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77-515: Shawsheen was born either on the Western Slope of Colorado , or in northern New Mexico and historians believe that she spent most of her childhood in the Uncompahgre Valley . Like many young Ute girls, she would have learned the arts of bead work and weaving in order to trade with other Native Americans and settlers. Shawsheen was married to Chief Johnson 2, otherwise known as Canalla,

154-706: A White River Ute . The marriage was arranged by her father, Guero in order to increase relations between the Northern Utes and the Tabeguache Utes . After the marriage, Shawsheen left the Uncompahgre Valley to live on the White River with her new family. Sometime in 1860 or 1861, while out hunting near the Cache la Podure River on the Eastern Plains of Colorado, Shawsheen and members of her family encountered members of

231-898: A hero, by not only the Meeker women, but many others, for her actions within the Meeker Massacre and her protection of the captives. Josephine Meeker wrote about Shawsheen in her captivity narrative . She stated, "I may say more, which is that we all owe our lives to the sister of Chief Ouray." Josephine describes how Shawsheen advocated for their release and ensured their safety. Shawsheen has been referred to by many names throughout her historical narrative. Her descendants refer to her as She-Towitch, while many modern historians refer to her as Susan, "Ute Susan" or Shawsheen. She has also been known as Tsashin, Shosheen, Shashein, and Shasheen in other newspaper or familial accounts. Shawsheen's life and contributions to early Colorado history have been recognized by

308-570: A major music destination thereafter. In the 1960s and 1970s, Colorado was an epicenter for the Chicano Movement . Colorado has a significant population of Mexican-American, Hispanic and Chicano people . Major events that affected the Chicano Movement happened in Colorado, such as Corky Gonzales ' Crusade for Justice and The Plan Espiritual de Aztlán , the deaths of Los Seis de Boulder , and

385-582: 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. Most of the tribes had their own designs for genocide of the whites. The resulting hearings in the United States Congress regarding the malfeasance of the U.S. Army commander, John Chivington , were

462-612: A party of Cherokee gold seekers from the State of Georgia 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

539-776: A peace treaty with the Ute Nation 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 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

616-451: A population boom. The Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson 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 was organized in 1861. The Territory of Colorado was a historic, organized territory of

693-566: 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 party eight years later. Members of this party founded Auraria (later absorbed into Denver City) in 1858 and touched off

770-475: A result there are a number of outdoor recreational options that may include rock climbing, hiking, skiing, horseback riding and other activities. Crested Butte , Aspen , Telluride , and Vail are skiing areas. National forests include White River National Forest , Grand Mesa National Forest , Gunnison National Forest , Uncompahgre National Forest , and the San Juan National Forest . Black Canyon

847-696: 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 . This conflict was due to the Natives persistent practice of arbitrary violence against peaceful white settlers. The United States Congress passed an enabling act on March 3, 1875, specifying

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924-624: Is one of the few American state governors ever to call out the state militia to protect miners from a force raised by mine owners in the Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894 . Participants in the Pike's Peak Gold Rush from 1858 to 1861 were called Fifty-Niners 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

1001-400: Is best known for Colorado's first Columbine massacre . 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

1078-818: Is in the Gunnison National Park. Glenwood Springs has the world's largest hot springs pool, fairy caves, and whitewater rafting. Events in Aspen include the Aspen Musical Festival, the Wine and Food Classic, and Theatre Aspen. Vineyards and wineries are found in Palisade and Grand Junction. Mesa Verde National Park is the home of cliff-dwellings of the Ancient Puebloans . Dinosaur National Monument and Colorado National Monument are other areas of interest. Two of

1155-418: Is some debate regarding Shawsheen's escape from captivity; many historians cite the story of her rescue from near sacrifice as correct, however the oral traditions of her descendants credit her with escaping on her own. During her time in captivity , she was treated as a slave instead of an adopted family member as in other North American Indian captivities . Her status within the tribe as a slave meant that she

1232-562: Is sparsely populated, containing 38% of Colorado's area but only 10.7% of its population. The region had a population of 563,138 in July 2013, an increase of 0.6% on the previous year, and had a low growth rate over the previous three years compared to the rest of the state. The most populated areas of the Western slope are the Tri County area, which contains Grand Junction , Montrose , and Delta, and

1309-462: Is the more populous portion of the state. The Western Slope, though without an official definition, generally is understood to include Delta , Dolores , Eagle , Garfield , Grand , Gunnison , Hinsdale , La Plata , Mesa , Moffat , Montezuma , Montrose , Ouray , Pitkin , Rio Blanco , Routt , San Juan , San Miguel , and Summit counties and portions of Archuleta , Mineral , and Saguache counties. The Western Slope has about 70% of

