Project also...

Colorado’s New Energy Economy

Added by yongli on 02/06/2017 - 16:14, last changed on 01/26/2023 - 17:41
The term New Energy Economy refers to the transition of a state’s energy economy from one based purely on fossil fuels to one that includes a higher percentage of renewable energy sources. State-level energy policies have been the primary force moving the United States toward a greener economy, and...

Colorado’s Second Fur Trade

Added by yongli on 10/06/2016 - 16:33, last changed on 11/12/2022 - 10:03
Colorado’s “Second Fur Trade ” was typified by the burgeoning popularity of mink fur coats, a luxury item that enjoyed great popularity during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. As one of Colorado’s leading productive industries for several decades, mink farming is an example of the state’s transition...

Conifers

Added by yongli on 01/28/2021 - 12:18, last changed on 10/18/2022 - 14:43
From the tall, straight lodgepole pines in the high Rockies to the short, gnarled piñons that guard the state’s canyons and grasslands , coniferous trees dominate Colorado’s natural environments and hold together important ecosystems. Commonly referred to as pines or evergreens, coniferous trees...

Cottonwood Trees

Added by yongli on 01/29/2021 - 17:18, last changed on 11/27/2022 - 09:04
One of the most ecologically and culturally significant trees in Colorado, the plains cottonwood ( Populus deltoides monilifera ) thrives near rivers and riparian areas throughout the state. It is one of the only tree species to grow on Colorado’s Great Plains , which made it an important source of...

Culturally Modified Trees

Added by yongli on 06/23/2016 - 13:38, last changed on 01/31/2021 - 17:32
Culturally Modified Trees (or CMTs) are trees that exhibit peels, ax cuts, delimbing, wood removal, and other cultural modifications. Numerous CMTs are found in the foothills and mountains of Colorado. Research has shown that these trees are artifacts reflecting cultural utilization of trees by...

Dawes Act (General Allotment Act)

Added by yongli on 01/15/2020 - 13:39, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 08:47
Passed by Congress in 1887, the Dawes Act—formally known as the General Allotment Act—authorized the US government to survey and divide federal Indigenous reservations into private lots for individual tribal members. The Dawes Act’s central idea of “allotment” became the foundation of federal...

Denver Broncos

Added by yongli on 08/03/2016 - 13:38, last changed on 10/18/2022 - 20:42
Denver is home to many professional sports teams, but the city and state’s major sports obsession is without question the Denver Broncos, its professional football team and three-time champions of the National Football League (NFL). The Broncos play home games at Empower Field at Mile High (...

Denver Tramway Company

Added by yongli on 07/09/2020 - 10:50, last changed on 09/04/2021 - 12:08
The Denver Tramway Company (DTC) was the dominant private transit company in Denver ’s history, serving tens of millions of commuters per year at its peak and making it possible for the city to expand beyond its urban core. Established in 1885 by John Evans , William Byers , and other prominent...

Denver, Laramie, & Northwestern Railroad

Added by yongli on 08/30/2016 - 12:15, last changed on 11/11/2019 - 10:52
The Denver, Laramie, & Northwestern Railroad Company (DL&NW) was a small firm that planned to link Denver and Seattle by rail in the early twentieth century. The company’s history serves as an example of the pitfalls of running a small railroad company in the western United States at a time...

Early Irrigation in Denver

Added by yongli on 08/11/2016 - 15:16, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 15:45
Like most places in the arid American West, Denver could not possibly sustain itself without water from irrigation systems. While easy to overlook, disputes over water rights began with the onset of irrigation and persist to the present day. Today, though most of Denver’s original canals have been...

Eisenhower Tunnel

Added by yongli on 08/21/2015 - 12:19, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 12:43
The Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel (also known simply as the Eisenhower Tunnel) carries Interstate 70 traffic underneath the Continental Divide . The 1.6-mile-long pair of tunnels, carrying two lanes of traffic east and west, respectively, is seventy miles west of Denver in Summit County and...

Elk Culling

Added by yongli on 05/10/2016 - 10:56, last changed on 04/19/2021 - 15:57
Culling is a wildlife management practice involving the lethal reduction of a species. It has historically been used as a means to control ungulate (hoofed animal) populations in Colorado and throughout the United States. As recently as 2009, it has been used in combination with other population...

