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99-530: The territory was organized in the wake of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush of 1858–1862, which brought the first large concentration of white settlement to the region. The organic legislative act creating the slave-free Territory of Colorado was passed by the United States Congress and signed by 15th President James Buchanan (1791-1868, served 1857-1861), into law on February 28, 1861. During that period which at

198-580: A Cherokee woman, and through his connections to the tribe, he heard about Ralston's 1850 discovery of gold along the South Platte River. Green Russell organized a party to prospect along the South Platte River, setting off with his two brothers and six companions in February 1858. They rendezvoused with Cherokee tribe members along the Arkansas River in present-day Oklahoma and continued westward along

297-516: A force of Texans . Sibley's New Mexico campaign was intended as a prelude to an invasion of the Colorado Territory northward to Fort Laramie , cutting the supply lines between California and the rest of the Union . The Coloradans, under the command of Union Army General Edward Canby and Colonel John P. Slough , Lt. Col. Samuel F. Tappan and Major John M. Chivington , defeated Sibley's force at

396-696: A gradual decrease in this indigenous land. Many of these land-grabs occurred during and after treaty negotiations between indigenous tribes and the United States. Native Americans often traded their land in exchange for citizenship and civil rights. Due to the United States' economic power, these tribes had little leverage and millions of acres of land were transferred from their ownership. It was difficult for indigenous people to legally challenge this infringement because they lacked legal rights and legal standing. These treaties were used to naturalize and civilize Native Americans. As an indirect, de facto way to secure

495-524: A low fixed price of $ 1.25 per acre ($ 3.09 per hectare). To qualify, a person had to be either 21 years old or a "head of household" (such as a parent or surviving sibling supporting a family), a citizen or an immigrant declaring to become a citizen, and a resident on that land for a minimum of 14 months. To get permanent title to the land, the person had to accomplish certain actions, such as continue to reside on it or improve it for at least five years; they could not leave or abandon it for more than six months at

594-650: A mining camp Auraria (named for a gold mining camp in Georgia) at the confluence of the South Platte and Cherry Creek . The Georgians left for their home state the following winter. At Bent's Fort along the Arkansas River , Russell told William Larimer, Jr. , a Kansas land speculator, about the placer gold they had found. Larimer, realizing the opportunity to capitalize on it, hurried to Auraria. In November 1858, he laid claim to an area across Cherry Creek from Auraria and named it " Denver City " in honor of James W. Denver ,

693-417: A number of years individual Congressmen put forward bills providing for homesteading, but it was not until 1862 that the first homestead act was passed. The Homestead Act of 1862 opened up millions of acres. Any adult who had never taken up arms against the federal government of the United States could apply. Women and immigrants who had applied for citizenship were eligible. Most homesteading occurred during

792-570: A party of Spanish-speaking gold seekers from Taos, New Mexico , worked a placer deposit along the South Platte River about 3 miles (4.8 km) above Cherry Creek at a location later known as Mexican Diggings near the Overland Park Golf Course in Denver . William Greeneberry "Green" Russell was a Georgian who worked in the California gold fields in the 1850s. Russell was married to

891-490: A time. The Donation Land Claim Act allowed settlers to claim land in the Oregon Territory , then including the modern states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and parts of Wyoming. The Oregon Donation Land Claim Act was passed in 1850 and allowed white settlers to claim 320 acres or 640 to married couples between 1850 and 1855 when the act was repealed. Before it was repealed in 1855, the land was sold for $ 1.25 per acre. After

990-468: A total of 320 acres to a settler. The 1862 Homestead Act did not include indigenous peoples, so Congress passed the Indian Homestead Act to give Native family heads the opportunity to purchase homesteads from unclaimed public lands. This was under the condition that the individual relinquished their tribal identity and relations, along with the land improvement requirements. The federal land title

1089-575: Is possible for any citizen to obtain certain lands from the Federal Government for residence, recreation, or business purposes. These tracts may not usually be larger than 5 acres. A 5-acre tract would be one which is 660 feet long and 330 feet wide, or its equivalent. The property was to be improved with a building. Starting July 1955, improvement was required to be minimum of 400 sq. feet of space. 4,000 previously classified Small Tracts were offered at public auction at fair market value, circa 1958, by

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1188-569: The American Civil War of April 1861 to June 1865. The boundaries of the Federals' newly designated Colorado Territory were essentially identical with those of the current / modern State of Colorado , with lands taken from the four surrounding previous Federal territories of Nebraska , Kansas , New Mexico , and Utah (Deseret) established during the 1850s . The organization of the new territory helped solidify Union / Federal control over

