Colorado history
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The region that is today the U.S.
State of Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
has been inhabited by Native Americans and their Paleoamerican ancestors for at least 13,500 years and possibly more than 37,000 years. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was a major migration route that was important to the spread of early peoples throughout the Americas. The Lindenmeier site in
Larimer County Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359,066. The county seat and most populous city is Fort Collins. The county was named for William Larimer, Jr., the founder of Denver. ...
contains artifacts dating from approximately 8720 BCE. When explorers, early trappers, hunters, and gold miners visited and settled in Colorado, the state was populated by American Indian nations.
Westward expansion The United States of America was created on July 4, 1776, with the U.S. Declaration of Independence of thirteen British colonies in North America. In the Lee Resolution two days prior, the colonies resolved that they were free and independe ...
brought European settlers to the area and Colorado's recorded history began with treaties and wars with Mexico and American Indian nations to gain territorial lands to support the transcontinental migration. In the early days of the Colorado gold rush, Colorado was a Territory of Kansas and Territory of Jefferson. On August 1, 1876, Colorado was admitted as a state, maintaining its territorial borders.


Historic Native American people

*
Ancestral Puebloans The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, a ...
— A diverse group of peoples that lived in the valleys and mesas of the
Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This province covers an area of ...
* Apache Nation — An
Athabaskan Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...
-speaking nation that lived in the
Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
in the 18th century, then migrated southward to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, leaving a void on the plains that was filled by the Arapaho and Cheyenne from the east. * Arapaho Nation — An Algonquian-speaking nation that migrated westward to the base of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century and settled on the piedmont and the
eastern plains The Eastern Plains of Colorado refers to a region of the U.S. state of Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains and east of the population centers of the Front Range. Geography The Eastern Plains are part of the High Plains, which are the wester ...
. They were relocated entirely out of Colorado in 1865 following the Colorado War. *
Cheyenne Nation The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enrolle ...
— An Algonquian-speaking nation very closely related to the Arapaho. Like the Arapaho, they migrated westward in the 18th century to the base of the Rockies. They often lived in bands interspersed among the Arapaho, and were also relocated out of Colorado in the 1860s. *
Comanche Nation The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
— A Numic-speaking nation that lived on the
High Plains High Plains refers to one of two distinct land regions: * High Plains (United States), land region of the western Great Plains *High Plains (Australia) The High Plains of south-eastern Australia are a sub-region, or more strictly a string of adja ...
of southeastern Colorado. Closely related to the Shoshone, they acquired the horse from the
Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance peoples, Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of National and regional identity in Spain, national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex Hist ...
and roamed the southern
Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
. The Comanche were removed to Indian territory. *
Shoshone Nation The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easter ...
— A Numic-speaking nation that inhabited intermountain valleys along the north edge of the state, especially in the Yampa River valley, up through the late 19th century. Areas included North Park and
Browns Park Brown's Park or Browns Park, originally called Brown's Hole, is an isolated mountain valley along the Green River in Moffat County, Colorado and Daggett County, Utah in the United States. The valley begins in far eastern Utah, approximately dow ...
. *
Ute Nation Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado in the Southwestern United States for many centuries unt ...
— A Numic-speaking nation that has lived in the Southern and the Western Rocky Mountains for many centuries. Their leaders were Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta. They often clashed with the Arapaho and Cheyenne, and resisted the encroachment of these nations into the mountains. Until the 1880s, the Ute controlled nearly all of Colorado west of the
continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...
, a situation that eroded after the silver boom of 1879. After clashing with white settlers in the 1880s in the
Meeker Massacre Meeker Massacre, or Meeker Incident, White River War, Ute War, or the Ute Campaign), took place on September 29, 1879 in Colorado. Members of a band of Ute Indians ( Native Americans) attacked the Indian agency on their reservation, killing th ...
, they were nearly entirely relocated out of the state into Utah, except for two small reservations in southwestern Colorado.


