Colorado: The Highest State, Second Edition

Preface

ii PrefaCe Colorado’s history, like the state itself, has had many ups and downs. Booms and busts in farming and ranching, in mining and railroading, in water and oil have carried Colorado as high as the state’s peaks and as low as its canyons. Our state’s fascinating history is made up of interesting characters. Fathers Domínguez and Escalante—two Spanish priests—first explored, wrote about, and mapped much of Colorado. The Ute leader Ouray fought for peace and managed to keep some of his tribe in the state on two reservations . Clara Brown, a former enslaved African American, made enough money washing miners’ jeans to help her people build churches and become successful settlers. Elizabeth Iliff came to Colorado selling sewing machines and wound up running the state’s largest cattle ranch. Charles Boettcher, a German immigrant who stepped off the train with only a few cents in his pocket, worked tirelessly until he became Colorado’s richest tycoon. Josephine Roche, a pioneer policewoman, became a mine owner and ran for governor. Horace Tabor took millions out of his mines, only to lose his fortune later. Mayor Robert Speer transformed Colorado’s capital city from a dusty, drab, treeless town into a City Beautiful. His work was continued in more recent years by Mayors Federico Peña and Wellington Webb, who made Denver a big-league city with the nation’s largest state-of-the-art airport and a National League baseball team, the Colorado Rockies. While Colorado’s iii P r e f a C e high plains communities produced wheat and beef, mountain mining towns recycled themselves as ski resorts and summer playgrounds for all Americans. In each chapter of this book, you will find questions, activities, electronic sources, and suggested readings to help you learn more of Colorado’s story than we can present here. We hope you enjoy these pages. You will discover a high, dry state with rugged natural beauty and an awesome history. ...