1386-692: The Cheyenne and Arapaho tribe. During an altercation Shawsheen was taken captive. Her family alerted the United States Cavalry , but troops weren't able to locate her until two years later when soldiers from Camp Collins (now Fort Collins ) found her. Historian Brandi Dennison describes the scene: "The cavalry successfully located the raiding party along the Cache la Podure River just as the Cheyenne bound Susan to an unlit pyre ." The troops rescued Shawsheen and she

1463-572: The Fort Uncompahgre and Fort Davy Crockett at the center for trapping furs at Brown's Hole . The trading posts were used to trade furs for supplies or goods. Trappers and explorers include Kit Carson and Jim Bridger . They and others guided John C. Frémont (1843–53), John W. Gunnison (1853), and John Wesley Powell (1869) on their expeditions into the Western Slope. Once the demand for beaver furs declined and beaver had been over-trapped,

1540-493: The Grand Junction area's most prominent economic sector is health care. Grand Junction and surrounding Mesa County is a regional healthcare hub serving approximately 11 counties in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, which includes more than 500,000 people. Colorado's Western Slope is home to several colleges and universities: The Western Slope has climate zones that include the desert, mountains, mountain lakes, and river valleys. As

1617-537: The Grand Valley , where the Town of Palisade is recognized as the center of Colorado Wine Country, with over 20 wineries, and purveyor of Palisade peaches. Much of the area's economy continues to be dependent upon energy extraction services and tourism. The region contains plentiful sources of oil, natural gas, uranium, and coal. Although much of the area's economy is still dominated by energy extraction services and tourism,

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1694-662: The Greeley Museums in Greeley , Colorado. This organization also preserves and interprets the Meeker Home Museum , the original home of the Meeker family. In Greeley, there is an elementary school named after her, ( Shawsheen Elementary ) as well as scholarship on her life and legacy on display at the Greeley Museum . Western Slope of Colorado The Western Slope is a colloquial term generally understood to describe

1771-549: The Kiowa , Comanche , Arapaho , and Cheyenne nations of Native Americans (the last two were particularly closely allied, which is unusual since the various tribes were notorious for inciting violence against each other). The war was centered on the Eastern Plains of the Colorado Territory and resulted in the removal of these four Native American peoples from present-day Colorado to present-day Oklahoma . The war included

1848-576: 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 in the San Luis Valley , taken to Chihuahua , then expelled from México . Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla declared Mexico's independence from Spain on September 16, 1810. In 1819,

1925-399: 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 gold , silver , and other minerals in the nearby mountains. This gold rush helped to attract people to the state and resulted in

2002-481: 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

2079-584: 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 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 brought European settlers to

2156-447: 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

2233-596: The 1913-1914 United Mine Workers of America strike against the Rockefeller -owned Colorado Fuel and Iron company, saw dozens die in battles on the Southern Colorado coalfields. The Ludlow Massacre became the peak of the violence, when Colorado National Guard 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

2310-757: The Arkansas River. Colorado became part of the Spanish province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México 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

2387-460: The Gunnison and Colorado River basins between 6500 B.C. and A.D. 200. From about 350 B.C. to A.D. 1300, Puebloans lived in southwestern Colorado, including Mesa Verde . The Puebloans, while also continuing to hunt and gather food, were the first to farm and irrigate crops on the Western Slope. They left the area in the late 13th century, following a period of extensive drought. The Ute people came to

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2464-538: The Intermountain area, containing Glenwood Springs , Aspen , and Vail . Grand Junction is the largest city between Denver, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah, with a population of 61,881 (2016, US Census Bureau). According to the State Demographer's Office, the population of the Western Slope is estimated to grow by two-thirds by 2050. Mesa County is expected to grow to 236,554 residents, accounting for 25% of

2541-529: 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 until the United States signed

2618-453: The United States that existed between 1861 and 1876. Its boundaries were identical to the current State of Colorado . 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

2695-594: The Ute. After the Massacre, the Ute met and discussed what to do with the captives. While many urged that the captives be killed or burned at the stake, Shawsheen, along with her husband, adamantly advocated for the release of the captives and their safety. Josephine Meeker said of her captivity, "We all owe our lives to the sister of Chief Ouray..." The captives praised Shawsheen for her kindness in not only advocating for their release, but doing her best in keeping them safe from harm for

2772-535: The Utes became routes for roads, stage lines, highways, and railways. Spanish explorers visited the Western Slope in the 18th century. Juan de Rivera explored the area in 1765, followed in 1776 by the Domínguez–Escalante expedition . Fur trappers, also called mountain men , of European descent entered the area to trap beaver for their furs. Trading posts were established on the Western Slope beginning in 1828 with