1287-675: The California gold rush by approximately a decade, produced a dramatic but temporary influx of migrants and immigrants into the Pike's Peak Country of the Southern Rocky Mountains . The rush was exemplified by the slogan "Pike's Peak or Bust!", a reference to the prominent mountain at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains that guided many early prospectors to the region westward over the Great Plains . The prospectors provided

1386-692: The Civil War , the tide of new miners into the territory slowed to a trickle, and many left for the East to fight. The Missourians who stayed formed two volunteer regiments, as well as home guard. Although seemingly stationed at the periphery of the war theaters, the Colorado regiments found themselves in a crucial position in 1862 after the Confederate invasion of the New Mexico Territory by General Henry Sibley and

1485-638: The Colorado War , in November 1864, a force of 800 troops of the Colorado home guard, after heavy drinking, attacked an encampment of Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek , murdering between 150 and 200 Indians, mostly elderly men, women and children. This Sand Creek Massacre or 'Massacre of Cheyenne Indians' led to official hearings by the United States Congress Joint Committee on the Conduct of

1584-647: The Colorado gold rush ) was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861. An estimated 100,000 gold seekers took part in one of the greatest gold rushes in North American history. The participants in

1683-672: The Dust Bowl of the 1930s. In 1916, the Stock-Raising Homestead Act was passed for settlers seeking 640 acres (260 ha) of public land for ranching purposes. Renewed interest in homesteading was brought about by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's program of Subsistence Homesteading implemented in the 1930s under the New Deal . In 1938 Congress passed a law, called the Small Tract Act (STA) of 1938, by which it

1782-737: The Georgia Gold Rush to the California gold fields. The party followed the Trail of Tears west, and on June 22, 1850, they crossed the South Platte River (a few miles north of what is today Denver ) and camped near the confluence of two streams. One of the prospectors, Lewis Ralston panned for gold near the mouth of the smaller stream (in what is now Gold Strike Park in Arvada, Colorado .) He found about ¼ troy ounce (8 g) of gold, then worth about five dollars (about $ 550 USD today.) While Ralston

1881-633: The Mexican Cession in 1848. The land claims of Texas were initially controversial. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was redrawn in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the end of the Mexican–American War , and the final borders of the state of Texas were established by the Congressional Compromise of 1850 . The land that was eventually defined as the Colorado Territory

1980-655: The Mississippi River . These acts were the first sovereign decisions of post-war North–South capitalist cooperation in the United States. An extension of the homestead principle in law, the Homestead Acts were an expression of the Free Soil policy of Northerners who wanted individual farmers to own and operate their own farms, as opposed to Southern slave owners who wanted to buy up large tracts of land and use slave labor, thereby shutting out free white farmers. For

2079-816: The Pike Expedition of 1806–07 by Zebulon Pike , the journey along the north bank of the Platte River in 1820 by Stephen H. Long to what came to be called Longs Peak, the John C. Frémont expedition in 1845–46, and the Powell Geographic Expedition of 1869 by John Wesley Powell . In 1779, Governor de Anza of New Mexico fought and defeated the Comanches under Cuerno Verde on the Eastern Slope of Colorado, probably south of Pueblo. In 1786, de Anza made peace with

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2178-669: The Province of Canada in The Public Lands Act of 1860. It was extended to include settlement in the Rainy River District under The Rainy River Free Grants and Homestead Act, 1886 , These Acts were consolidated in 1913 in The Public Lands Act , which was further extended in 1948 to provide for free grants to former members of the Canadian Forces . The original free grant provisions for settlers were repealed in 1951, and

2277-652: The Sandhills of north-central Nebraska required more than 160 acres for a claimant to support a family, Congress passed the Kinkaid Act, which granted larger homestead tracts, up to 640 acres, to homesteaders in Nebraska. This act allowed homesteads within Forest Reserves (created from 1891 on) and National Forests (from 1905? on), responding to opponents of the nation's Forest Reserves who felt land suited for agriculture

2376-534: The Santa Fe Trail . Others joined the party along the way until their number reached 107. Upon reaching Bent's Fort , they turned to the northwest, reaching the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte on May 23. The site of their initial explorations is in present-day Confluence Park in Denver. They began prospecting in the river beds, exploring Cherry Creek and nearby Ralston Creek but without success. In

