56-679: The Tunnel Drive Trail is an out-and-back hiking trail located in Cañon City, Colorado . The trail parallels and overlooks the Arkansas River and the Royal Gorge Route Railroad . Popular with locals, the trail starts just inside the Cañon City city limits and then, crossing out of the city, it goes on State of Colorado and BLM land. The trail was originally the site of a wooden irrigation canal that also supplied water to Cañon City. It
112-568: A known oil seep. Cassaday struck oil at the depth of 50 feet (15 m), and he completed the first commercial oil well west of the Mississippi River . He drilled five or six more wells nearby, and he refined kerosene and fuel oil from the petroleum. Cassaday sold the products in Denver . A number of metal ore smelters were built in Cañon City following the discovery of gold at Cripple Creek in 1891. The Cañon City Downtown Historic District
168-635: A long-running AM radio station, known as KRLN NewsRadio 1400 AM . Transportation in the Cañon City area consists of cab service, shuttle bus service, and a downtown wagon ride. The Royal Gorge Bridge trolley had also been used during special events (it was destroyed in the Royal Gorge Fire , but it was reserved for use by the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park. Jeep tours and Segway tours are also available to explore local parks such as Red Canyon Park or scenic places such as Skyline Drive . The town
224-595: A riot at the prison claimed 13 lives. The Colorado Women's Correctional Facility near Cañon City in unincorporated Fremont County was decommissioned on June 4, 2009. From Cañon City's Downtown Historic District located in the heart of the city to the Royal Gorge Bridge , there are many places to see and visit in the area. Cañon City is home to a daily newspaper, called the Cañon City Daily Record ; an FM radio station, Star Country 104.5 FM ; and
280-477: Is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Fremont County, Colorado , United States. The city population was 17,141 at the 2020 United States Census . Cañon City is the principal city of the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area and is a part of the Front Range Urban Corridor . Cañon City straddles the easterly flowing Arkansas River and
336-514: Is a popular tourist destination for sightseeing, whitewater rafting , and rock climbing. The city is known for its many public parks, fossil discoveries, Skyline Drive, The Royal Gorge railroad, the Royal Gorge, and extensive natural hiking paths. In 1994, the United States Board on Geographic Names approved adding the tilde to the official name of Cañon City, a change from Canon City as
392-460: Is an historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Cañon City is located in eastern Fremont County. It sits primarily on the north side of the Arkansas River , just east of where the river exits from Royal Gorge . It is bordered to the south by the unincorporated community of Lincoln Park . Via U.S. Route 50 , Pueblo is 39 miles (63 km) to
448-599: Is home to the courts for Fremont County and the 11th Judicial District of Colorado. It has been described as "America’s cheeriest prison town". Cañon City is governed via the Council–manager government system. The city council consists of seven members who are elected from districts. The mayor is elected by the entire city. The area being situated along the Arkansas River has allowed for soil suitable to orchards, ranching, and farming, but has largely grown to rely on
504-629: Is in an ostensibly- demilitarized "neutral zone" between the puppet regimes of the Japanese Pacific States, in the west, and Greater Nazi Reich, in the east, in the former United States. Cañon City's sister cities are: Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River . It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado , Kansas , Oklahoma , and Arkansas . The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically
560-674: Is much smaller than the Missouri and Ohio rivers, with a mean discharge of about 40,000 cubic feet per second (1,100 m /s). The Arkansas from its headwaters to the 100th meridian west formed part of the U.S.–Mexico border from the Adams–Onís Treaty (in force 1821) until the Texas Annexation or Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . The river is alternatively pronounced / ɑːr ˈ k æ n z ə s / ar- KAN -zəs or / ˈ ɑːr k ən s ɔː / AR -kən-saw . The path of
616-573: Is served by the Fremont County airport (1V6) which is 6 miles to the East and currently has no scheduled passenger service. Within an hour's drive is the Colorado Springs Airport with daily service by major airlines. The area is served by one state and one U.S. highway with a mix of city and county roads to navigate the city or connect to neighboring areas. Cañon City's school system is under