Eugenics in Colorado

Added by yongli on 02/16/2021 - 13:59, last changed on 02/08/2023 - 16:40
“Eugenics” refers to a social-engineering project based on the unsubstantiated idea that humanity can be improved by eliminating supposedly defective or lesser genes in favor of others. During the twentieth century, American medical professionals and lawmakers influenced by the pseudoscience of...

Fourteeners

Added by yongli on 08/20/2015 - 10:30, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 12:43
Colorado is home to fifty-eight of the nation's ninety-six mountain peaks standing at or above 14,000 feet in elevation. Known colloquially as “Fourteeners,” these peaks dominate Colorado’s skyline and shape the way people live and identify with nature in the Rocky Mountain West. Throughout...

Garveyism in Colorado

Added by yongli on 06/19/2018 - 13:12, last changed on 11/01/2022 - 12:43
Marcus M. Garvey (1887–1940) was president of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL), an organization that offered hope to millions of African people in the United States and worldwide. In the early twentieth century, Garvey had large followings in...

General Federation of Women’s Clubs

Added by yongli on 01/15/2020 - 11:16, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 08:47
The General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) is an international women’s organization dedicated to community improvement and enhancing the lives of others. In 1906 the group’s Colorado chapter helped establish Mesa Verde National Park , its most enduring contribution to the state. Founded in 1890...

Georgetown Loop

Added by yongli on 08/11/2016 - 16:38, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 13:54
The Georgetown Loop is a rail line running between Georgetown and Silver Plume that showcases Colorado’s mountain scenery and mining heritage. The Georgetown Loop represents a major part of Colorado’s formative history—railroad development—as well as one of the state’s strongest industries—tourism...

Glaciers

Added by yongli on 05/06/2016 - 15:50, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 00:42
Snow in the high country sometimes accumulates faster than it melts, leading to the formation and continuation of glaciers. Colorado is home to seven glacial regions that reside mainly in central and northern Colorado. Each area sustains unique ecosystems and watersheds crucial to nature and humans...

Grand Valley Irrigation

Added by yongli on 08/01/2016 - 13:06, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 12:43
The story of irrigation in Colorado’s Grand Valley speaks volumes about the reciprocal relationship between land and community in the arid American West. Early white colonizers of Colorado’s Western Slope espoused concepts of landscape and water control that physically transformed the landscape...

Great Eclipse of 1878

Added by yongli on 01/18/2017 - 13:51, last changed on 10/04/2019 - 09:27
In 1878 a widely publicized total solar eclipse passed over the state of Colorado. The so-called Great Eclipse of 1878 would garner national attention for the state, as it was the ideal place to view the event thanks to the higher elevation and ready access to tall mountain peaks—perfect places for...

Gunnison River

Added by yongli on 05/06/2016 - 15:25, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 05:48
The Gunnison River is a major tributary of the Colorado River , contributing about one-third of the Colorado’s flow at the Colorado-Utah state line. The basin drained by the Gunnison stretches from alpine meadows and forests along the Continental Divide to the arid canyon country around Grand...

High Country News

Added by yongli on 03/14/2016 - 15:03, last changed on 10/18/2022 - 06:48
High Country News (HCN) is a nonprofit, independent media organization covering issues that define the American West. Based in the small western Colorado town of Paonia , High Country News publishes a biweekly newsmagazine as well as a variety of digital and print media. HCN is widely regarded as...

Homeopathy in Colorado

Added by yongli on 01/18/2017 - 14:03, last changed on 11/18/2019 - 13:14
Homeopathy is a quasi-science espousing the treatment of maladies using small doses of poisonous or toxic substances. The practice was very popular throughout the United States and the world at large from the late-1700s to the early 1900s. Its popularity in Colorado Territory , and later the state...

Inquiry Cards

Added by yongli on 06/04/2021 - 13:26, last changed on 10/19/2021 - 15:11
This is the entire set of Inquiry Cards for you to browse through. On the front of each card, there is a photo and question to provoke thought; on the back, there is a QR code that connects the user to the answer as well as more information. Click on the link below to access them. Inquiry Cards set...

Interstate 70

Added by yongli on 11/19/2015 - 16:17, last changed on 11/01/2022 - 10:42
Interstate Highway 70 spans 2,100 miles across the United States, crossing the entire state of Colorado. The eastern end of the highway lies west of Baltimore, Maryland. From there it bisects the country until it reaches Cove Fort in Central Utah, where it merges into Interstate 15. In Colorado, I-...

