Colorado is a state in the western United States. Denver is the capital and largest city. As of 2000, the state's population was 4,301,261. The state is in the Mountain, Southwestern and Central regions of the country.
Alamosa Almont Arvada Aspen Aurora Avon Beaver Creek Black Hawk Boulder Breckenridge Brighton Broomfield Brush Buena Vista Burlington Byers Calhan Canon City Carbondale Castle Rock Cedaredge Centennial Clifton Colorado Springs Copper Mountain Cortez Craig Crested Butte Delta Denver Dillon Dolores Dove Creek Durango Eads Eagle Edwards Empire Englewood Estes Park Evans Florence Fort Collins Fort Morgan Fountain Fraser Frisco Fruita Georgetown Glenwood Springs Golden Granby Grand Junction Grand Lake Greeley Greenwood Village Gunnison Henderson Highlands Ranch Keystone Lakewood Lamar Las Animas Leadville Limon Longmont Louisville Loveland Mancos Manitou Springs Monte Vista Montrose Mount Crested Butte Nathrop Nederland New Castle Ouray Pagosa Springs Palisade Parker Placerville Pueblo Ridgway Rifle Salida Silverthorne Snowmass Village South Fork Steamboat Springs Sterling Stratton Telluride Thornton Trinidad Vail Walsenburg Westminster Wheat Ridge Windsor Winter Park Woodland Park
Colorado is one of only three states (the others are Wyoming and Utah) that have only lines of latitude and longitude for borders.
Colorado Eastern Plains
East of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Colorado at elevations ranging from 3,500 to 7,000 feet (1,000 to 2,000 m). Kansas and Nebraska border Colorado to the east. The plains are sparsely settled with most population along the South Platte and the Arkansas Rivers and the I-70 corridor. Rainfall is meager, averaging about 15 inches (380 mm) annually. There is some irrigated farming, but much of the land is used for dryland farming or ranching. Winter wheat is a typical crop and most small towns in the region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator.
The major cities and towns lie just east of the Front Range, in the I-25 corridor. The majority of the population of Colorado lives in this densely urbanized strip.
To the west lay the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains with notable peaks such as Long's Peak, Mount Evans, Pike's Peak, and the Spanish Peaks near Walsenburg in the south. This area drains to the east, is forested, and partially urbanized. With urbanization, utilization of the forest for timbering and grazing was retarded, which resulted in accumulation of fuel. During the drought of 2002 devastating forest fires swept this area.
To the west of the Front Range lies the Continental Divide. To the west of the Continental Divide is the Western Slope. Water west of the Continental Divide drains into the Pacific Ocean via the Colorado River.
North Park, Middle Park, South Park
Within the interior of the Rocky Mountains are several large parks or high broad basins. In the north, on the east side of the Continental Divide is North Park. North Park is drained by the North Platte River, which flows north into Wyoming. Just south but on the west side of the Continental Divide is Middle Park, drained by the Colorado River. South Park is the headwaters of the South Platte River. To the south lies the San Luis Valley, the headwaters of the Rio Grande, which drains into New Mexico. Across the Sangre de Cristo Range to the east of the San Luis Valley lies the Wet Mountain Valley. These basins, particularly the San Luis Valley, lie along the Rio Grande Rift, a major geological formation, and its branches.
Fifty Four Fourteeners!
The Rocky Mountains within Colorado contain 54 peaks that are 14,000 feet (4270 m) or higher, known as fourteeners. The mountains are timbered with conifers and aspen to the tree-line, at an elevation of about 12,000 feet (4,000 m) in southern Colorado to about 10,500 feet (3,200 m) in northern Colorado; above this only alpine vegetation grows. The Rockies are snow-covered only in the winter; most snow melts by mid-August with the exception of a few small glaciers. The Colorado Mineral Belt, stretching from the San Juan Mountains in the southwest to Boulder and Central City on the front range, contains most of the historic gold and silver mining districts of Colorado.
The Western Slope is generally drained by the Colorado River and its tributaries. Notable to the south are the San Juan Mountains, an extremely rugged mountain range, and to the west of the San Juans, the Colorado Plateau, a high desert bordering Southern Utah. Grand Junction is the largest city on the Western Slope. Grand Junction is served by Interstate Highway I-70. To the southeast of Grand Junction is Grand Mesa, a large flat-topped mountain. Further east are the ski resorts of Aspen, Vail, Crested Butte, and Steamboat Springs. The northwestern corner of Colorado bordering Northern Utah and Western Wyoming is mostly sparsely populated rangeland.
Desert-Like Basins
From west to east, the state consists of desert-like basins, turning into plateaus, then alpine mountains, and then the grasslands of the Great Plains. Mount Elbert is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains within the continental United States. The famous Pikes Peak is just west of Colorado Springs. Its lone peak is visible from near the Kansas border on clear days.
The state was named after the Spanish word "Colorado," which means "reddish colored" that presumably refers to the red sandstone formations in the area or reddish brown color of the Colorado River.
Colorado Gold Rush of 1859
The territory that ultimately became Colorado was added to the United States by the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and the 1848 Mexican Cession. The Colorado Gold Rush of 1859 brought many settlers to the Denver area, though the population collapsed following an initial mining boom. The Colorado Territory was organized as a United States territory on February 28, 1861, and Colorado attained statehood August 1, 1876, (earning it the moniker the "Centennial State"). Colorado women were granted the right to vote starting on November 7, 1893.
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