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Colorado
Colorado
is a state in the western United
States. The name of Colorado
came from the Spanish word "colorado" which means "reddish color". The
name comes from the Colorado River. It is famous for the Rocky Mountains,
where the highest peaks of the range exist. The state capital and largest
city is Denver.
As of the 2000 census, Colorado's population is 4,301,261. The U.S.
Post Office abbreviation for the state is CO.
USS Colorado was
named in honor of this state.
| State
nicknames |
The
Centennial State |
| Capital |
Denver |
| Largest
City |
Denver |
| Governor
(2004) |
Bill
Owens |
| Official
Languages |
|
Area
- Total
- Land
- Water
- % water |
Ranked
8th
269,837 km²
268,879 km²
962 km²
0.36% |
Population
- Total (2000)
- Density |
Ranked
24th
4,301,261
16/km² |
Admittance
into Union
- Order
- Date |
38th
August 1, 1876 |
| Time
zone |
Mountain:
UTC-7/-6 |
Latitude
Longitude |
37°N
to 41°N
102°W to 109°W |
Width
Length
Elevation
- Highest
- Mean
- Lowest |
451
km
612 km
4,399 m
2,073 m
1,021 m |
| ISO
3166-2 |
US-CO |
History
The Colorado Gold
Rush of 1859 brought large numbers of settlers to the Denver
area. Gold in paying quantities was soon discovered in the Central
City area. By 1860 the population of Central
City was 60,000. Like all resource extraction, mining is a boom
or bust situation and over the years many small towns were established
then abandoned when the paying ore ran out or the market collapsed.
Some like Aspen,
Telluride,
and Cripple
Creek have found new life as ski resorts, cultural centers, or gambling
towns; others never recovered and became ghost towns.
- Colorado Territory
was organized as a United States territory on February 28, 1861.
- Attained statehood:
1876
- Colorado women
were granted the right to vote starting on November 7, 1893.
Law and Government
Like the majority
of the states, Colorado's current constitution provides for 3 branches
of government: the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The
legislative body is the General Assembly made up of two houses, the
House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives
has 65 members and the Senate has 35. The governor, currently Bill Owens
(Republican), heads the executive branch.
Geography
East of the Front
Range of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains, the section
of the Great Plains within Colorado
at elevations ranging from 3500 to 7000 ft (1,000 to 2,000 m). Kansas
and Nebraska border Colorado
to the east. The plains are sparsely settled with most settlements along
the South Platte and the Arkansas rivers and the I-70 corridor. Rainfall
is meager, averaging about 15 in/year (380 mm/year). There is some irrigated
farming, but much of the land is used for dryland farming or ranching.
Winter wheat is a typical crop and most small towns in the region boast
both a water tower and a grain elevator.
The major cities
and towns lie just east of the Front Range, in the I-25 corridor. The
majority of the population of Colorado
lives in this densely urbanized strip. Snowpack accumulation at 14,255
ft. on Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.
To the west lies
the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains with notable peaks such as Long's
Peak, Mount Evans, Pike's Peak, and the Spanish Peaks near Walsenburg
in the south. This area drains to the east, is forested, and is partially
urbanized. With urbanization, utilization of the forest for timbering
and grazing was retarded which resulted in accumulation of fuel. During
the drought of 2002 devastating forest fires swept this area.
To the west of the
Front Range lies the continental divide. To the west of the continental
divide is the Western Slope. Water west of the continental divide drains
into the Pacific Ocean via the Colorado River.
Within the interior
of the Rocky Mountains there are several large parks or broad high basins.
In the north, on the east side of the continental divide is North Park.
North Park is drained by the North Platte River which flows north into
Wyoming. Just south, but
on the west side of the continental divide is Middle Park, drained by
the Colorado River. South Park is the headwaters of the South Platte
River. To the South lies the San Luis Valley the headwaters of the Rio
Grande which drains into New
Mexico. Across the Sangre de Christo Range to the east of the San
Luis Valley lies the Wet Mountain Valley. These basins, particularly
the San Luis Valley, lie along the Rio Grande Rift, a major geological
formation, and its branches.
The Rocky Mountains
within Colorado contain
52 peaks over 14,000 ft (4,270 m), known as fourteeners. The mountains
are timbered with conifers and aspen to the tree-line, at an elevation
of about 12,000 ft (4,000 m) in southern Colorado
to about 10,500 ft (3,200 m) in northern Colorado;
above this only alpine vegetation grows. The Rockies are snow-covered
only in the winter; most snow melts by mid August with the exception
of a few small glaciers. The Colorado Mineral Belt stretching from the
San Juan Mountains in the southwest to Boulder
and Central
City on the front range contains the historic gold and silver mining
districts of Colorado.
The Western Slope
is generally drained by the Colorado River and its tributaries. Notable
to the South are the San Juan Mountains an extremely rugged mountain
range and to the west of the San Juans, The Colorado Plateau a high
desert bordering Southern Utah.
Grand Junction
is the largest city on the Western Slope. Grand
Junction is served by Interstate Hiway I-70. To the southeast of
Grand Junction
is Grand Mesa, a large flat-topped mountain. Further east lie the ski
resorts of Aspen,
Vail, Crested
Butte, and Steamboat
Springs. The northwestern corner of Colorado
bordering Northern Utah
and Western Wyoming is mostly
sparsely populated rangeland.