European settlement

The first
Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...
to visit the region were Spanish conquistadors. Juan de Oñate who lived until 1626, founded what would become the Spanish province of
Santa Fé de Nuevo México Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...
among the pueblos of the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...
on July 11, 1598. In 1787 Juan Bautista de Anza established the settlement of San Carlos near present-day Pueblo, Colorado, but it quickly failed. This was the only Spanish attempt to create a settlement north of the Arkansas River. Colorado became part of the Spanish province of
Santa Fe de Nuevo México Santa Fe de Nuevo México ( en, Holy Faith of New Mexico; shortened as Nuevo México or Nuevo Méjico, and translated as New Mexico in English) was a Kingdom of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory of independent Mexico. The ...
as part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Spaniards traded with Native Americans who lived there and established the ''Comercio Comanchero'' (Comanche Trade) among the Spanish settlements and the Native Americans. In 1803 the United States acquired a territorial claim to the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains by the Louisiana Purchase from France. However, the claim conflicted with Spain's claim to sovereignty over the territory. Zebulon Pike led a U.S. Army reconnaissance expedition into the disputed region in 1806. Pike and his troops were arrested by Spanish
cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
in the
San Luis Valley The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, extending from the Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south. It co ...
, taken to
Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...
, then expelled from México.
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Don (honorific), Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla y Gallaga Mandarte Villaseñor (8 May 1753  – 30 July 1811), more commonly known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or Miguel Hidalgo (), was a Catholic priest, leader ...
declared Mexico's independence from Spain on September 16, 1810. In 1819, the United States ceded its claim to the land south and west of the Arkansas River to Spain with the Adams-Onís Treaty, at the same time purchasing Florida. Mexico finally won its independence with the Treaty of Córdoba signed on August 24, 1821, and assumed the territorial claims of Spain. Although Mexican traders ventured north, settlers stayed south of the
37th parallel north The 37th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 37 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Africa, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. At this latitude the Su ...
until the United States signed a peace treaty with the
Ute Nation Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado in the Southwestern United States for many centuries unt ...
in 1850. During the period 1832 to 1856, traders, trappers, and settlers established trading posts and small settlements along the Arkansas River, and on the
South Platte The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. Its ...
near the Front Range. Prominent among these were Bent's Fort and Fort Pueblo on the Arkansas and Fort Saint Vrain on the South Platte. The main item of trade offered by the Indians was buffalo robes, see
Early history of the Arkansas Valley in Colorado The early history of the Arkansas Valley in Colorado began in the 1600s and to the early 1800s when explorers, hunters, trappers, and traders of European descent came to the region. Prior to that, Colorado was home to prehistoric people, incl ...
and Forts in Colorado. In 1846 the United States went to war with Mexico. Mexico's defeat forced the nation to relinquish its northern territories by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. This opened the
Southern Rocky Mountains The Southern Rocky Mountains are a major subregion of the Rocky Mountains of North America located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, the central and western portions of Colorado, the northern portion of New Mexico, and ex ...
to American settlement, including what is now the lower portion of Colorado. The newly gained land was divided into the Territory of New Mexico and the Territory of Utah, both organized in 1850, and the Territory of Kansas and the Territory of Nebraska, organized in 1854. Most settlers avoided the rugged Rocky Mountains and headed for Oregon, the Deseret, or California, usually following the North Platte River and the Sweetwater River to South Pass in what is now Wyoming. On April 9, 1851, Hispanic settlers from Taos, New Mexico, settled the village of
San Luis San Luis (Spanish for "Saint Louis") may refer to: Places Argentina * San Luis Province * San Luis, Argentina, capital of San Luis Province Belize * San Luis, Belize, in Orange Walk District Colombia * San Luis, Antioquia, a town and municipality ...
, then in the
New Mexico Territory The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of ''Santa Fe de Nuevo México ...
, but now Colorado's first permanent
European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fina ...
.