Interstate 76

Added by yongli on 11/30/2021 - 09:50, last changed on 11/01/2022 - 10:42
Construction of Interstate 80 South, later known as Interstate 76, began in 1958 and reflected the desire for easier transportation across the state of Colorado. The 184-mile highway connects Denver to western Nebraska and represents a vital link between two of the longest interstates in the nation...

Irrigation in Colorado

Added by yongli on 02/03/2017 - 11:48, last changed on 10/18/2022 - 06:48
The tension between aridity and irrigated agriculture has been a defining characteristic of Colorado for much of its modern history. On average, the state receives less than fifteen inches of annual precipitation, making it the seventh driest state in the country. To complicate matters, the...

Kivas

Added by yongli on 03/04/2016 - 10:39, last changed on 09/09/2020 - 15:44
Kivas were architecturally unique rooms or structures built by Ancestral Puebloans in southwest Colorado that served important ceremonial and social functions. Architecturally, they are recognized in the archaeological record in southwestern Colorado as far back as AD 500, although there are...

Land and Resource Management in Colorado

Added by yongli on 01/23/2017 - 16:21, last changed on 11/06/2019 - 01:07
The ideologies of conservation and preservation have profoundly shaped Colorado’s physical landscapes and continue to shape Coloradans’ attitudes toward nature. Agencies such as Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and the United States Forest Service (USFS), multiple-use agencies, oversee the use and...

Land Use and Bird Life in Colorado

Added by yongli on 01/15/2020 - 15:17, last changed on 11/20/2022 - 22:30
In the early to mid-1800s, when Europeans and Euro-Americans began arriving in what is now Colorado, they encountered a landscape that was significantly different from what we see today. The changes that have occurred to the landscape since then have had significant impacts on the state’s natural...

Longs Peak

Added by yongli on 07/27/2015 - 15:41, last changed on 10/18/2022 - 06:48
Longs Peak is an icon of the Rocky Mountain landscape. At 14,259 feet, it is one of Colorado’s tallest mountains, the only Fourteener in Rocky Mountain National Park . For more than a century, the mountain has inspired adventuresome men and women to test themselves against its bouldered slopes,...

Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway

Added by yongli on 08/21/2015 - 15:16, last changed on 10/16/2019 - 09:54
The Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway climbs the 8.9 miles to the 14,110-foot summit of Pikes Peak . The railway is the highest in North America and was built as a tourist attraction in the late nineteenth century. Other cog railways can be found on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire and throughout...

Mexican Land Grants in Colorado

Added by yongli on 07/06/2020 - 16:34, last changed on 11/23/2022 - 17:35
From the sixteenth century to the mid-nineteenth, the king of Spain and the Mexican government awarded land grants to individuals and communities throughout the American Southwest. All seven of Colorado ’s land grants, comprising more than 8 million acres, were awarded by the Mexican government...

Moose

Added by yongli on 02/21/2017 - 15:32, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 12:43
Moose ( Alces alces shirasi ) are the largest member of the deer family, with individuals reaching weights of between 800 and 900 pounds. The subspecies of moose found in Colorado, as well as throughout the southern Rocky Mountains , is the Shiras subspecies. This subspecies is smaller than that of...

Mountain Lion

Added by yongli on 02/21/2017 - 14:07, last changed on 08/15/2022 - 16:24
The mountain lion ( Puma concolor )—also known as the cougar and puma—is the largest wild felid, or member of the cat family, in Colorado. Mountain lions are obligate carnivores, meaning that only animal flesh can meet their bodies’ nutritional needs. They inhabit much of Colorado’s foothills and...

Mountain Pine Beetle

Added by yongli on 10/30/2015 - 13:46, last changed on 03/02/2023 - 19:41
Forests across Colorado's Rocky Mountains look very different today than they did twenty years ago: millions of trees have been killed by mountain pine beetles ( Dendroctonus ponderosae ). The mountain pine beetle is a native insect that is roughly the size of a grain of rice, but large populations...

Mule Deer

Added by yongli on 02/21/2017 - 14:34, last changed on 10/26/2022 - 17:45
Mule deer ( Odocoilus hemionus ) belong to the Cervidae family, hoofed mammals that have antlers, which also include elk ( Cervus elaphus ), moose ( Alces alces ), and caribou ( Rangifer tarandus ). There are numerous sub-classifications of deer, but the most distinctive include mule deer and white...