From west to east,
the state consists of desert-like basins, turning into plateaus, then
alpine mountains, and then grasslands. Mount Elbert is the highest peak
in the Rocky Mountains within the continental United
States. The famous Pike's Peak is just west of Colorado
Springs. Its lone peak is visible from near the Kansas
border on clear days.
Colorado Tourism and Recreation
National parks
- Black Canyon
of the Gunnison National Park
- Mesa Verde National
Park
- Rocky Mountain
National Park
National monuments
- Colorado National
Monument
- Dinosaur National
Monument
- Florissant Fossil
Beds National Monument
- Great Sand Dunes
National Monument
- Wilderness Area
Hovenweep National Monument
National recreational areas
- Arapaho National
Recreational Area
- Curecanti National
Recreational Area
National forests
- Arapaho National
Forest
- Grand Mesa National
Forest
- Gunnison National
Forest
- Pike National
Forest
- Rio Grande National
Forest
- Roosevelt National
Forest
- Routt National
Forest
- San Isabel National
Forest
- San Juan National
Forest
- Uncompahgre National
Forest
- White River National
Forest
National grasslands
- Comanche National
Grassland
- Pawnee National
Grassland
Wilderness areas
- Flat Top Wilderness
Area
- Great Sand Dunes
National Monument and Wilderness Area
- Hunter-Fryingpan
Wilderness Area
- La Garita Wilderness
Area
- Maroon Bells
Snowmass Wilderness Area
- Mount Zirkel
Wilderness Area
- Rawah Wilderness
Area
- Sangre de Cristo
Wilderness Area
- Weminuche Wilderness
Area
- West Elk Wilderness
Area
Economy
The state's economy
broadened when irrigated agriculture developed, and by the late 19th
century livestock raising had become important. Early industry was based
on the processing of minerals and agricultural products. Current agricultural
products are cattle, wheat, dairy products, corn, and hay.
In the second half
of the 20th century the industrial and service sectors have expanded
greatly. The state's economy is diversified and is notable for its concentration
of scientific research and high-technology industries. Other industries
include food processing, transportation equipment, machinery, chemical
products, minerals such as gold and tourism. Denver
is an important financial center.
The total state
product in 1999 was $153 billion putting Colorado
the 21st. Per capital personal income in 2000 was $32,949.
Demographics
Race alone or in
combination with one or more other races:
| White |
3,665,638 |
85.2% |
| Black or African
American |
190,717 |
4.4% |
| American Indian
and Alaska Native |
79,689 |
1.9% |
| Asian |
120,779 |
2.8% |
| Native Hawaiian
and Other Pacific Islander |
10,153 |
0.2% |
| Some other
race |
364,846 |
8.5% |
In combination
with one or more of the other races listed. The six numbers may add
to more than the total population and the six percentages may add to
more than 100 percent because individuals may report more than one race.
Important cities and towns
Each city named
in bold has a population greater than 100,000.
|
|
|
Towns with
a population less than 10,000
|
Colleges and Universities
- Adams State
College
- Colorado
Christian University
- Colorado
College
- Colorado
School of Mines
- Colorado
State University
- Colorado
Technical University
- Fort Lewis
College
- Jones International
University
- Mesa State
College
- Metropolitan
State College of Denver
- Naropa
Institute
- National
Technological University
- Nazarene
Bible College
|
- Regis University
- Rocky Mountain
College of Art and Design
- United
States Air Force Academy
- University
of Colorado System
- University
of Colorado at Boulder
- University
of Colorado at Colorado Springs
- University
of Colorado at Denver
- University
of Colorado Health Sciences Center
- University
of Denver
- University
of Northern Colorado
- University
of Southern Colorado
- Western
State College
|
Professional sports teams
- Denver Broncos,
National Football League
- Denver Nuggets,
National Basketball Association
- Colorado Rockies,
Major League Baseball
- Colorado Avalanche,
National Hockey League
- Colorado Rapids,
Major League Soccer
- Colorado Springs
Sky Sox, Minor league baseball
Miscellaneous Informaiton
Unlike most high
school athletic letter clubs, the varsity athletes of some of the high
schools are awarded a "C" for Colorado,
and they belong to the "C Club" of their high school, when they letter
in a sport, rather than the initial of the school. This is not the case
at most high schools. At Thompson Valley High School in Loveland,
Colorado, letters are awarded with the school initials "TV", and
in the school colors--black and gold.
Major highways
- Interstate 25
- Interstate 70
- Interstate 76
- U.S. Highway
6
- U.S. Highway
36
- U.S. Highway
50
- U.S. Highway
85
- U.S. Highway
87
Further reading
- Explore Colorado,
A Naturalist's Handbook, The Denver Museum of Natural History
and Westcliff Publishers, 1995, ISBN 1-56579-124-X for an excellent
guide to the ecological regions of Colorado.
- The Archeology
of Colorado, Revised Edition, E. Steve Cassells, Johnson Books,
Boulder, Colorado, 1997, trade paperback, ISBN 1-55566-193-9.
- Chokecherry
Places, Essays from the High Plains, Merrill Gilfillan, Johnson
Press, Boulder, Colorado, trade paperback, ISBN 1-55566-227-7.
- The Tie That
Binds, Kent Haruf, 1984, hardcover, ISBN 0030719798, a fictional
account of farming in Colorado.
- Railroads
of Colorado: Your Guide to Colorado's Historic Trains and Railway
Sites, Claude Wiatrowski, Voyageur Press, 2002, hardcover, 160
pages, ISBN 0-89658-591-3
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