Pike's Peak Gold Rush

On June 22, 1850, a wagon train bound for California crossed the South Platte River just north of the confluence with Clear Creek, and followed Clear Creek west for six miles. Lewis Ralston dipped his gold pan in a stream flowing into Clear Creek, and found almost $5 in gold (about a quarter of a troy ounce) in his first pan. John Lowery Brown, who kept a diary of the party's journey from Georgia to California, wrote on that day: "Lay bye. Gold found." In a notation above the entry, he wrote, "We called this Ralston's Creek because a man of that name found gold here.” Ralston continued on to California, but returned to 'Ralston's Creek' with the
Green Russell William Greeneberry "Green" Russell (1818–1877) was an American prospector and miner. Early life Green Russell was born in South Carolina but moved with his family to Georgia as a small child. His father James Russell engaged in gold mining duri ...
party eight years later. Members of this party founded Auraria (later absorbed into Denver City) in 1858 and touched off the gold rush to the Rockies. The confluence of Clear Creek and Ralston Creek, the site of Colorado's first gold discovery is now in
Arvada, Colorado Arvada () is a home rule municipality located in Jefferson and Adams counties, Colorado, United States. The city population was 124,402 at the 2020 United States Census, with 121,510 residing in Jefferson County and 2,892 residing in Adams Coun ...
. In 1858, several parties of gold seekers bound for the
California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
panned small amounts of gold from various streams in the South Platte River Valley at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in then western
Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...
, now northeast Colorado. The gold nuggets initially failed to impress the gold seekers, but rumors of gold in the Rocky Mountains persisted, and several small parties explored the region. In the summer of 1857, a party of
Spanish-speaking Hispanophone and Hispanic refers to anything relating to the Spanish language (the Hispanosphere). In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The Hispanic culture is th ...
gold seekers from the
New Mexico Territory The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of ''Santa Fe de Nuevo México ...
worked a placer deposit along the South Platte River about above Cherry Creek (in what is today the Overland Park neighborhood of Denver.) The following year, William Greeneberry "Green" Russell led a party of Cherokee gold seekers from the
State of Georgia Georgia is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina; to the northeast by South Carolina; to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean; to the south by Florida; and to the west by ...
to search for gold along the South Platte River. In the first week of July 1857, Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek (in present-day Englewood) that yielded about 20 troy ounces (622 grams) of gold, the first significant gold discovery in the Rocky Mountain region. News of this discovery soon spread and precipitated the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. An estimated 100,000 gold seekers flocked to the region over the next three years. The placer gold deposits along the rivers and streams of the region rapidly played out, but miners soon discovered far more valuable seams of
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
gold, silver, and other minerals in the nearby mountains. This gold rush helped to attract people to the state and resulted in a population boom.


Territory of Jefferson

The
Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson The Territory of Jefferson was an extralegal and unrecognized United States territory that existed from October 24, 1859 until the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861. The Jefferson Territory, named for Founding Father and Un ...
was organized on October 24, 1859, but the new territory failed to secure federal sanction. The Provisional Government freely administered the region despite its lack of official status until the U.S.
Territory of Colorado The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the w ...
was organized in 1861.


Territory of Colorado

The
Territory of Colorado The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the w ...
was a historic, organized territory of the United States that existed between 1861 and 1876. Its boundaries were identical to the current
State of Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
. The territory ceased to exist when Colorado was admitted to the Union as a state on August 1, 1876. The territory was organized in the wake of the 1859 Pike's Peak Gold Rush, which had brought the first large concentration of white settlement to the region. The organic act creating the territory was passed by Congress and signed by President
James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...
on February 28, 1861, during the secessions by
Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...
states that precipitated the American Civil War. The organization of the territory helped solidify Union control over a mineral rich area of the Rocky Mountains. Statehood was regarded as fairly imminent, as during the run-up to the 1864 presidential election the Republican–controlled Congress was actually eager to get two more Republican senators and three more electoral votes for President Lincoln's re-election bid. Territorial Governor John Evans persuaded Congress to adopt an enabling act, but a majority of the 6,192 Coloradoans who voted, in a population of around 35,000, turned down the first attempt at a state constitution and the second attempt at statehood. Later, at the end of 1865, territorial ambitions for statehood were thwarted again, this time by a veto by President
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
. Statehood for the territory was a recurring issue during the
Ulysses Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
administration, with Grant advocating statehood against a less willing Congress during Reconstruction.


