Colorado (CO).

• Region: Rocky Mountains
• Population: 5,839,926 (ranked 21st) (2022 estimate)
• Capital: Denver (pop. 713,252) (2022 estimate)
• Largest city: Denver (pop. 713,252) (2022 estimate)
• Number of counties: 64
• State nickname: Centennial State
• State motto: Nil sine numine (Nothing without providence)
• State flag: Blue and white stripes with red letter C and yellow disk in center

Colorado is located in the western United States where the high plains meet the Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountains are one of the state's most famous attractions and the area's dominant landform. Unlike most of the other states, Colorado's borders are all artificially determined, rather than following the course of a river or other geographic feature. Rectangular in shape, the state is bordered by New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Colorado was admitted to the Union as the thirty-eighth state on August 1, 1876, earning it the nickname “Centennial State.”

State Name: The name Colorado comes from the Spanish word colorado, meaning "colored red." It refers to the soil of the region that imparts a reddish tint to both the landscape and the waters of the Colorado River. Colorado's nickname is the Centennial State because it achieved statehood in 1876, the nation's centennial year.

Capital:Denver is Colorado's capital and largest city. Located in the north central part of the state on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, Denver's elevation has earned it the nickname the "Mile High City." The city was founded during the gold rush in 1858, when the region was a part of Kansas Territory; it was named for territorial governor James W. Denver. The city has been the capital of Colorado since 1867, before which time both Colorado City and Golden served as territorial capitals.

Flag: Adopted in 1911, the Colorado state flag features two blue stripes separated by a white stripe of equal width. The blue bands signify Colorado's blue sky and the white band its mountain snows. A red C stands for Colorado, and the interior of the C is filled with a golden circle, symbolizing both the state's gold production and its abundant sunshine. The red and blue are the same shades found on the national flag.

The state seal, adopted in 1877, depicts the all-seeing "eye of God" in a triangle, a mountain, and a hammer and pick signifying the state's mining industry. Nil sine Numine (Nothing without Providence), the state's motto, also appears on the seal.

Official Symbols

• Flower: Columbine
• Bird: Lark bunting
• Tree: Colorado blue spruce
• Animal: Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep
• Fish: Greenback cutthroat trout
• Song: "Where the Columbines Grow" by A. J. Fynn

State and National Historic Sites

• Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site (La Junta)
• California National Historic Trail
• Georgetown Loop Historic Mining and Railroad Park (Georgetown)
• Pony Express National Historic Trail
• Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site (Kiowa County)

State-Specific Holidays

• Colorado Day, first Monday in August

DEMOGRAPHICS

• Population: 5,839,926 (ranked 21st) (2022 estimate)
• Population density: 55.7/sq mi (2020 estimate)
• Urban population: 86.0% (2020 estimate)
• Rural population: 14.0% (2020 estimate)
• Population under 18: 210.8.4% (2022 estimate)
• Population over 65: 15.7% (2022 estimate)
• White alone: 86.2% (2022 estimate)
• Black or African American alone: 4.7% (2022 estimate)
• Hispanic or Latino: 22.5% (2022 estimate)
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone: 1.7% (2021 estimate)
• Asian alone: 3.8% (2022 estimate)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 0.2% (2022 estimate)
• Two or More Races: 3.4% (2022 estimate)
• Per capita income: $42,807 (ranked 9th; 2021 estimate)
• Unemployment: 3.0% (2022 annual average)

American Indians: American Indian settlement in Colorado extends back to the prehistoric cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde. When US explorers arrived in Colorado, they encountered numerous tribes. The Arapaho and Cheyenne lived on the plains in much of the eastern part of the state north of the Arkansas River. The Comanche and Kiowa hunted the plains in the southeastern region. The Pawnee and Sioux also hunted buffalo on Colorado's high plains. People of the Ute tribes lived in the mountain areas. Colorado is home to the Utes of three tribal groups: Ute Mountain, Northern Ute, and Southern Ute.