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#1732859520647672-638: The McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System joins the Verdigris River. Into western Arkansas , the river path works between the encroaching Boston and Ouachita mountains, including many isolated, flat-topped mesas, buttes, or monadnocks such as Mount Nebo , Petit Jean Mountain , and Mount Magazine , the highest point in the state. The river valley expands as it encounters much flatter land beginning just west of Little Rock, Arkansas . It continues eastward across
728-477: The Mississippi River from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin toward the Gulf of Mexico, but turned back at the mouth of the Arkansas River. By that time, they had encountered Native Americans carrying European trinkets and feared confrontation with Spanish conquistadors. Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe , a French trader, explorer, and nobleman had led an expedition into what is now Oklahoma in 1718–19. His original objective
784-559: The Royal Gorge . At Cañon City, Colorado , the Arkansas River valley widens and flattens markedly. Just west of Pueblo, Colorado , the river enters the Great Plains . Through the rest of Colorado , Kansas , and much of Oklahoma , it is a typical Great Plains riverway, with wide, shallow banks subject to seasonal flooding and periods of dwindling flow. Tributaries include the Cimarron and
840-657: The Salt Fork Arkansas rivers. In eastern Oklahoma, the river begins to widen further into a more contained consistent channel. To maintain more reliable flow rates, a series of dams and large reservoir lakes have been built on the Arkansas and its intersecting tributaries, including the Canadian , Verdigris , Neosho (Grand) , Illinois , and Poteau rivers. These locks and dams enable the river to be navigable by barges and large river craft downriver of Muskogee, Oklahoma , where
896-526: The Santa Fe Trail followed the Arkansas through much of Kansas, picking it up near Great Bend and continuing through to La Junta, Colorado . Some users elected to take the challenging Cimarron Cutoff starting at Cimarron, Kansas . During the American Civil War, each side tried to prevent the other from using the Arkansas River and its tributaries as a route for moving reinforcements. Initially,
952-599: The Tulsa Port of Catoosa on the Verdigris River , enters the Arkansas River near Muskogee, and runs via an extensive lock and dam system to the Mississippi River. Through Oklahoma and Arkansas, dams which artificially deepen and widen the river to sustain commercial barge traffic and recreational use give the river the appearance of a series of reservoirs. The McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System diverts from
1008-582: The Arkansas River 2.5 mi (4.0 km) upstream of the Wilbur D. Mills Dam to avoid the long winding route which the lower Arkansas River follows. This circuitous portion of the Arkansas River between the Wilbur D. Mills Dam and the Mississippi River was historically bypassed by river vessels. Early steamboats instead followed a network of rivers—known as the Arkansas Post Canal—;which flowed north of
1064-643: The Arkansas River Valley. The headwaters derive from the snowpack in the Sawatch and Mosquito mountain ranges. It flows east into Kansas and finally through Oklahoma and Arkansas, where it meets the Mississippi River. At 1,469 miles (2,364 km), it is the sixth-longest river in the United States , the second-longest tributary in the Mississippi– Missouri system, and the 47th longest river in
1120-562: The Arkansas River as a supply route. In September 1864, a body of Confederate irregulars led by General Stand Watie (Cherokee) successfully ambushed a Union supply ship bound for Fort Gibson. The vessel was destroyed, and a part of its cargo was looted by the Confederates. By 1890, water from the Arkansas River was being used to irrigate more than 20,000 acres (8,100 ha) of farmland in Kansas. By 1910, irrigation projects in Colorado had caused
1176-586: The Arkansas River for thousands of years. The first Europeans to see the river were members of the Spanish Coronado expedition on June 29, 1541. Also in the 1540s, Hernando de Soto discovered the junction of the Arkansas with the Mississippi. The Spanish originally called the river Napeste . "The name "Arkansas" was first applied by French Father Jacques Marquette , who called the river Akansa in his journal of 1673. The Joliet-Marquette expedition travelled
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#17328595206471232-464: The Arkansas River has changed over time. Sediments from the river found in a palaeochannel next to Nolan, a site in the Tensas Basin , show that part of the river's meander belt flowed through up to 3200 BCE. While it was previously thought that this relict channel was active at the same time as another relict of the Mississippi River 's meander belt, it has been shown that this channel of the Arkansas
1288-486: The Arkansas River in central Colorado have been known for exceptional trout fishing, particularly fly fishing , since the 19th century, when greenback cutthroat trout dominated the river. Today, brown trout dominate the river, which also contains rainbow trout . Trout Unlimited considers the Arkansas one of the top 100 trout streams in America, a reputation the river has had since the 1950s. From Leadville to Pueblo,