Opera Colorado

Added by yongli on 02/15/2022 - 15:29, last changed on 02/15/2022 - 15:29
Opera Colorado started in the early 1980s as Denver ’s main opera-production company. Founded by the husband-and-wife team of Nathaniel Merrill and Louise Sherman, the company performed at the Denver Performing Arts Complex’s Boettcher Concert Hall before moving to the new Temple Hoyne Buell...

Populism in Colorado

Added by yongli on 01/31/2017 - 12:51, last changed on 08/18/2022 - 12:38
Populism was a third-party political movement of the 1890s that left an enduring imprint on Colorado history. The Populist or People’s Party was especially strong in the south, Midwest, and west because it focused on the grievances of farmers, workers, and members of what Populists called “the...

Radiocarbon Dating

Added by yongli on 05/02/2016 - 16:39, last changed on 10/26/2022 - 17:45
Radiocarbon dating is the most common technique used in ascertaining the age of archaeological and paleontological sites during the last 45,000 years. Developed by a chemist born in Colorado, there are now commercial and academic laboratories across the globe that conduct radiocarbon dating...

Rock Art of Colorado

Added by yongli on 10/29/2015 - 14:34, last changed on 11/27/2022 - 09:10
Colorado is home to a rich variety of prehistoric and historic art carved on cliff sides and boulders. Most rock art is found in river basins. The mountain areas that cut a wide vertical swath through the state are relatively devoid of rock art. There are the two types of rock art: pecked art,...

Rocky Mountain Elk

Added by yongli on 08/02/2016 - 15:22, last changed on 11/27/2022 - 08:48
Rocky Mountain Elk ( Cervus canadensis nelsoni ) are large mammals in the deer family that live in Colorado’s forests. Revered as a symbol of the American West, they have played an important role in Colorado’s ecology and natural history. Each year, millions of people travel to Rocky Mountain...

Rocky Mountain League

Added by yongli on 08/08/2022 - 15:33, last changed on 08/08/2022 - 15:33
The Rocky Mountain League was a Class D baseball league that fielded four semi-professional teams in southern Colorado in 1912. Founded in the wake of the departure of a previous team from Pueblo , the league fell into immediate financial trouble and folded before it completed its first season...

Rocky Mountains

Added by yongli on 06/08/2020 - 16:18, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 13:54
The Colorado Rocky Mountains are the highest portion of the 1,900-mile Rocky Mountain chain that stretches from northern British Columbia, Canada, to southern New Mexico. Colorado contains 78 of the 100 highest peaks in the chain, including the 30 tallest. The mountains are the state’s iconic...

Royal Gorge

Added by yongli on 11/10/2015 - 12:27, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 13:54
The Royal Gorge is a spectacular canyon along the Arkansas River near Cañon City in south-central Colorado. With a narrowest width of just 30 feet at the bottom of the canyon and a depth exceeding 1,200 feet in some places, the nearly ten-mile-long canyon is considered a world wonder of geology ...

Sage grouse

Added by yongli on 05/17/2016 - 11:07, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 13:54
Sage grouse are a group of chicken-sized birds with a unique breeding behavior and dependence on sagebrush shrubs (genus Artemisia ) for food and shelter throughout their life cycle. In the last century, human population expansion throughout western North America has reduced the amount of sagebrush...

Sagebrush

Added by yongli on 02/08/2021 - 15:37, last changed on 02/22/2023 - 16:41
Sagebrush (genus Artemisia ) is one of the most common and recognizable plants on Colorado’s Western Slope and arid Great Plains . A woody, fragrant, faded-green bush, sagebrush is ubiquitous throughout drier parts of the American West, covering some 106 million acres of the region. This makes...

San Juan Mountains

Added by yongli on 08/01/2016 - 15:16, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 12:43
The San Juan Mountains are the largest mountain range by area in the Centennial State, spanning thirteen counties in southwestern Colorado. In addition to being the home of the Ute Indians for hundreds of years, the mountains intrigued Spaniards , lured the prospectors of the Colorado Gold Rush ,...

San Luis Valley

Added by yongli on 03/13/2020 - 13:26, last changed on 11/29/2022 - 12:43
Covering nearly 8,000 square miles in southern Colorado, the San Luis Valley is the largest valley in the state and the largest high-altitude desert in North America. Known as “the Valley” by locals and other Coloradans, the San Luis Valley is bordered by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east...