2849-707: The Utes relinquishing their land east of the Continental Divide. They maintained most of their land in the Western Slope with the treaty. The Utes were pushed out of much of the Western Slope after gold was found in the San Juan Mountains , including through the Brunot Agreement . Utes were removed from the state after the Meeker Massacre of 1879. A reservation was created in Utah for the tribes that participated in

2926-525: The Western Slope from the Great Basin and ranged through the area beginning about A.D. 1300. Their way of life, called the Mountain Tradition, relied on hunting mule deer, elk, rabbit, and buffalo. They also gathered berries, roots, nuts and seeds. They frequented the area's hot springs, including the areas of Pagosa Springs , Glenwood Springs , and Steamboat Springs . Many of the trails established by

3003-471: The Western Slope. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden 's expedition of 1872 to 1873 resulted in maps of the Western Slope that were later used by investors, mining engineers, railroad owners, and others leading the western expansion into western Colorado. After contact with people of European descent, there were a number of treaties to define boundaries for Native Americans, including the Treaty of 1868 that resulted in

3080-467: The aforementioned massacre at Columbine High School , 12 people were killed and 70 people were injured in the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting , when James Eagan Holmes , a former neuroscience doctoral student, walked into an Aurora, Colorado Cinemark 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

3157-415: 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. The first Europeans to visit

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3234-724: 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 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

3311-562: The death of Ricardo Falcón . Leaders of the movement worked with national figures like Cesar Chavez and the lettuce workers strike, and Coloradans held their own actions like the Kitayama Carnation Strike . 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

3388-443: The duration of their captivity. The captive women even referred to her as "God Bless Susan" for her kindness. After the captives were released they immediately began to write about their experiences and many called for the recognition of Shawsheen for her actions. Jane Swisshelm asked that Shawsheen be given land in Colorado, despite the fact that the Ute's of western Colorado were being removed to Utah . Shawsheen has been hailed as

3465-471: The end of 1865, territorial ambitions for statehood were thwarted again, this time by a veto by President Andrew Johnson . Statehood for the territory was a recurring issue during the Ulysses Grant administration, with Grant advocating statehood against a less willing Congress during Reconstruction . The Colorado War (1863–1865) was an armed conflict between the United States and a loose alliance among

3542-627: The event, the International Olympic Committee relocated the 1976 Winter Olympics to Innsbruck , Austria. No venue had rejected the award before nor has any venue since. In 1999, the Columbine High School massacre became the most devastating high-school massacre in United States history until the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. On July 20, 2012, not far from the location of

3619-511: The federal internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II . In 1967, Governor John A. Love 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

3696-457: The fur trade was greatly diminished. In 1858 and 1859, the Gold Rush into Colorado brought miners into the region and mining towns like Breckenridge . Mining districts were established in the San Juan Mountains, Gunnison River Valley, Sawatch Mountains and Elk Mountains. The initial interest was panning for gold in rivers and that grew over the decades to including mining for ore, coal, and fuel below ground. Many mining towns were established in

3773-463: 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 . In 1858, several parties of gold seekers bound for the California Gold Rush 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 , now northeast Colorado. The gold nuggets initially failed to impress

3850-449: 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 gold seekers from the New Mexico Territory worked a placer deposit along the South Platte River about 5 miles (8 km) above Cherry Creek (in what is today the Overland Park neighborhood of Denver .) The following year, William Greeneberry "Green" Russell led

3927-437: The many rivers of the Western Slope are the Colorado River and Crystal River . Voters narrowly approved a November 2020 ballot measure that directed the commission that oversees CPW to develop a plan to begin to reintroduce wolves by the end of 2023 on the Western Slope. The wolves are managed and designated as a non-game species, meaning they cannot be hunted , with fair compensation being offered for livestock killed by

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4004-412: The massacre. The Southern and Ute Mountain Utes have land in southern Colorado, the Southern Ute Indian Reservation and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Reservation . The region has a rich heritage in farming and ranching, with agribusiness remaining a key industry for most of the western slope. It is historically an energy hub, with coal, oil, uranium, and natural gas production. The Western Slope region

4081-514: 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 , where gunmen like Robert Ford (the assassin of Jesse James ) and con artist like Soapy Smith reigned. Starting in

4158-434: 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

4235-410: 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." In 1913 through 1914 the Colorado Coalfield War occurred. It started as a strike and ultimately ended in defeat for

4312-453: The opening of the mine at Climax , 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

4389-473: 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 . 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 mining in 2007 resulted in ambivalent responses with Leadville welcoming

