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"Approximately 15,000 years
ago the first Native Americans may have appeared in Colorado. The earliest
inhabitants were hunters and nomadic foragers on the plains as well as the
western plateau. Agricultural settlements began appearing along river valleys in
the eastern part of Colorado from approximately 5,000 B.C. as people learned
farming techniques from the Mississippi River Native Americans. Perhaps
the most highly developed culture before the European migration was the Anasazi
who, four centuries before Columbus, lived in multi-story cliff dwellings in
canyons in the southwestern corner of Colorado. At the end of the thirteenth
century, these Indians abandoned their cliff dwellings and apparently moved
southward.
The first Europeans to venture
into Colorado were the Spanish. In 1540-41, Coronado led an expedition north
from Mexico in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola where the streets were
allegedly paved with gold. Although this exact route is unknown, it is likely
Coronado and his party passed through the present-day area of southeastern
Colorado. Over the next 250 years, the Spanish made other expeditions into the
Colorado area.
In 1800, Spain ceded a vast area,
including Colorado, to Napoleon Bonaparte and the French. Three years later, the
same parcel of land was sold by Napoleon the United States as the
"Louisiana Purchase". In 1806, President Jefferson commissioned
Lieutenant Zebulon Pike to explore the recently purchased territory. Among
the sites mentioned by Pike in his report of the expedition was the 14,110-foot
peak, which today bears his name. Pike stated in his report that it was unlikely
the summit would ever be scaled.
A group of explorers led by Major
Stephen H. Long proved Pike to be wrong in 1820 when Dr. Edwin James and two
others in the Long party became the first to climb to the summit of Pike's Peak.
In making their journey, Long and his party passed the present day locations of
Greeley, Denver, and Colorado Springs. They also viewed the mountain later known
as Lounge's Peak.
At about the same time as the
Long expedition, fur trappers and traders began working their trade in the Rocky
Mountains. Beaver fur was considered one of the most precious commodities on the
continent. The beaver pelt, small and light in weight, provide d a high-priced
product in a small package. A single pelt sold in eastern markets for six to
eight dollars. During the decade of the 1830's both the supply and price of
beaver skins declined, forcing traders to turn to hunting buffalo. In addition,
trading posts were established for barter with the Indians. Fort Pueblo (1842),
Fort Vesquez (1835), and Bent's Fort (1834) were the most important posts.
Many Indian tribes roamed
Colorado and contributed to the state's history. The Apache, Cheyenne, Utes,
Arapaho, Comanche, and Kiowa were important plains tribes. The Apaches followed
the base of the Rocky Mountains from their homeland in Canada to their
residences on the eastern plains . The Navajo eventually settled in southern
Colorado. After the Apaches moved south, the Cheyenne and Arapaho roamed
the state's north eastern plains while the Comanche and Kiowa lived in the
south eastern plains. The Utes inhabited the mountains and river valleys
of western Colorado. Many Native Americans have remained in Colorado, especially
members of the Ute tribe. Indian reservations exist today in the southwestern
corner of the state.
The discovery of gold in
California in 1849 touched off a search for gold in other regions including the
Rocky Mountains and accounted for the first extensive settlement of Colorado. In
July of 1858, William Green Russell, a Georgia miner, discovered several hundred
dollars worth of gold at the mouth of Dry Creek in the present-day Denver suburb
of Englewood. Russell's find started the "Pike's Peak or Bust" gold
rush of 1858-59. Historians estimate that approximately 50,000 people came to
Colorado in search of gold in 1858-59.
After Russell and his brothers
made another gold discovery on Cherry Creek, General William Larimer led a group
of men from the Kansas Territory to establish a settlement there. The resulting
settlement was christened Denver City in honor of James W. Denver, governor of
Kansas Territory. Cherry Creek provided a boundary between Denver City and
another community established earlier, Auraria. Despite an initial rivalry,
these two communities were consolidated into the single community of Denver in
1860.
Gold deposits found in other
areas led to the establishment of more towns. In particular, the discovery of
gold forty miles west of Cherry Creek led to the establishment of the twin towns
of Central City and Blackhawk. The first permanent European settlements in the
state were in the San Luis Valley. The town of San Luis founded in 1851 is
generally considered the oldest continually occupied town in Colorado.
In January of 1861, Congress
voted statehood for Kansas. A bill to create Colorado Territory was passed
almost immediately thereafter. President Lincoln appointed William Gilpin as the
state's first territorial governor. The population of Colorado in 1861 was
21,000. The first legislature, sitting in Denver, selected Colorado City (west
of present day Colorado Springs) as the capitol. The second legislature met
there only a few days, in 1862, and adjourned to Denver. The assembly met in
Denver and Golden up to 1867 when Denver was named the permanent seat of the
territory. In the years following the establishment of the territory, numerous
attempts were made to gain statehood for Colorado. However, it was not until
1876 - fifteen years after becoming a territory - that Colorado was admitted as
the thirty-eighth state in the union. Colorado was called the "Centennial
State" in honor of the one-hundredth year of the Declaration of
Independence."
- From the Colorado Government
website.
To learn more about Colorado visit http://www.colorado.gov/
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