Colorado War

The Colorado War (1863–1865) was an armed conflict between the United States and a loose alliance among the Kiowa,
Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
, Arapaho, and Cheyenne nations of Native Americans (the last two were particularly closely allied). The war was centered on the
Eastern Plains The Eastern Plains of Colorado refers to a region of the U.S. state of Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains and east of the population centers of the Front Range. Geography The Eastern Plains are part of the High Plains, which are the wester ...
of the Colorado Territory and resulted in the removal of these four Native American peoples from present-day Colorado to present-day
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. The war included a particularly notorious episode in November 1864 known as the Sand Creek Massacre. The battle, initially hailed by the U.S. press as a great victory, was later learned to be one of genocidal brutality. The resulting hearings in the United States Congress regarding the malfeasance of the U.S. Army commander, John Chivington, were a watershed in the white views of the Indian Wars at the close of the American Civil War. In 1868 the U.S. Army, led by George Armstrong Custer, renewed the conflict against the Arapaho and Cheyenne at the
Battle of Washita River The Battle of Washita River (also called Battle of the Washita or the Washita Massacre) occurred on November 27, 1868, when Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's 7th U.S. Cavalry attacked Black Kettle's Southern Cheyenne camp on the Washita Rive ...
.


Statehood

The United States Congress passed an enabling act on March 3, 1875, specifying the requirements for the
Territory of Colorado The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the w ...
to become a state. On August 1, 1876 (28 days after the
Centennial of the United States The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...
),
U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
signed a proclamation admitting the state of Colorado to the Union as the
38th state Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of th ...
and earning it the moniker "
Centennial State Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
". The borders of the new state coincided with the borders established for the Colorado Territory. Women won
the right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
in Colorado via referendum on November 7, 1893. Colorado was the first state in the union to grant universal suffrage through a popular vote. (Wyoming approved the right of women to vote in 1869 through a vote of the territorial legislature.) Governor
Davis H. Waite Davis Hanson Waite (April 9, 1825 – November 27, 1901) was an American politician. He was a member of the Populist Party, and he served as the eighth Governor of Colorado from 1893 to 1895. Biography Early years Davis Hanson Waite was bor ...
campaigned for the Constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote in Colorado. Governor Waite is also noted as one of the few elected officials ever to call out the state militia to protect miners from a force raised by mine owners. Governor Waite belonged to the Populist Party.


