Jackson County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,379, and it was the fourth least populated in the state. The county is named after the United States President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

and only

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the county is

Walden ''Walden'' (; first published as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is an 1854 book by American transcendentalism, transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. T ...

History

Most of Jackson County is a high relatively broad intermontane basin known as North Park, which covers . This basin opens north into Wyoming and is rimmed on the west by the Park Range and Sierra Madre Range, on the south by the Rabbit Ears Range and the Never Summer Mountains, and on the east by the Medicine Bow Mountains. Elevations range from 7,800 to above sea level and is home to the head waters of the

North Platte River The North Platte River is a major tributary of the Platte River and is approximately long, counting its many curves.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 21, 2011 I ...

. The term park is derived from ''parc'', the French word for game preserve. At one time North Park was filled with herds of deer, antelope and buffalo. There were so many buffalo in the area the

Ute Tribe Ute () are an Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah, western Colorado, and northern New Mexico.Pritkzer''A Native American Encyclopedia'' p. 242 Historically, their territory also included parts of Wyomi ...

gave North Park the name "Bull Pen." Now deer, elk, and cattle vie for the same area. In November 1861, Colorado set up 17 counties for the state, including Larimer County. This was where Jackson County would be carved out of in 1909. Before then, both Grand and Larimer Counties claimed the North Park area. In the beginning, no one paid much attention to North Park because it was hunting grounds of the Ute and

Arapaho The Arapaho ( ; , ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed t ...

Indians. They fiercely defended these lands and the white settlers were often afraid to venture in. When valuable minerals were discovered in North Park, Grand County claimed it as part of their county because they wanted the revenue it would provide. The residents didn't care much because the county seat for Grand County was closer than the one in Larimer County, and all official business needed to be done at the county seat. But Larimer also claimed this county and it was contested all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court. In 1886 the court decided in favor of Larimer. This did not make the North Park residents very happy and they pushed for their own county until Jackson was formed.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.9%) is water. Jackson County contains the Colorado State Forest.

Adjacent counties

Albany County, Wyoming Albany County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 37,066. Its county seat is Laramie, the site of the University of Wyoming. Its southern border lies on the northern Colorado ...

- northeast *

Larimer County Larimer County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 359,066. The county seat and most populous city is Fort Collins, Colorado, Fort Colli ...

- east * Grand County - south * Routt County - west *

Carbon County, Wyoming Carbon County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 14,537. Its county seat is Rawlins. Its south border abuts the north line of Colorado. History Carbon County was organized i ...

- northwest

Major highways

U.S. Highway 40 * Colorado 14

State Highway 14 * Colorado 125

State Highway 125 * Colorado 127

State Highway 127

Airport

Jackson County Airport
Jackson County Airport Info

Transportation

Bustang's Outrider Service to Muddy Pass
OATS (Older Americans Transport Service)

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,577 people, 661 households, and 442 families living in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 1,145 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 96.20%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.25%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.76% Native American, 0.06% Asian, 1.46% from other races, and 1.27% from two or more races. 6.53% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 661 households, out of which 29.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.90% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 7.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.00% were non-families. 28.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.91. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.60% under the age of 18, 5.40% from 18 to 24, 26.90% from 25 to 44, 29.10% from 45 to 64, and 13.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 101.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.80 males. The median income for a household in the county was $31,821, and the median income for a family was $37,361. Males had a median income of $26,250 versus $18,417 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $17,826. About 10.30% of families and 14.00% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 22.50% of those under age 18 and 9.00% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Jackson County’s politics mirror those of neighboring Wyoming in that it is heavily Republican. In no election since 1964 has any Democrat carried the county, and indeed none since then have managed even 40% of the vote.

Recreation

State forest and park

* Colorado State Forest * State Forest State Park

National wildlife refuge

* Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge

National forest and wilderness

* Routt National Forest * Mount Zirkel Wilderness * Never Summer Wilderness * Platte River Wilderness

National trail

Continental Divide National Scenic Trail The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (in short Continental Divide Trail, CDT) is a United States National Scenic Trail with a length measured by the Continental Divide Trail Coalition of between the U.S. border with Chihuahua, Mexico and ...

Bicycle routes

* Great Parks Bicycle Route * TransAmerica Trail Bicycle Route

Scenic byway

* Cache la Poudre-North Park Scenic Byway

Communities

Town

Unincorporated communities

* Coalmont * Cowdrey * Gould *

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...

Rand The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

Former towns

* Bockman Lumber Camp

References

External links

State of Colorado

History ColoradoJackson County Government WebsiteColorado Historical Society
{{coord, 40.66, -106.34, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-CO_source:UScensus1990 Colorado counties 1909 establishments in Colorado Populated places established in 1909