2475-615: The United States Congress did not recognize the territory, and it never gained legal status. Congressional grant of territorial status for the region was delayed by the slavery issue, and a deadlock between Democrats, who controlled the Senate, and the antislavery Republicans, who gained control of the House of Representatives in 1859. The deadlock was broken only by the Civil War. In early 1861, enough Democratic senators from seceding states resigned from

2574-516: The 1866 law was part of the reason that within a generation after its passage, by 1900, one quarter of all Southern Black farmers were farm owners. Later Homestead acts only marginally benefited African Americans. Similar laws were passed in Canada: The Legislative Assembly of Ontario passed The Free Grants and Homestead Act in 1868, which introduced a conditional scheme to an existing free grant plan previously authorized by

2673-571: The 1880s and 90s. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ended homesteading; by that time, federal government policy had shifted to retaining control of western public lands. The only exception to this new policy was in Alaska , for which the law allowed homesteading until 1986. The last claim under this Act was made by Ken Deardorff for 80 acres (32 ha) of land on the Stony River in southwestern Alaska. He fulfilled all requirements of

2772-469: The 5 years of residence or cultivation and that "no part of said land has been alienated [transferred or mortgaged], and that he [the homesteader] has borne true allegiance to the Government of the United States". If both parents died and all the children were under 21, an executor under state law could sell (for the benefit of the children, and not the estate) an absolute title to the land within two years of

2871-629: The Comanches, creating an alliance against the Apaches. A group of Cherokee crossed the South Platte and Cache la Poudre River valleys on their way to California in 1848 during the California Gold Rush . They reported finding trace amounts of gold in the South Platte and its tributaries as they passed along the mountains. In the south, in the San Luis Valley , early Mexican families established themselves in large land grants (later contested by

2970-667: The Homestead Act of 1862 was to reduce the cost of homesteading under the Preemption Act; after the South seceded and their delegates left Congress in 1861, the Republicans and supporters from the upper South passed a homestead act signed by Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862, which went into effect on Jan. 1st, 1863. Its leading advocates were Andrew Johnson George Henry Evans and Horace Greeley . George Henry Evans famously coined

3069-456: The Homestead Act of 1866 due to the ineligibility of Black citizens from applying. The " yeoman farmer " ideal of Jeffersonian democracy was still a powerful influence in American politics during the 1840–1850s, with many politicians believing a homestead act would help increase the number of "virtuous yeomen". The Free Soil Party of 1848–52, and the new Republican Party after 1854, demanded that

Colorado Territory - Misplaced Pages Continue

3168-522: The Los Angeles Office of BLM. Settlers found land and filed their claims at the regional land office, usually in individual family units, although others formed closer-knit communities. Often, the homestead consisted of several buildings or structures besides the main house. The Homestead Act of 1862 gave rise later to a new phenomenon, large land rushes , such as the Oklahoma Land Runs of

3267-460: The Oregon territory. This act followed the passing of the 1848 territorial organic act which allowed any white settler to claim a maximum of six hundred and forty acres. The Land Donation Act, however, also acknowledged women's property rights due to Congress allowing the donation of four hundred acres to settlers—land that could be claimed by heads of households—including women. This act differed from

3366-775: The Overland Hotel (1859–1910, 1117 Washington Avenue in Golden, housing the Territorial Council from 1862 to 1866); and the Territorial Executive Building (unknown dates, approximately 14th and Arapahoe Streets in Golden, housing the executive branch of the government from 1866 to 1867). 38°59′50″N 105°32′52″W  /  38.9972°N 105.5478°W  / 38.9972; -105.5478  ( Territory of Colorado (historical) ) Pike%27s Peak Gold Rush The Pike's Peak gold rush (later known as

3465-460: The Pike's Peak country. Some even dared to go out in the winter of 1858 to try to get a head start, only to realize that they would have to wait until the snow melted to begin mining. Hardrock mining boomed for a few years, but then declined in the mid-1860s as the miners exhausted the shallow parts of the veins that contained free gold, and found that their amalgamation mills could not recover gold from

3564-652: The Territorial government remain: the historic log building in Colorado City, and the Loveland Block in downtown Golden City (which had housed the complete legislature, Territorial Library and possibly Supreme Court from 1866 to 1867, with library remaining to 1868). Others which served include the original Loveland Building (1859–1933, 1107 Washington Avenue in Golden, housing the Territorial House from 1862 to 1866);