1344-425: The Arkansas River include Canon City , Pueblo , La Junta , and Lamar, Colorado ; Garden City , Dodge City , Hutchinson , and Wichita, Kansas ; Tulsa, Oklahoma ; and Fort Smith and Little Rock, Arkansas . The May 2002 I-40 bridge disaster took place on I-40 's crossing of Kerr Reservoir on the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma . Since 1902, Kansas has claimed that Colorado takes too much of
1400-524: The Arkansas River is serviced by numerous fly shops and guides operating in Buena Vista, Salida, Cañon City, and Pueblo. Colorado Parks and Wildlife provides regular online fishing reports for the river. A fish kill occurred on December 29, 2010, in which an estimated 100,000 freshwater drum lined the Arkansas River bank . An investigation, conducted by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, found
1456-650: The Arkansas River, reaching a place called Arkansas Post , about 60 miles (97 km) above the confluence of the Arkansas and the Mississippi rivers. In mid-April 1822, the Robert Thompson , towing a keelboat, was the first steamboat to navigate the Arkansas as far as Fort Smith. For five years, Fort Smith was known as the head of navigation for steamboats on the river. It lost the title to Fort Gibson in April 1832, when three steamboats, Velocipede , Scioto, and Catawba , all arrived at Fort Gibson later that month. Later,
1512-471: The Arkansas. These included flatboats ( bateaus ) and keelboats . Along with the pirogues, they transported piles of deer, bear, otter, beaver, and buffalo skins up and down the river. Agricultural products such as corn, rice, dried peaches, beans, peanuts, snakeroot, sarsaparilla, and ginseng had grown in economic importance. On March 31, 1820, the Comet became the first steamboat to successfully navigate part of
1568-554: The R.C. Icabone Pool (a public swimming pool), a dog park, an archery range and a ropes course along with a rec district office with a community room. The following parks are operated and owned by the Rec District: In addition, the city maintains the Tunnel Drive Trail , a four-mile long out-and-back trail that follows the course of an old irrigation canal. The trailhead is located at the west end of Tunnel Drive, just inside
1624-638: The Union Army abandoned its forts in the Indian Territory, including Fort Gibson and Fort Smith, to maximize its strength for campaigns elsewhere. The Confederate Army sent troops from Texas to support its Native American allies. Union troops returned to the area later in the war, after defeating the Confederates at the Battle of Pea Ridge and the Battle of Fort Smith . They began recovering the position it had previously abandoned, most notably Fort Gibson and reopened
1680-676: The United States annexed Texas after the Mexican–American War , in 1846. The treaty was made shortly after the "Old Settler" Cherokee were pushed out of Texas and moved near what became known as Webbers Falls on the Arkansas River. They planned to reunite with the Cherokee who had moved there on the Trail of Tears in 1839. That area, then part of Arkansas Territory , would become Indian Territory and later Oklahoma . This area had long been
1736-488: The areas around the Great Lakes began exploring the Mississippi and some of its northern tributaries. They soon learned that the birchbark canoes, which had served them so well on the northern waterways, were too light for use on southern rivers such as the Arkansas. They turned to making and using dugout canoes, which they called pirogues , made by hollowing out the trunks of cottonwood trees. Cottonwoods are plentiful along
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1792-568: The city from harsh weather conditions. The average daily high temperature in January is 14 °F (7.8 °C) warmer in Cañon City than in Grand Junction , even though the elevation of Cañon City is higher. The average minimum temperature in January is 20 °F (−7 °C). During July, overnight lows are 59 °F (15 °C) on average. Cañon City has a semi-arid climate ( Köppen climate classification BSk ). As Cañon City has grown,
1848-535: The city has both annexed surrounding communities and developed new subdivisions to create the city that exists today. Cañon City is home to many city-owned parks, as well as parks owned by the Cañon City Area Recreation and Park District. The Cañon City Area Recreation and Park District, commonly called the Rec District, was created in 1965 to better serve the community's recreational needs with parks,
1904-406: The city limits. The Guy U. Hardy Award for Service to Outdoor Recreation was created in the name of Guy U. Hardy to recognize people in the community who "help preserve, protect and advocate for providing outdoor recreation opportunities." Hardy had a significant impact on outdoor recreational opportunities in the Royal Gorge area. As of the 2020 census , there were 17,141 people residing in