ENVIRONMENT AND GEOGRAPHY

• Total area: 104,094 sq mi (ranked 8th)
• Land area: 103,642 sq mi (99.6% of total area)
• Water area: 452 sq mi (0.4% of total area)
• National parks: 13
• Highest point: Mount Elbert (14,433 feet)
• Lowest point: Arikaree River (3,315 feet)
• Highest temperature: 115° F (John Martin Dam, July 20, 2019)
• Lowest temperature: -61° F (Maybell, February 1, 1985)

Topography: The topography of Colorado consists of three main areas: the High Plains in the east, the Rocky Mountains running north-south through the central part of the state, and the Colorado Plateau in the west. Several ranges comprise the mountain chain known as the Rockies; these ranges run in two roughly parallel bands. The Front Range and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains make up the eastern belt, and the Park Range, Sawatch Mountains, and San Juan Mountains collectively make up the western band. Among these mountains are fifty-three of the eighty North American peaks that rise to an altitude of fourteen thousand feet or more. High valleys called parks lie between the ranges.

Numerous rivers have their source in the Rocky Mountains and flow either east or west from the Continental Divide, which runs through the spine of Colorado. Some, like the South Platte, flow down across the plains, and others, like the Colorado and Gunnison, flow west, cutting deep canyons in the landscape of the Colorado Plateau region.

Major Lakes

• Antero Reservoir (Artificial)
• Blue Mesa Reservoir (Artificial)
• Grand Lake
• John Martin Reservoir (Artificial)
• Lake Granby (Artificial)
• Steamboat Lake (Artificial)
• Summit Lake

Major Rivers

• Arkansas River
• Colorado River
• Dolores River
• Gunnison River
• North Platte River
• Republican River
• Rio Grande
• San Juan River
• South Platte River
• Uncompahgre River

State and National Parks: Colorado's national and state parks, monuments, and recreation areas showcase the incredible landscapes of the region, from deep canyons and towering mountains to expansive, shifting sand dunes. The parks also protect fossils of prehistoric plant and animal life and the remains of ancient civilizations. Favorite parks include Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (Montrose), Colorado National Monument (Fruita), Curecanti National Recreation Area (Gunnison), Dinosaur National Monument (Dinosaur), Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument (Florissant), Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (Mosca), Mesa Verde National Park (Cortez/Mancos), and Rocky Mountain National Park (Estes Park/Grand Lake).

Natural Resources: Colorado is rich in mineral resources. Metallic minerals mined in the state include copper, gold, iron, molybdenum, and silver. Nonmetallic minerals include aggregate, gypsum, limestone, and perlite. Important fuel minerals include coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium as well as vast deposits of oil shale.

The fertile soils of the plains and the mountain valleys are also a valuable resource. Utilizing the rich ground for agriculture depends heavily on distributing another important resource: water. Dams, reservoirs, and tunnels through the mountains have been constructed to facilitate the distribution of water to agricultural areas so that it can be used for irrigation.

Plants and Animals: The diversity of habitats in Colorado provides homes for a wide variety of plant and animal life. Forests cover about one-third of the state's landscape. Fir and spruce grow at the higher elevations, with aspen and Douglas fir also in mountain regions. Other common trees include maple, Ponderosa and pinon pine, and cottonwood. Arid regions host cacti, yucca, sagebrush, and greasewood. The grasslands of the plains are comprised mainly of buffalo and grama grass. All regions feature a variety of wildflowers. In the spring, buttercup, sand lily, wild geranium, and yarrow all bloom, followed in summer by columbine, daisy, dogtooth violet, Indian paintbrush, mountain lily, wild iris, and wild rose.

Wildlife also abounds in Colorado. Large mammals include black bear, bighorn sheep, bobcat, cougar, deer, elk, mountain goat, muledeer, and pronghorn. Badger, beaver, fox, marmot, marten, rabbits, and skunks can also be found throughout the state.

Bird life is plentiful and varied. Colorado's raptors include eagle, falcon, and hawk species. Game birds include grouse, pheasant, and quail. Whooping cranes and bald eagles pass through Colorado's skies during their yearly migrations. The numerous waterways host fish such as bass, catfish, crappie, perch, and trout.

Climate: The variations in altitude across Colorado make for a wide range of climate conditions within the state. While climate change has resulted in an increase in the state's overall annual average temperature, average temperatures typically range from around 28 degrees Fahrenheit in winter to around 74 degrees in summer on the plains, while in the mountains the annual averages range between around 18 and 55 degrees. Average precipitation, though decreased annually to an extent by climate change, is about fifteen inches per year, but the western slopes of the Rockies get the most rain and snow, while the southeastern area of the state is the driest. In the past, mountain areas have gotten up to forty-two inches annually. These mountain regions typically experience heavy snow and blizzards between October and May.