3663-504: The U.S. Senate to give control of both houses to the Republicans, clearing the way for admission of new territories. Three new territories were created in as many days: Colorado (February 28), Nevada (March 1), and Dakota (March 2). Colorado Territory was officially organized by Act of Congress on February 28, 1861 (12  Stat.   172 ), out of lands previously part of the Kansas, Nebraska , Utah , and New Mexico territories. Technically

3762-542: The U.S.) from the Mexican government. In the early 19th century, the upper South Platte River valley had been infiltrated by fur traders , but had not been the site of permanent settlement. The first movement of permanent U.S. settlers in the area began with the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed private land claims to be filed. Among the first settlers to establish claims were former fur traders who returned to

3861-477: The U.S., government to build roads, military and other posts on Indian lands. If these roads could be used by U.S. citizens to lawfully pass through the Indian territories was not stated but apparently implied since the U.S. government bound itself to protect Indian nations against depredations by U.S. citizens. The treaty did not grant any rights for the erection of posts or settlements by U.S. civilians. Since this treaty

3960-461: The Union in 1861 (and their representatives had left Congress), the bill passed and was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln (May 20, 1862). Daniel Freeman became the first person to file a claim under the new act. Between 1862 and 1934, the federal government granted 1.6 million homesteads and distributed 270,000,000 acres (420,000 sq mi) of federal land for private ownership. This

4059-533: The United States Congress passed the Admission Act for the territory in late 1865, but it was vetoed by President Andrew Johnson . For the next eleven years, the movement for territorial admission was stalled, with several close calls. President Grant advocated statehood for the territory in 1870, but Congress did not act. In the meantime, the territory found itself threatened by lack of railroads . By

Colorado Territory - Misplaced Pages Continue

4158-418: The United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain , typically called a homestead . In all, more than 160 million acres (650 thousand km ; 250 thousand sq mi) of public land, or nearly 10 percent of the total area of the United States, were given away free to 1.6 million homesteaders; most of the homesteads were west of

4257-456: The War in March and April 1865. After the hearings, the Congress Joint Committee in their report on May 4, 1865, described the actions of Colonel John Chivington and his Volunteers as "foul, dastardly, brutal, cowardly" and: It is difficult to believe that beings in the form of men, and disgracing the uniform of United States soldiers and officers, could commit or countenance the commission of such acts of cruelty and barbarity as are detailed in

4356-415: The acts were Buffalo soldiers , African-American soldiers who were key in building the American frontier in the West. They often engaged in wars with Native Americans, led by the government, to take over indigenous land. The Preemption Act of 1841 allowed settlers to claim up to 160 acres of federal land for themselves and prevent its sale to others including large landowners or corporations; they paid only

4455-454: The agreement, and became even more belligerent over the 'whites' encroaching on their hunting grounds. Tensions mounted when Colorado territorial governor John Evans in 1862 created a home guard of regiments of Colorado Volunteers returning from the Civil War and took a hard line against Indians accused of theft. On August 21, 1864, a band of 30 Indians attacked four members of the Colorado Cavalry as they were rounding up stray cattle. Three of

4554-437: The area at times. The earliest explorers of European extraction to visit the area were Spanish explorers such as Coronado , although the Coronado expedition of 1540–42 only skirted the future border of the Colorado Territory to the south and southeast. In 1776, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante explored southern Colorado in the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition. Other notable explorations included

4653-513: The creation of the Oregon territory in 1848, the US government had passed the most generous land distribution bill in US history. The Oregon Land Donation Act of 1850 had many negative effects on Indigenous people as well as Black people in the Pacific Northwest . Not only did the act use the land taken away from the Indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest, but the act also barred Black citizens from owning land and real estate. The act guaranteed land for White settlers and "half-breed" Indian men to

4752-454: The deeper sulfide ores. Colorado produced 150,000 ounces of gold in 1861 and 225,000 troy ounces in 1862. This led Congress to establish the Denver Mint . Cumulative Colorado production by 1865 was 1.25 million ounces, of which sixty percent was placer gold . 39°39′35″N 105°00′10″W  /  39.65972°N 105.00278°W  / 39.65972; -105.00278 Homestead Act The Homestead Acts were several laws in

4851-504: The dispossessed land, the US government allowed late homesteading during the early twentieth century. This acted as a way to solidify settlements and permanently disrupt tribal land practices in the face of backlash. This Homestead Acts also resulted in tensions between settlers and indigenous people, partly due to settlers moving onto indigenous territory while it was still occupied. Settlements excused Indian removal and culminated in multiple wars waged by settler militia. Also involved in