Mining in Colorado

Participants in the Pike's Peak Gold Rush from 1858 to 1861 were called
Fifty-Niners A "Fifty-Niner" is the term used for the gold seekers who streamed into the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory in 1859. The discovery of placer gold deposits along the South Platte River at the foot ...
and many of the new arrivals settled in the Denver area. Gold in paying quantities was also discovered in the Central City area. In 1879, silver was discovered in Leadville, resulting in the Colorado Silver Boom. Many early mining efforts were cooperative ventures. However, as easy-to-reach surface deposits played out, miners increasingly turned to
hard rock mining Underground hard-rock mining refers to various underground mining techniques used to excavate "hard" minerals, usually those containing metals, such as ore containing gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, nickel, tin, and lead. It also involves the ...
. Such industrial operations required greater capital, and the economic concept of mineral rights resulted in periodic conflicts between the mine owners, and the miners who increasingly sold their labor to work in the mines. As the mines were dug deeper, they became more dangerous, and the work more arduous, creating the conditions for conflict. In 1880, Colorado Governor Pitkin, a Republican, declared martial law to suppress a violent mining strike at Leadville. In the 1890s many Colorado miners began to form unions in order to protect themselves. The mine operators often formed mine owners' associations in response, setting up the conditions for a conflict. Notable labor disputes between hard rock miners and the mine operators included the Cripple Creek strike of 1894 and the Colorado Labor Wars of 1903–04.
Coal mining in Colorado Early coal mining in Colorado in the United States was spread across the state. Some early coal mining areas are currently inactive, including the Denver Basin and Raton Basin coal fields along the Front Range. There are currently 11 active coal mi ...
began soon after the first settlers arrived. Although the discovery of coal did not cause boom cycles as did the precious metals, the early coal mining industry also established the conditions for violent confrontations between miners and mine owners. The usual issues were wages, hours, and working conditions, but miners were also concerned about issues of fairness, and company control over their personal lives. Early coal mining in Colorado was extremely dangerous, and the state had one of the highest death rates in the nation. During the three decades from 1884 to 1914, more than 1,700 workers died in Colorado's coal mines. Coal miners also resented having to pay for safety work such as timbering the mines, and they were sometimes paid in scrip that had value only in the company store, with the cost of goods set by the company. The Colorado Coalfield War, centered around the 1913-1914
United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing worke ...
strike against the
Rockefeller Rockefeller is a German surname, originally given to people from the village of Rockenfeld near Neuwied in the Rhineland and commonly referring to subjects associated with the Rockefeller family. It may refer to: People with the name Rockefeller fa ...
-owned
Colorado Fuel and Iron The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) was a large steel conglomerate founded by the merger of previous business interests in 1892.Scamehorn, Chapter 1, "The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, 1892-1903" page 10 By 1903 it was mainly owned and co ...
company, saw dozens die in battles on the Southern Colorado coalfields. The Ludlow Massacre became the peak of the violence, when
Colorado National Guard The Colorado National Guard consists of the Colorado Army National Guard and Colorado Air National Guard, forming the state of Colorado's component to the United States National Guard. Founded in 1860, the Colorado National Guard falls under t ...
and militia fired into a tent colony of strikers, in which many children were killed. The violence would continue until Woodrow Wilson sent federal soldiers to disarm both sides. Another coal strike in 1927 is best known for Colorado's first
Columbine massacre On April 20, 1999, a school shooting and attempted bombing occurred at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, twelfth grade, 12th grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and ...
. In 1933, federal legislation for the first time allowed all Colorado coal miners to join unions without fear of retaliation by instituting penalties for mine owners who obstructed collective bargaining. Like all resource extraction, mining is a boom or bust industry, and over the years many small towns were established, then abandoned when the ore ran out, the market collapsed, or another resource became available. There were once more than a hundred coal mines in the area north of Denver and east of
Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...
. The mines began to close when natural gas lines arrived. Coal and precious metals are still mined in Colorado, but the mining industries have changed dramatically in recent decades. Reports of the revival of
molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...
mining in 2007 resulted in ambivalent responses with Leadville welcoming the opening of the mine at
Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...
, but strong opposition in Crested Butte over proposed operations at Mount Emmons. Opinion in Rico, site of the Silver Creek stockwork Molybdenum deposit is more divided. There, land slated for development is being bought up by a mining company. Today there are many small mining towns scattered throughout Colorado, such as Leadville, Georgetown, Cripple Creek, Victor, and Central City. Although many of the mines no longer operate, the remnants of the operations can be seen in the form of mine shafts, outbuildings, and mounds of rock extracted from the hills. Many former mining towns turned to gambling to draw visitors, with Blackhawk and Cripple Creek serving as good examples. The 19th century ended with a difficult law-and-order situation in some places, most notably,
Creede, Colorado The historic City of Creede is (despite its official name) a Statutory Town and the county seat of Mineral County, Colorado, United States. It is the most populous community and the only incorporated municipality within the county. The town pop ...
, where gunmen like Robert Ford (the assassin of
Jesse James Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the " Little Dixie" area of Western Missouri, James and his family maintained stro ...
) and con artist like Soapy Smith reigned.