1960-423: The city. The population density was 1,312.1 inhabitants per square mile (506.6/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 95.4% White , 1.0% African American , 0.6% Native American , 0.1% Asian , and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 10.2% of the population. There were 7,448 households, out of which 22.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them. The average household size
2016-598: The compact did not stop further disputes by the two states over water rights to the river. The Kansas–Oklahoma Arkansas River Basin Compact was created in 1965 to promote mutual consideration and equity over water use in the basin shared by those states. The Kansas–Oklahoma Arkansas River Commission was established, charged with administering the compact and reducing pollution. The compact was approved and implemented by both states in 1970 and has been in force since then. The McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System begins at
2072-548: The direction of the Cañon City School District Fremont RE-1. The district currently has four elementary schools, one charter school, one school serving as both an elementary school and middle school, one middle school and one high school, Cañon City High School . For the higher education needs of the community, Pueblo Community College provides a branch campus on the west end of the city along U.S. Highway 50 . The movie Canon City (1948) depicts
2128-491: The east and Poncha Springs is 62 miles (100 km) to the west. Colorado Springs is 45 miles (72 km) to the northeast. At the 2020 United States Census , the city had a total area of 7,939 acres (32.127 km ) including 7.9 acres (0.032 km ) of water. The city's nickname, "the Climate Capital of Colorado", derives from the combination of unique geography and 5,300-foot (1,600 m) elevation protecting
2184-487: The entrepreneurial TechSTART initiative that attracts major technology-based entrepreneurs, and Centura Health (owner of St. Thomas More Hospital and the Progressive Care Center). Prisons have served an important significance to both Cañon City and the surrounding areas of Fremont County , as well as to the state of Colorado . The Museum of Colorado Prisons has been given the role of preserving and presenting
2240-782: The first building in February 1860. This town was originally intended as a commercial center for mining in South Park and the upper Arkansas River. In 1861, the town raised two companies of volunteers to serve with the Second Colorado Infantry during the American Civil War . This regiment fought in skirmishes in nearby New Mexico and as far east as the Indian Territory ( Oklahoma ) and Missouri before ending its organization in 1865. In 1862, A. M. Cassaday drilled for petroleum 6 miles (10 km) north of Cañon City, close to
2296-514: The large number of state and federal prisons in the area, as well as to tourism, education, manufacturing, medicine and many other sectors. Cañon City depends on the Colorado Department of Corrections and federal prison system, and its tourism industry which includes the Royal Gorge Route Railroad , Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, Red Canyon Park, The Abbey winery, and various other attractions. The major local employers include downtown shops,
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2352-571: The lower Arkansas River and followed a shorter and more direct route to the Mississippi River. When the McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System was constructed between 1963 and 1970, the Arkansas Post Canal was significantly improved, while the lower Arkansas River continued to be bypassed by commercial vessels. Many nations of Native Americans lived near, or along, the 1,450-mile (2,334-km) stretch of
2408-533: The official name in its decisions of 1906 and 1975. It is one of the few U.S. cities to have the Spanish Ñ in its name, others being La Cañada Flintridge, California ; Española, New Mexico ; Peñasco, New Mexico ; and Peñitas, Texas . Cañon City was laid out on January 17, 1858, during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush , but then the land was left idle. A new company "jumped the claim" to the town's site in late 1859, and it put up
2464-770: The past of the state's corrections system. Colorado Department of Corrections operates the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility in Cañon City. In addition to several correctional facilities near Cañon City in unincorporated areas in Fremont County , Colorado State Penitentiary , the location of the state death row and execution chamber is in Fremont County. Other state prisons in Fremont County include Arrowhead Correctional Center, Centennial Correctional Facility , Fremont Correctional Facility , Four Mile Correctional Center, ADX Florence , and Skyline Correctional Center. On October 3, 1929,