4950-472: The early 21st century, some land is still being granted in the Yukon Territory under its Agricultural Lands Program. Despite the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi provisions for sale of land, the Māori Land Court decided that all land not cultivated by Māori was 'waste land' and belonged to the Crown without purchase. Most provinces in colonial New Zealand had Waste Lands Acts enacted between 1854 and 1877. The 1874 Waste Lands Act in Auckland Province used

5049-440: The end of the American Civil War in 1865, the Native American presence had been largely reduced or pacified through military action or peace treaties on the High Plains . The land that eventually became the Colorado Territory fell under the jurisdiction of the United States in three separate stages: the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (as adjusted by the 1819 Adams–Onis Treaty ), then the Annexation of Texas in 1845, and finally

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5148-481: The first major European-American population in the region. The rush created a few gold rush towns such as Denver City and Boulder City that would develop into cities. Many smaller camps such as Auraria and Saint Charles City were absorbed by larger camps and towns. Scores of other mining camps have faded into ghost towns , but quite a few camps such as Central City , Black Hawk , Georgetown , and Idaho Springs survived. For many years, people had suspected

5247-406: The first week of July 1858, Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek that yielded about 20 troy ounces (620 g) of gold, then worth about 380 dollars (about $ 44,000 USD today.) This was the first significant gold discovery in the Rocky Mountain region. The site of the discovery is in the present-day Denver suburb of Englewood , just north of

5346-494: The gold rush were known as " Fifty-Niners " after 1859, the peak year of the rush and often used the motto Pike's Peak or Bust! In fact, the location of the Pike's Peak gold rush was centered 85 miles (137 km) north of Pikes Peak . The name Pike's Peak gold rush was used mainly because of how well known and important Pike's Peak was at the time. The rush created a few towns such as Denver and Boulder that would develop into cities. The Pike's Peak gold rush, which followed

5445-445: The gold, they came up short because he could not quite remember the location. On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall found placer gold near Coloma, California , and unbeknownst nine days later, Mexico ceded California and the rest of northern Mexico to the United States with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . The California Gold Rush ensued. In the spring of 1850, John Beck led a party of predominately Cherokee veterans of

5544-407: The homestead act in 1979 but did not receive his deed until May 1988. He is the last person to receive a title to land claimed under the Homestead Acts. The Homestead Acts were sometimes abused, but historians continue to debate the extent. In the 1950s and 1960s, historians Fred Shannon , Roy Robbins, and Paul Wallace Gates emphasized fraudulent episodes, and historians largely turned away from

5643-462: The intermixed Cheyenne and Arapaho , as well as by the Pawnee , Comanche and Kiowa . In 1861, ten days before the establishment of the Federal territory, the Arapaho and Cheyenne agreed with the United States government in the East in Washington, D.C. to give up most their areas of the Great Plains to white settlement but were allowed to live in their larger traditional areas, so long as they could tolerate homesteaders near their camps. By

5742-486: The issue. In recent decades, however, the argument has mostly been that on the whole fraud was a relatively minor element and that strongly positive impacts regarding women and the family have only recently been appreciated. Robert Higgs argues that the Homestead Act induced no long-term misallocation of resources. In 1995, a random survey of 178 members of the Economic History Association found that 70 percent of economists and 84 percent of economic historians disagreed with

5841-578: The junction of U.S. Highway 285 and U.S. Highway 85 . This discovery was announced with great excitement by the Kansas City Journal of Commerce on 26 August 1858 with the headline, "THE NEW ELDORADO!! GOLD IN KANSAS!!" The first decade of the boom was largely concentrated along the South Platte River at the base of the Rocky Mountains, in the canyon of Clear Creek in the mountains west of Golden City, at Breckenridge and in South Park at Como , Fairplay , and Alma . By 1860, Denver City, Golden City , and Boulder City were substantial towns that served

5940-402: The land for more than six months at a time, then the land reverted to the government. A homesteader could also pay the $ 1.25 (or the current rate) per acre price after proof of the less-stringent requirements set in the Preemption Act. After filing an affidavit with the government's agent, and paying him a $ 10 fee, the homesteader could begin occupying their claim. The government agent received

6039-419: The lands they once trapped, including Antoine Janis and other trappers from Fort Laramie , who established a town near Laporte along the Cache la Poudre in 1858. See Forts in Colorado . In 1858, Green Russell and a party of Georgians , having heard the story of the gold in the South Platte from Cherokee after they returned from California, set out to mine the area they described. That summer they founded