"The World's Sanitarium"

Starting in the 1860s, when tuberculosis (TB) was a major deadly disease, physicians in the eastern United States recommended that their patients relocate to sunny, dry climates for their lungs. As a result, the number of people with tuberculosis, called "lungers", in the state grew alarmingly and without the services or facilities to support their needs. Not knowing how to manage a population of homeless, ill people, many were taken to jail. Because of the number of people with TB and their families who came to Denver for their health, by the 1880s it was nicknamed the "World's Sanitarium". Cynthia Stout, a history scholar, asserted that by 1900 "one-third of Colorado's population were residents of the state because of tuberculosis."


Twentieth century

In the early 1920s, the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
was an important political force in Colorado, but it was unable to get any of its proposals enacted into law, and it died out by 1930. The 1930s saw the beginning of the ski industry in Colorado. Resorts were established in areas such as
Estes Park Estes Park is a statutory town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 5,904 at the 2020 United States Census. Estes Park is a part of the Fort Collins, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corr ...
, Gunnison, and on Loveland Pass. During WWII, the
10th Mountain Division The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to re ...
established Camp Hale to train elite ski troops. In the 1940s, the Republican governor of Colorado, Ralph Carr, spoke out against racial discrimination and against the federal internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. In 1967, Governor
John A. Love John Arthur Love (November 29, 1916 – January 21, 2002) was an American attorney and Republican politician who served as the 36th Governor of the State of Colorado from 1963 to 1973. Early life and education John Arthur Love was born on a far ...
signed the nation's first liberalized abortion law. The late 1960s saw violence in Denver, in the form of race riots, and college buildings being burned by radicals. The Family Dog Denver music venue opened that year, ushering in the hippie movement in the state, to the great consternation of city and state leaders and parents, leading to several municipal and federal court cases. It also made Colorado a major music destination thereafter. In 1972, Colorado became the only state to reject the award of hosting the Olympic Games after they had been granted. When Representative Lamm led a successful movement to reject a bond issue for expenses related to hosting the event, the International Olympic Committee relocated the
1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a ...
to
Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...
, Austria. No venue had rejected the award before nor has any venue since. In 1999, the
Columbine High School massacre On April 20, 1999, a school shooting and attempted bombing occurred at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, 12th grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher. ...
became the most devastating high-school massacre in United States history until the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting in 2018.


Twenty-first century

On July 20, 2012, not far from the location of the aforementioned massacre at Columbine High School, 12 people were killed and 70 people were injured"Officials release complete list of injured victims in Aurora massacre"
/ref> in the
2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred inside a Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, United States, during a midnight screening of the film ''The Dark Knight Rises''. Dressed in tactical clothing, James Holmes set off tear gas g ...
, when
James Eagan Holmes James Eagan Holmes (born December 13, 1987) is an American mass murderer responsible for the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting in which he killed 12 people and injured 70 others (62 directly and eight indirectly) at a Century 16 movie theater on ...
, a former neuroscience doctoral student, walked into an Aurora, Colorado
Cinemark Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (stylized as CineMark from 1998 to 2022 and CINEMARK since 2022) is an American movie theater chain that started operations in 1984 and since then it has operated theaters with hundreds of locations throughout the America ...
movie theater with multiple firearms, and started shooting at random at people trying to escape during a midnight Thursday showing of '' The Dark Knight Rises'', killing 12 people and injuring 70 others. It was the deadliest shooting in Colorado since the Columbine High School massacre and, in terms of both the dead and wounded in the number of casualties, was the largest single mass shooting in U.S. history. Colorado is now 1 of 15 states that have legalized both medical and recreational
marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
, allowing them to tax the product. As of July 2014, six months after recreational shops began sales of marijuana in Colorado, the state has enjoyed a tax revenue of 45 million with 98 million expected by the end of the calendar year. This is in addition to increased economic revenues from "pot tourists." As of July 9, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected over 35,000 people in Colorado and killed 1,544. As of August 2022, over 1.6 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Colorado with over 13,000 deaths.