San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council

Added by yongli on 02/03/2017 - 11:30, last changed on 01/26/2023 - 03:39
The San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) helps to safeguard over 3.1 million acres of public lands and natural resources in the six counties comprising the San Luis Valley , noted for their unchanged landscapes, biological richness, early settlement traditions, and rural lifestyles. This...

Santa Fé Trail

Added by yongli on 08/21/2015 - 11:11, last changed on 11/12/2022 - 10:13
The Santa Fé Trail was an international overland route of both commerce and social interaction, joining the US prairie state of Missouri with the province of México Nuevo, Mexico, through much of the nineteenth century. Though its specific date of origin is unclear, it appears to have been the...

Ski Industry

Added by yongli on 09/13/2017 - 14:40, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 13:54
Colorado’s ski industry anchors the state’s thriving tourist economy. Built primarily on national forest lands, the state’s numerous ski resorts attract upwards of 12 million visitors annually, generating billions in revenue. Introduced to the state in the late nineteenth century, downhill skiing’s...

Snow

Added by yongli on 05/06/2016 - 15:57, last changed on 10/26/2022 - 01:43
Colorado is known for its snow, which sustains the ski industry and supplies much of the water that flows into major rivers of the American West. Snow falls in the winter in all parts of Colorado, and the deepest snowpacks are in the high mountains crossing the center of the state. Snow...

South Platte River

Added by yongli on 02/22/2017 - 13:13, last changed on 11/15/2022 - 10:43
The South Platte River flows from its headwaters in the Mosquito Range west of South Park across Colorado’s northeastern plains . From downtown Fairplay to the Nebraska border at Julesburg , its course through Colorado is approximately 380.3 miles. Today, water administrators and water...

State Animal

Added by admin on 08/14/2014 - 08:22, last changed on 08/18/2022 - 13:23
The Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep , Ovis canadensis , was adopted as the official state animal on May 1, 1961 by an act of the General Assembly. The Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep is found only in the Rockies, usually above timberline in rugged mountainous areas. The male sheep is three to three and a...

State Bird

Added by admin on 02/17/2015 - 17:05, last changed on 08/18/2022 - 13:24
The Lark Bunting, Calamospiza melanocoryus Stejneger , was adopted as the official state bird on April 29, 1931. The Lark Bunting is a migrant bird. Flocks arrive in April and inhabit the plains regions and areas up to 8,000 feet in elevation. They fly south again in September. The male bird is...

State Facts

Added by Nick Johnson on 04/28/2016 - 10:10, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 15:45
TERRITORY : February 28, 1861 STATEHOOD: August 1, 1876 CAPITAL: Denver MOTTO : “Nil Sine Numine” – “Nothing without Providence” NICKNAMES: The Centennial State, The Highest State, The...

State Fish

Added by admin on 02/13/2015 - 17:20, last changed on 08/18/2022 - 11:20
The Greenback Cutthroat Trout, Oncorhynchus clarkii somias , was adopted as the official state fish on March 15, 1994, by an act of the General Assembly. The Rainbow Trout was considered the state fish from 1954 until 1994 but was never officially adopted. The Greenback Cutthroat Trout was at one...

State Flag

Added by admin on 02/17/2015 - 17:15, last changed on 08/31/2017 - 06:51
The state flag was adopted on June 5, 1911 by an act of the General Assembly. The flag was adopted to be used on all occasions when the state is officially and publicly represented, with the privilege of use by all citizens upon such occasions as they deem fitting and appropriate. Laws pertaining...

State Flower

Added by admin on 02/17/2015 - 17:28, last changed on 08/31/2017 - 06:51
The white and lavender Columbine, Aquilegia caerulea , was adopted as the official state flower on April 4, 1899 by an act of the General Assembly. In 1925, the General Assembly made it the duty of all citizens to protect this rare species from needless destruction or waste. To further protect this...

State Folk Dance

Added by admin on 02/17/2015 - 17:33, last changed on 12/22/2020 - 01:07
The Square Dance was adopted as the official state folk dance on March 16, 1992 by an act of the General Assembly. Square dancing is the American folk dance which traces its ancestry to the English country dance and the French ballroom dance, and which is called, cued, or prompted to the dancers...