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6138-413: The lands, ten years earlier designated to their tribes, for white settlement, keeping only a fragment of the original reserve , located between Arkansas River and Sand Creek . This new fragment was assigned in severalty to the individual members of the respective tribes with each member receiving 40 acres (160,000 m) of land. The United States, by the Fort Wise Treaty, wished to have the Indians settle

6237-454: The late 1860s, many in Denver had sold their businesses and moved northward to the Dakota Territory communities of Laramie and Cheyenne , which had sprung up along the transcontinental railroad . Faced with the possible dwindling of the town and its eclipse by the new towns to the north, Denverites pooled their capital and built the Denver Pacific Railroad northward to Cheyenne to bring the rail network to Denver. The Kansas Pacific Railway

6336-431: The members made it back to the stockade at Franktown, Colorado, but the fourth man failed to return. This man, Conrad Moschel, was found a few days later having been shot with a firearm and pierced with an arrow, and had been scalped in the manner of the Cheyenne. This offensive action by the warring Cheyenne further enraged the U.S. people of Colorado. After several minor incidents in what would later come to be designated as

6435-422: The mineral-rich area of the western Rocky Mountains . Statehood was regarded as fairly imminent with the expected growth in the constantly westward moving population, but the local territorial ambitions for full statehood were thwarted at the end of the war in 1865 by a constitutional veto by newly sworn in 17th President Andrew Johnson (1808-1875, served 1865-1869), who was a War Democrat who succeeded to

6534-420: The mines. Rapid population growth led to the creation of the Colorado Territory in 1861. The Pike's Peak gold rush sent many Americans into a frenzy, prompting them to pack up their belongings and head to Colorado. This initial boom influenced people to begin falsifying information, often sending people out to the west without any proof of a true presence of gold. As early as the spring of 1859, people raced to

6633-429: The mountains in present-day Colorado contained numerous rich gold deposits. In 1835, French trapper Eustace Carriere lost his party and ended up wandering through the mountains for many weeks. During those weeks he found many gold specimens which he later took back to New Mexico for examination. Upon examination, they turned out to be "pure gold". But when he tried to lead an expedition back to the location of where he found

6732-414: The mountains quickly, seeking the lode source of the placer gold, and founded mining camps at Black Hawk and Central City . A rival group of civic individuals, including William A.H. Loveland , established the town of Golden City at the base of the mountains west of Denver City, with the intention of supplying the increasing tide of miners with necessary goods. The movement to create a territory within

6831-411: The new lands opening up in the west be made available to independent farmers, rather than wealthy planters who would develop it with the use of slaves forcing the yeomen farmers onto marginal lands . Southern Democrats had continually fought (and defeated) previous homestead law proposals, as they feared free land would attract European immigrants and poor Southern whites to the west. The intent of

6930-412: The new reservation as farmers. The U.S. agreed to pay the tribes a combined total of $ 30,000 per year for 15 years and in addition to provide a lumber mill, one or more mechanic shops, dwelling houses for an interpreter, and a miller engineer. See Article 5 of the Fort Wise Treaty. A good part of their co-nationals repudiated the treaty, declared the chiefs not empowered to sign, or bribed to sign, ignored

7029-427: The office after briefly only serving one month as Vice President after Lincoln's assassination that April. Statehood for the territory was a recurring issue during the subsequent Ulysses S. Grant presidential administration, with Republican 18th President Grant advocating statehood against a less willing Congress during the following post-war Reconstruction era (1865-1877). After a long constant lobbying campaign,

7128-710: The old Colorado Territory finally ceased to exist after only 15 years when the State of Colorado was admitted to the Union as the 38th state during the American Centennial celebrationn in August 1876 East and West of the Continental Divide , which split the North American continent and the Rocky Mountains , plus the new territory which included the western portion of the previous Kansas Territory , as well as some of

7227-531: The parent's death. The purchaser would pay office fees for a patent to the land. The act was enacted to allow poor tenant farmers and sharecroppers in the South to become landowners in the Southern United States during Reconstruction . In the South, poor farmers and sharecroppers made up the majority of the population so the act sold land at a lower price to decrease poverty among the working class. It

7326-503: The period 1900–1930. Land-grant laws similar to the Homestead Acts had been proposed by northern Republicans prior to Civil War but they had been repeatedly blocked in Congress by Democrats who wanted western lands open for purchase by slave owners. The Homestead Act of 1860 passed in Congress but was vetoed by President James Buchanan , a Democrat. After the Southern states seceded from