See also

; History * Colorado Silver Boom *'' Colorado 1870-2000'' *
Cuerno Verde Cuerno Verde (died September 3, 1779) is the Spanish name for Tavibo Naritgant, a leader of the Comanche, likely of the Kotsoteka Comanche, in the late 18th century. Life Cuerno Verde ("Green Horn" in English), is the Spanish name given to Tavi ...
* Forts in Colorado * Governor of Colorado * History Colorado (previously the Colorado Historical Society) * History of Denver, Colorado *
History of the Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a United States physiographic region, physiographic and desert, desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern Uni ...
*
History of the Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, ...
* History of the Rocky Mountains * Indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest *
List of cities and towns in Colorado The U.S. State of Colorado has 272 active incorporated municipalities, comprising 197 towns, 73 cities, and two consolidated city and county governments. At the 2020 United States Census, 4,299,942 of the 5,773,714 Colorado residents (74.47%) ...
*
List of counties in Colorado The U.S. State of Colorado is divided into 64 counties. Two of these counties, the City and County of Broomfield and the City and County of Denver, have consolidated city and county governments. Denver serves as the state capital. Counties are ...
* List of ghost towns in Colorado * List of territorial claims and designations in Colorado * Pike's Peak Gold Rush * Prehistory of Colorado * Women's suffrage in Colorado **
Outline of Colorado prehistory The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the prehistoric people of Colorado, which covers the period of when Native Americans lived in Colorado prior to contact with the Domínguez–Escalante expedition in 177 ...
** Southwestern archaeology **
Santa Fe de Nuevo México Santa Fe de Nuevo México ( en, Holy Faith of New Mexico; shortened as Nuevo México or Nuevo Méjico, and translated as New Mexico in English) was a Kingdom of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory of independent Mexico. The ...
** La Louisiane **
La Luisiana La Luisiana is a city located in the province of Seville, Spain. According to the 2005 census (INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional de Estad ...
** District of Louisiana ** Territory of Louisiana ** Territory of Missouri ** State of Deseret ** Territory of New Mexico ** Territory of Utah ** Territory of Kansas ** Territory of Nebraska ** Territory of Jefferson **
Territory of Colorado The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the w ...
**
State of Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
*
Timeline of Colorado history This timeline is a chronology of significant events in the history of the U.S. State of Colorado and the historical area now occupied by the state. __NOTOC__ Timeline 2020s 2010s 2000s 1990s 1980s 1970s 1960s 1950s 1940s 193 ...
* :History of Colorado ** commons:History of Colorado ; Colorado *
Colorado counties The U.S. State of Colorado is divided into 64 counties. Two of these counties, the City and County of Broomfield and the City and County of Denver, have consolidated city and county governments. Denver serves as the state capital. Counties are ...
* Colorado municipalities * Constitution of Colorado * Index of Colorado-related articles *
List of counties in Colorado The U.S. State of Colorado is divided into 64 counties. Two of these counties, the City and County of Broomfield and the City and County of Denver, have consolidated city and county governments. Denver serves as the state capital. Counties are ...
*
List of governors of Colorado The governor of Colorado is the head of government of the U.S. state of Colorado. The governor is the head of the executive branch of Colorado's state government and is charged with enforcing state laws. The governor has the power to either appr ...
* List of lieutenant governors of Colorado *
Outline of Colorado The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Colorado: Colorado – 22nd most populous, the eighth most extensive, and the highest in average elevation of the 50 United States. Colorado ...
*
U.S. congressional delegations from Colorado Since Colorado became a U.S. state in 1876, it has sent congressional delegations to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. Each state elects two senators to serve for six years, and members of the House to two-year t ...