State Motto

Added by admin on 02/13/2015 - 10:27, last changed on 08/31/2017 - 06:51
The Latin phrase "Nil Sine Numine” was adopted as part of the Territorial Seal. At recurring intervals the interpretation of this Latin phrase, commonly translated as "Nothing without Providence,” has been disputed. Some say it means "Nothing without God.” In the early mining days of the State, the...

State Name and Nickname

Added by admin on 02/13/2015 - 09:41, last changed on 08/31/2017 - 06:51
The name of our state, Colorado, has its origin in the Spanish language, as the word for "colored red.” This was the name chosen for Colorado as a Territory in 1861 by Congress. Colorado has been nicknamed the "Centennial State" because it became a state in the year 1876, 100 years after the...

State Seal

Added by admin on 02/17/2015 - 17:35, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 05:48
The circular Seal of the State of Colorado is an adaptation of the Territorial Seal, which was adopted by the First Territorial Assembly on November 6, 1861. The only changes made in the Territorial Seal design were the substitution of the words, "State of Colorado" and the figures "1876" for the...

Sunflowers

Added by yongli on 05/10/2016 - 10:13, last changed on 03/24/2023 - 03:38
Sunflowers, several species of which are native to Colorado, are grown as ornamental garden plants, for their edible seeds, and as commercial crops for confection seeds and oil. Sunflowers offer many ecological and economic benefits to commercial agriculture because they demand few inputs, such as...

Sweat Lodge

Added by yongli on 10/29/2015 - 14:26, last changed on 03/25/2019 - 01:07
Sweat lodges are structures built to contain steam, and they play an important role in the spiritual practices of Colorado’s Native American peoples. The Arapaho , Cheyenne , Navajo , Shoshone, and Ute are historic Native American groups in Colorado who use sweat lodges as a method for cleansing...

The City Beautiful Movement in Denver

Added by yongli on 10/22/2015 - 16:06, last changed on 10/30/2021 - 10:45
Beginning in the late nineteenth century, the City Beautiful movement sought to create a livable urban environment with healthy and agreeable conditions and an abundance of recreational facilities in the midst of rapidly industrializing cities. Cities throughout Colorado undertook City Beautiful...

The Denver Woman’s Press Club

Added by yongli on 06/21/2016 - 14:53, last changed on 03/19/2022 - 08:11
The Denver Woman’s Press Club is an organization for women newspaper writers and authors founded in 1898. At the time of its founding, the club demonstrated the new social and political power of women through its involvement in a range of causes, including the women’s suffrage movement in the early...

The Rocky Mountain Fleet

Added by yongli on 01/23/2017 - 11:09, last changed on 08/31/2017 - 07:32
During World War II, Denver ’s war production industry expanded to include the production of ship parts bound for assembly on the West Coast. Known colloquially as “the Rocky Mountain Fleet,” dozens of ships would eventually see production at the Colorado works. Today, the Rocky Mountain Fleet...

Tipi

Added by yongli on 12/28/2015 - 11:20, last changed on 11/27/2022 - 08:57
The tipi, or tepee, is an iconic form of Native American housing. It has a long history of use throughout Colorado and the western plains of North America. Sturdy and secure yet portable, the hide-covered tipi has been an ideal shelter for millennia among mobile human groups. The term comes from...

Tuberculosis in Colorado

Added by yongli on 04/15/2015 - 14:06, last changed on 10/19/2022 - 08:40
Historians estimate that perhaps as many as one-third of Colorado’s early settlers moved to the state for reasons directly or indirectly associated with health. Most came because they believed the arid mountain climate could cure them of one of the nineteenth-century’s deadliest diseases:...

United Mine Workers of America

Added by yongli on 01/21/2021 - 14:09, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 09:43
The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) formed in 1890 to fight for better pay and working conditions for the nation’s coal miners. In Colorado the union was most active in the early twentieth century, with thousands of members joining strikes in the southern coalfields of Fremont , Huerfano ,...

Uranium Mining

Added by yongli on 03/31/2017 - 16:12, last changed on 10/26/2022 - 03:39
Uranium mining in Colorado dates to the late nineteenth century, when uranium resources were discovered in the southwestern part of the state. The region’s Uravan Mineral Belt is rich in carnotite, the ore that produces uranium and vanadium. Both elements have various industrial and military...

US Forest Service in Colorado

Added by yongli on 03/01/2016 - 16:24, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 17:42
Colorado enjoys a proud public lands heritage and a prominent place in US Forest Service (USFS) history. The state hosts many of the first forests reserved under federal law, which today are some of the most popular destinations within the national forest system. Origins ...