7425-495: The person "has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies"; unlike the 1848 and 1850 laws, it did not have any provision mentioning race. The act insured adult U.S. citizens 160 acres of land from the government to "improve their plot by cultivating the land". The Homestead act expanded, rather than changed, the 1841 Preemption Act. The claimed homestead could include

7524-434: The phrase "Vote Yourself a Farm" in a bid to garner support for the movement. In addition to the previous requirement in the Preemption Act of being either 21 years old or the head of a family, the 1862 act also allowed for persons under 21 who had served in the regular or volunteer forces of the U.S. army or navy for at least 14 days during "the existence of an actual war domestic or foreign". The new act also required that

7623-554: The present boundaries of Colorado followed nearly immediately. Citizens of Denver City and Golden City pushed for territorial status of the newly settled region within a year of the founding of the towns. The movement was promoted by William Byers , publisher of the Rocky Mountain News , and by Larimer, who aspired to be the first territorial governor. In 1859, settlers established the Territory of Jefferson , and held elections, but

7722-557: The previous governor of the Kansas Territory . Larimer did not intend to mine gold himself; he wanted to promote the new town and sell real estate to eager miners. Larimer's plan to promote his new town worked almost immediately, and by spring 1859 the western Kansas Territory along the South Platte was swarming with miners digging in river bottoms in what became known as the Colorado Gold Rush . Early arrivals moved upstream into

7821-407: The purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever". The acquired land would not be liable for any debts incurred prior to the issuance of the patent for it. The time requirement for residence or cultivation was set at 5 years; if it was proven "after due notice" that they moved residence or abandoned

7920-669: The rainforest west of Portland, Oregon , was acquired by the Oregon Lumber Company by illegal claims under the Act. Several additional laws were enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to address the concerns of African Americans . The Southern Homestead Act of 1866 sought to address land ownership inequalities in the south during Reconstruction . It explicitly included Black Americans and encouraged them to participate, and, although rampant discrimination, systemic barriers, and bureaucratic inertia considerably slowed Black gains,

8019-621: The remaining provisions were repealed in 1961. The Parliament of Canada passed the Dominion Lands Act in 1872 in order to encourage settlement in the Northwest Territories . Its application was restricted after the passage of the Natural Resources Acts in 1930, and it was finally repealed in 1950. The Legislative Assembly of Quebec did not expand the scope of the 1860 Province of Canada Act (which modern day Quebec

8118-418: The same fee for homestead land as he would have received if that land was sold for cash, 1/2 from the homesteader's filing fee and the other half from the patent (certificate) fee. The homesteader did not get a certificate or patent until they or their heirs filed, after 5 years (but before 7 years), further affidavits from two neighbors or "credible witnesses" and an additional $ 8 fee. Those affidavits affirmed

8217-405: The same land which they had previously filed a preemption claim (on up to 160 acres at $ 1.25 per acre, or up to 80 acres of subdivided and surveyed land at $ 2.50 per acre), and they could expand their current ownership to contiguous adjacent land up to 160 acres total. The homestead application must be "made for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that said entry [onto public land] is made for

8316-561: The same time (since beginning with South Carolina the previous December 1860), the secession of seven, later eleven southern slave states had been occurring those several months proclaiming / forming a new independent Southern government of the Confederate States of America (which eventually grew in the next year by two more divided state governments to thirteen in the Confederacy, with two alleged western territories) that precipitated

8415-565: The southwestern decade-old Nebraska Territory , and a small parcel of the northeastern corner of the New Mexico Territory . On the western side of the Divide, the territory included much of the eastern older Utah Territory , all of which besides its substantial while Mormon / L.D.S. population especially around the capital of Salt Lake City , was strongly controlled by the Ute and Shoshoni native tribes The Eastern Plains were held much more loosely by

8514-433: The statement "Nineteenth-century U.S. land policy, which attempted to give away free land, probably represented a net drain on the productive capacity of the country." Some scholars believe the acreage limits were reasonable when the act was written but argue that no one understood the physical conditions of the plains. After a few generations, a family could build up a sizable estate. According to Hugh Nibley , much of

8613-482: The territory was open to slavery under the Dred Scott Decision of 1857, but the question was rendered moot by the impending American Civil War and the majority pro-Union sentiment in the territory. The name "Colorado" was chosen for the territory. It had been previously suggested in 1850 by Senator Henry S. Foote as a name for a state to have been created out of present-day California south of 35° 45'. During