References


Further reading

*Abbott, Carl, et al. ''Colorado: A History of the Centennial State'', 2005, textbook; 553 pages, * Athearn, Robert G. ''Rebel of the Rockies: A History of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.'' 1962. * Baker, James H., and Leroy R. Hafen, eds. ''History of Colorado.'' 5 vol State Historical Society of Colorado, 1927, with many short biographical sketches * Bancroft, Hubert Howe, ''History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888'' (1890) 828 pages; famous classic
online edition
* Berwanger, Eugene W. ''The Rise of the Centennial State: Colorado Territory, 1861–76,'' (2007) 208 pages * Cassels, E. Steve. ''The Archeology of Colorado.'' Boulder: Johnson Books, 1983 * Cronin, Thomas E. and Robert D. Loevy. ''Colorado Politics & Government: Governing the Centennial State,'' (1993
online edition
* Ellis, Elmer. ''Henry Moore Teller: Defender of the West.'' 1941. * Ellis, Richard N., and Duane A. Smith. ''Colorado: A History in Photographs.'' 1991. * Gulliford, Andrew. ''Boomtown Blues: Colorado Oil Shale, 1885-1985.'' 1989. * Hafen, Le Roy R. ''Colorado: The Story of a Western Commonwealth.'' 1933. * Hogan, Richard. ''Class and Community in Frontier Colorado.'' 1990. * Lamm, Richard D., and Duane A. Smith. ''Pioneers and Politicians: 10 Colorado Governors in Profile.'' 1981. popular * Lecompte, Janet. ''Pueblo, Hardscrabble, Greenhorn: The Upper Arkansas, 1832-1856''
University of Oklahoma Press
1977, hardcover, 354 pages, * Lorch, Robert S. ''Colorado's Government.'' 5th ed. 1991. textbook * Ormes, Robert M. ''Guide to the Colorado Mountains.'' 7th ed. 1979. * Parsons, Eugene. ''The Making of Colorado: A Historical Sketch'' (1908) 324 page
online edition
* Philpott, William. ''Vacationland: Tourism and Environment in the Colorado High Country'' (University of Washington Press; 2013) 488 pages; the post 1945 transformation of a once isolated and little-visited region into a major ski and tourist destination * Rohrbough, Malcolm J. ''Aspen: The History of a Silver Mining Town, 1879-1893.'' 1986. scholarly study * Scamehorn, Lee. ''High Altitude Energy: A History of Fossil Fuels in Colorado'' (2002
online edition
* Scamehorn, Lee. ''Mill & Mine: The Cf&I in the Twentieth Century'' (1992)
online edition
* Schulte, Steven C. ''Wayne Aspinall and the Shaping of the American West'' (2002
online edition
* Schulten, Susan. "The Civil War and the Origins of the Colorado Territory," ''Western Historical Quarterly'' (Spring 2013) 44#1 pp 21–46. * Smith, Duane A. ''The Trail of Gold and Silver: Mining in Colorado, 1859–2009'' (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2009. xiv, 282 pp.) * Smith, Duane A. ''Henry M. Teller: Colorado's Grand Old Man,'' 200
online edition
* Sprague, Marshall. ''Money Mountain: The Story of Cripple Creek Gold'' (1979
online edition
* Ubbelohde, Carl, Maxine Benson, and Duane Smith. ''A Colorado History.'' 6th ed. 1988. textbook * Varnell, Jeanne. ''Women of Consequence: The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame'', Johnson Press, Boulder, 1999, . * Wiatrowski, Claude. ''Railroads of Colorado: Your Guide to Colorado's Historic Trains and Railway Sites'', Voyageur Press, 2002, hardcover, 160 pages, *Wickens, James F. "The Depression and New Deal in Colorado," in John Braeman et al. eds. ''The New Deal: Volume Two - the State and Local Levels'' (1975) pp 269–310 * Wright, James Edward. ''The Politics of Populism: Dissent in Colorado.'' 1974. on 1890s *


Primary sources

* Ubbelohde, Carl, ed. ''A Colorado Reader'' (2nd ed 1964) * Fossett, Frank. ''Colorado: A Historical, Descriptive and Statistical Work on the Rocky Mountain Gold and Silver Mining Region'' (1878) 470 page
online edition
* Fossett, Frank. ''Colorado, Its Gold and Silver Mines: Farms and Stock Ranges, and Health and Pleasure Resorts'' (1880)
online edition
* Parsons, Eugene. ''A Guidebook to Colorado'' (1911) 390 page
online edition


External links


State of Colorado websiteHistory Colorado website
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Colorado Colorado Colorado Territory Colorado History of the Rocky Mountains