Vision Quest

Added by yongli on 11/02/2015 - 16:36, last changed on 12/28/2017 - 13:41
The vision quest is a rite of passage practiced by Native American tribes of the Plains and Great Basin groups such as the Eastern Shoshone . Vision quests are not well documented for the Ute Native Americans, although a few shamans might have performed the ritual. Archaeologists and...

Water in Colorado

Added by yongli on 10/22/2015 - 16:35, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 05:48
Water has profoundly shaped Colorado’s past and will play a vital role in its future. The resource is essential to the state’s agriculture, cities, industries, energy supply, and environment. Furthermore, eighteen other states and parts of Mexico rely on waters from the mountains of Colorado, known...

Water Law

Added by yongli on 11/16/2015 - 14:26, last changed on 08/06/2020 - 10:38
Known collectively as “The Colorado Doctrine,” the state’s water laws arose primarily from the practice of farmers diverting water from streams through ditches onto irrigable land to grow food for homesteading families, miners, and growing towns. Territorial Law In 1861 the Colorado Territorial...

Western Federation of Miners

Added by yongli on 01/21/2021 - 15:17, last changed on 01/04/2023 - 04:38
Founded in 1893, the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was one of the largest and most active labor unions in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American West. The union was involved in some of the most important labor disputes in Colorado and American history, including the 1894...

Wetlands and Riparian Areas

Added by yongli on 08/12/2016 - 16:25, last changed on 11/30/2022 - 21:39
Wetlands are ecosystems that are at least periodically saturated or inundated by water , creating unique habitats that support a wide variety of plant and animal species. Colorado wetlands include a diverse range of ecosystem types, each with distinctive plants and animals, hydrologic regimes, and...

Wickiups and Other Wooden Features

Added by yongli on 05/02/2016 - 16:55, last changed on 11/11/2019 - 10:14
Wickiups were temporary conical and domed shelters constructed by the Native American inhabitants of Colorado for millennia. Because of the perishable nature of their construction materials, a vast majority of wickiups and other prehistoric wooden structures have vanished from the landscape...

Wildfire in Colorado

Added by yongli on 05/09/2016 - 15:25, last changed on 12/08/2022 - 01:41
Coloradans have coevolved with fire. From early indigenous people to Euro-American colonizers, to modern government agents, humans have influenced the direction of fire as much as fire has influenced the course of people. The fire-adapted landscapes we see in Colorado today, as well as the rash of...

Wolves in Colorado

Added by yongli on 02/16/2021 - 13:25, last changed on 11/27/2022 - 09:12
The gray wolf ( Canis lupus ) was once one of the most prevalent predators in Colorado, stalking deer and bison across the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains . Before wolves were killed off in the state by the 1940s, they enjoyed a rather peaceful coexistence with humans. Since their eradication,...

Women of the Ku Klux Klan

Added by yongli on 09/12/2017 - 10:57, last changed on 08/18/2022 - 10:59
Membership in the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) spiked nationwide during the 1920s, and Colorado was no exception to the hysteria of nativism and religious prejudice that swept the country. Following World War I , national KKK recruiters helped local agitators form a men’s KKK in Colorado. The women’s...

Wonderbound

Added by admin on 07/15/2015 - 14:39, last changed on 11/10/2022 - 00:41
Based in Denver , Wonderbound was established in 2002 and has quickly grown into the second-largest professional dance company in Colorado. Originally called Ballet Nouveau Colorado and affiliated with a Broomfield -based dance school of the same name, in 2012–13 the company split with the dance...

Yampa River

Added by yongli on 02/02/2017 - 16:41, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 12:43
The Yampa River snakes 250 miles across northwestern Colorado, primarily in Routt and Moffat Counties. Its watershed encompasses approximately 8,000 square miles in Colorado and Wyoming; in Colorado, the river flows through Craig , Hayden , Milner , and Steamboat Springs , among other communities...

“Great American Desert”

Added by yongli on 09/30/2016 - 09:37, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 12:43
Early nineteenth century Army explorers Zebulon Pike and Stephen H. Long conceptualized the Great Plains east of the Rocky Mountains as the “Great American Desert.” Long’s report called it “unfit for cultivation,” while Pike compared it to “the sandy deserts of Africa.” The myth of the Great...
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