8712-466: The testimony, but which your committee will not specify in their report. Nevertheless, justice was never served on those responsible for the massacre; and nonetheless, the continuation of this Colorado War led to expulsion of the last Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa and Comanche from the Colorado Territory into Oklahoma . Following the end of the American Civil War, a movement was made for statehood;

8811-682: The two day Battle of Glorieta Pass along the Santa Fe Trail, thwarting the Confederate strategy. In 1851, by the Treaty of Fort Laramie , the United States acknowledged the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes control, in the Colorado area, of the Eastern Plains between North Platte River and Arkansas River eastward from the Rocky Mountains . The Fort Laramie Treaty, in Article 2 of the treaty, did allow

8910-609: Was a total of 10% of all land in the United States. Homesteading was discontinued in 1976, except in Alaska, where it continued until 1986. About 40% of the applicants who started the process were able to complete it and obtain title to their homesteaded land after paying a small fee in cash. Homestead laws depleted Native American resources as much of the land they relied on was taken by the federal government and sold to settlers. Native ancestral lands had been limited through history, mainly through land allotments and reservations, causing

9009-469: Was being withheld from private development. Homestead applications were reviewed by the U.S. Forest Service (created in 1905). While at first five years residency was required (per the 1862 Act), in 1913 this act was amended to allow proving up in just three years. Because by the early 1900s much of the prime low-lying alluvial land along rivers had been homesteaded, the Enlarged Homestead Act

9108-581: Was completed to Denver two months later. The move cemented the role of Denver as the future regional metropolis. The territory was finally admitted to the Union in 1876. Three Colorado cities served as the capital of the Territory of Colorado: For much if not all of its existence, the Colorado Territorial government did not actually own its houses of government, instead renting available buildings for governmental purposes. Today, two buildings which served

9207-476: Was elated, the rest of the party was unimpressed and continued on to California the next morning. Ralston continued panning for gold, but gave up after a few days and caught up with his party. As the hysteria of the California Gold Rush faded, many discouraged gold seekers returned home. Rumors of gold in the Rocky Mountains persisted and several small parties explored the region. In the summer of 1857,

9306-539: Was enacted before the railroads had come and before the finding of gold in the region, few whites had ventured to settle in what is now Colorado. By the 1860s, as a result of the Colorado Gold Rush and homesteaders encroaching westward into Indian terrain, relations between U.S. and the Native American people deteriorated. On February 18, 1861, in the Treaty of Fort Wise , several chiefs of Cheyenne and Arapaho supposedly agreed with U.S. representatives to cede most of

9405-421: Was home to a number of indigenous civilizations. The Ute lived across both Western Colorado and the eastern high plains . The Anasazi lived in the southwestern, southern, and parts of southeastern Colorado. The Comanche and Jicarilla Apache lived in the area that would become the southeastern portions of the Territory. The Arapaho and Cheyenne also had a presence in the eastern and northeastern plains of

9504-626: Was not officially granted to Native Americans until a period of five years had passed. Because the US government did not issue fee waivers, many poor non-reservation Natives were unable to pay filing fees to claim homesteads. Access to such homesteads was further complicated by delays in resolving border disputes due to distance and discord between the US Land Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This made white settlements easier to finalize. Recognizing that

9603-473: Was not very successful, as even the low prices and fees were often too much for the applicants to afford. The land made available was also mostly undeveloped forestry, and only white people had the means to make them productive. The Timber Culture Act granted up to 160 acres of land to a homesteader who would plant at least 40 acres (revised to 10) of trees over a period of several years. This quarter-section could be added to an existing homestead claim, offering

9702-651: Was part of in 1860), but did provide in 1868 that such lands were exempt from seizure, and chattels thereon were also exempt for the first ten years of occupation. Later known as the Settlers Protection Act , it was repealed in 1984. Newfoundland and Labrador provided for free grants of land upon proof of possession for twenty years prior to 1977, with continuous use for agricultural, business or residential purposes during that time. Similar programs continued to operate in Alberta and British Columbia until 1970. In

9801-422: Was passed in 1909. To enable dryland farming , it increased the number of acres for a homestead to 320 acres (130 ha) given to farmers who accepted more marginal lands (especially in the Great Plains ), which could not be easily irrigated. A massive influx of these new farmers, combined with inappropriate cultivation techniques and misunderstanding of the ecology, led to immense land erosion and eventually

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