2520-480: The plains and forests of eastern Arkansas until it flows into the Mississippi River near Napoleon, Arkansas . Water flow in the Arkansas River (as measured in central Kansas ) has dropped from approximately 248 cubic feet per second (7.0 m /s) average from 1944–1963 to 53 cubic feet per second (1.5 m /s) average from 1984–2003, largely because of the pumping of groundwater for irrigation in eastern Colorado and western Kansas . Important cities along
2576-655: The real-life 1947 escape of 12 prisoners from nearby Colorado State Penitentiary . A diner in Cañon City is the setting of the song "Navajo Rug", which was named by the Western Writers of America as one of the Top 100 Western Songs of all time. A fictional version of the city is depicted in Philip K. Dick 's alternate history novel The Man in the High Castle (1963) and its eponymous 2015 television series adaptation . Cañon City
2632-588: The river to stop flowing in July and August. Flooding in 1927 severely damaged or destroyed nearly every levee downstream of Fort Smith, and led to the development of the Arkansas River Flood Control Association. It also resulted in the Federal government assigning responsibility for flood control and navigation on the Arkansas River to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE). The headwaters of
2688-471: The river's water; it has filed numerous lawsuits over this issue in the U.S. Supreme Court that continue to this day, generally under the name of Kansas v. Colorado . The problems over the possession and use of Arkansas River water by Colorado and Kansas led to the creation of an interstate compact or agreement between the two states. While Congress approved the Arkansas River Compact in 1949,
2744-518: The strangers a warm welcome. La Harpe's party was honored with the calumet ceremony and spent ten days at this location. In 1988, evidence of a native village was discovered along the Arkansas River 13 miles (21 km) south of present-day Tulsa, Oklahoma . By then, the site was known as the Lasley Vore Site . French traders and trappers who had opened up trade with Indian tribes in Canada and
2800-512: The streams of the southwest and grow to large sizes. The wood is soft and easily worked with the crude tools carried by both the French and Indians. The pirogues were sturdier and could be more useful for navigating the sandbars and snags of the Southern waterways. In 1819, the Adams–Onís Treaty set the Arkansas as part of the frontier between the United States and Spanish Mexico . This continued until
2856-526: The traditional territory of the Osage . They resisted the new Native Americans moving in with armed conflict. The US encouraged a peace treaty made in 1828 but the territory issue was still unresolved by the time thousands of additional Cherokee refugees moved to the area during the Trail of Tears . By the time Fort Smith was established in 1817, larger capacity watercraft became available to transport goods up and down
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#17328595206472912-565: The world . Its origin is in the Rocky Mountains in Lake County, Colorado , near Leadville . In 1859, placer gold discovered in the Leadville area brought thousands seeking to strike it rich, but the easily recovered placer gold was quickly exhausted. The Arkansas River's mouth is at Napoleon, Arkansas , and its drainage basin covers nearly 170,000 square miles (440,000 km ). Its volume
2968-425: Was 2.05. The age distribution was 22.6% under the age of 18 and 24.6% who were 65 years of age or older. Women represent 52% of the population. The median income for a household in the city was $ 46,464. The per capita income for the city was $ 25,232. About 17.1% of the population were below the poverty line . Along with a police department, sheriff's office and detention center, and a municipal court, Cañon City
3024-404: Was built in the late nineteenth-century and was called the redwood stave irrigation pipeline. The city stopped using the canal in 1974. The canal passed through three tunnels cut out of the granite cliff on the north side of the trail. The trail now passes through the tunnels, one of which is quite long. Ca%C3%B1on City, Colorado Cañon City ( / ˈ k æ n j ən / KAN -yən )
3080-518: Was inactive approximately 400 years before the Mississippi channel was active. The Arkansas has three distinct sections in its long path through central North America. At its headwaters beginning near Leadville , Colorado , the Arkansas runs as a steep fast-flowing mountain river through the Rockies in its narrow valley, dropping 4,600 feet (1,400 m) in 120 miles (190 km). This section supports extensive whitewater rafting , including The Numbers (near Granite, Colorado ), Brown's Canyon , and
3136-408: Was to establish a trading post near the present city of Texarkana, Arkansas , but he extended his trip overland as far north as the Arkansas River (which he designated as the Alcansas ). The explorer wrote that he and nine other men, including three Caddo guides and 22 horses loaded with trade goods, had come to a native settlement overlooking the river, where there were about 6,000 natives, who gave
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