4466-408: The part of the state of Colorado west of the Continental Divide . Bodies of water west of the Divide flow toward the Pacific Ocean ; water that falls and flows east of the Divide heads east toward the Gulf of Mexico . The Western Slope encompasses about 33% of the state, but has just 10% of the state's residents. The eastern part of the state, including the San Luis Valley and the Front Range ,

4543-402: The population growth on the Western Slope and become the 10th most populous county in the state. In 2015, the total population on the Western Slope was 563,766 and is projected to increase 67.2% to 942,463 residents in 2050. Economic activity has primarily centered around ranching, mining, and tourism. Fruit farming is also prevalent in areas along the Colorado and Gunnison rivers, including

4620-501: The predators. Passage of the referendum was opposed by many cattle ranchers, elk hunters, farmers and others in rural areas that argue wolf reintroduction is bad policy which will threaten the raising of livestock and a $ 1 billion hunting industry. History of Colorado The region that is today the U.S. state of Colorado 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

4697-413: 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 among the pueblos of the Rio Grande 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

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4774-416: The requirements for the Territory of Colorado to become a state. On August 1, 1876 (28 days after the Centennial of the United States ), President Ulysses S. Grant signed Proclamation 230 admitting the state of Colorado to the Union as the 38th state and earning it the moniker " Centennial State ". The borders of the new state coincided with the borders established for the Colorado Territory. Women won

4851-483: The right to vote in Colorado via referendum on November 7, 1893 . Colorado was the first state in the union to grant universal suffrage through a popular vote. (The territory of Wyoming approved the right of women to vote in 1869 through a vote of the territorial legislature.) Governor Davis H. Waite , a left-wing Populist , campaigned for the amendment but he a year later he blamed the women voters for defeating his reelection campaign. Waite favored labor unions and

4928-540: 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. 38°59′50″N 105°32′52″W  /  38.9972°N 105.5478°W  / 38.9972; -105.5478  ( Geometric center of

5005-455: The state's water. The Colorado River and its tributaries divide the region into north and south at Grand Junction, Colorado . The area has a climate similar to that of the Great Basin . Paleo-Indians , early nomadic hunter-gatherers , followed large game throughout the Western Slope beginning about 12,000 B.C. according to archaeological evidence found at the Mountaineer Archaeological Site near Gunnison . Ancestral Puebloans inhabited

5082-406: The territory was passed by Congress and signed by President James Buchanan on February 28, 1861, during the secessions by Southern 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

5159-453: The union ending with 232 deaths, and crippling labor organizing in the state's mines for the next decade. In the early 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan suddenly built a large membership hostile to Catholics. Its leaders tried to gain political influence but they were unable to get any proposals enacted into law. The members quit and the KKK died out by the late 1920s. From 1927 to 1928, a statewide coal strike occurred shutting down all mines . It

5236-484: The union in May 1928, with an increase in wages and the return of organized labor in the state's coal industry. The 1930s saw the beginning of the ski industry in Colorado. Resorts were established in areas such as Estes Park , Gunnison , and on Loveland Pass . During WWII, the 10th Mountain Division 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

5313-428: The village of San Luis de la Culebra , then in the New Mexico Territory , but now Colorado's first permanent European settlement . 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

5390-414: Was buffalo robes, see Early history of the Arkansas Valley in Colorado 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 to American settlement, including what is now the lower portion of Colorado. The newly gained land

5467-445: 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 . 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

5544-693: 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

5621-444: 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

5698-449: Was forced into hard labor and menial tasks until her eventual escape. The Meeker Massacre was an attack on an Indian Agency by the Ute on September 29, 1879 in Meeker , Colorado. During the massacre, Nathan Meeker , an Indian Agent, along with his ten employees were killed, and his daughter Josephine Meeker and wife Arvilla Meeker were taken captive along with other women and children by

5775-470: Was sent to live with Simeon Whitley, a former agent of the Grand River Ute Agency, whom she stayed for a few months before returning home. During her stay with Whitley, she was able to learn to speak and understand English. Mrs. Collier, wife of Sergeant Collier, the man who led the soldiers that found Shawsheen, gave the name "Susan" to Shawsheen, a name many historians refer to her by today. There

5852-569: Was sponsored by a upstart rival of the main miners' union and demanded better wages and conditions. During it, the Columbine Mine massacre and Walsenburg Hall killings occurred, where strikers were shot down by guards and policemen. For one particular incident in Trinidad , the mayor was accused of deputizing members of the KKK against the striking workers. The strike ended with a significant victory for

5929-492: 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 , allowing them to tax the product. As of July 2014, six months after recreational shops began sales of marijuana in Colorado,

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