The eastern slopes sometimes experience the effects of chinooks—warm, dry winds that blow in the winter—raising the air temperature by 20 degrees or more in a short span of time.

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Major Colleges and Universities

• Adams State University (Alamosa)
• Colorado College (Colorado Springs)
• Colorado Mesa University (Grand Junction)
• Colorado School of Mines (Golden)
• Colorado State University (Fort Collins)
• Fort Lewis College (Durango)
• Metropolitan State University of Denver (Denver)
• Naropa University (Boulder)
• Regis University (Denver)
• United States Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs)
• University of Colorado (Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver)
• University of Denver (Denver)
• University of Northern Colorado (Greeley)
• Western Colorado University (Gunnison)

Major Museums

• Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (Colorado Springs)
• Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum (Colorado Springs)
• Denver Art Museum (Denver)
• Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Denver)
• El Pueblo History Museum (El Pueblo)
• Fort Garland Museum (Fort Garland)
• History Colorado Center (Denver)
• Ute Indian Museum (Montrose)

Major Libraries

• Colorado State Library (Denver)
• Colorado Talking Book Library (Denver)
• Denver Art Museum Library (Denver)
• Denver Public Library (Denver)
• Stephen H. Hart Library, History Colorado Center (Denver)
• University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries (Boulder)

Media

A large number of newspapers are published in Colorado, including several daily papers. Prominent newspapers include the Denver Post, the Gazette (Colorado Springs), and the Pueblo Chieftain. In addition, more than three hundred other periodicals are published in the state. Colorado is served by around twenty-five commercial television stations.

ECONOMY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

• Gross domestic product (in millions $USD): 484,371.5 (ranked 15th) (2022 estimate)
• GDP percent change: 3.2%

Major Industries: Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing represented 20.0 percent of the state’s GDP in 2022; business and professional services represented 15.8 percent; government represented 11.6 percent; education services, health care, and social assistance represented 8.4 percent; and information represented about 5.5 percent. All other industries contributed to about 39.7 percent of the state’s GDP.

Manufacturing is a major industry in Colorado, contributing $28.88 billion in annual economic output in 2021. Major employers in the state in the manufacturing industry produce computer and electronics; food, beverage, and tobacco; chemicals; durable goods; aerospace and other transportation equipment; and processed metal producers. Forbes magazine ranked Denver fourth on its 2019 list of the best places in the country for business and careers.

Mining has long been an important component of Colorado's economy. The chief products are fuel minerals such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas.

Tourism: Though travel restrictions and lockdowns revolving around the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic declared in 2020 temporarily hampered tourism revenue, the tourism industry in Colorado has been thriving. In 2022, Colorado attracted 90 million visitors who spent approximately $26.1 billion in the state. The Denver and the Rocky Mountains are favorite tourist destinations. The Rockies, with its many ski areas and resorts, is popular with outdoor enthusiasts and winter sports aficionados.

Energy Production: Colorado was one of the top ten total energy producing states in the US in 2022, ranking fifth in crude oil production and eighth in both natural gas production and reserves. That same year, despite being a top energy producer, the state's total energy consumption per capita ranked among the lowest third of states. Colorado's renewable electricity generation has increased since 2010, and by 2022, accounted for 37 percent of the state's total electricity generation, with wind power generating nearly 80 percent of it.

Agriculture: According to the US Department of Agriculture, approximately 31.8 million acres of the state’s land was devoted to farm operations in 2022. With cattle and calves representing the top-selling farm product, a greater number of farms in the state were devoted to livestock and poultry, but a significant percentage were also dedicated to crops. Livestock commonly raised in Colorado includes cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats.

Grain crops are an important product, especially in northeastern Colorado. Hay is grown throughout the state. Other valuable cash crops include corn, potatoes, wheat, and millet.

Airports: There are dozens of regional and municipal airports located around the state of Colorado, the largest being Denver International Airport. The city is an air hub for the surrounding states, with many travelers to the West Coast changing planes in Denver. The City of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport is the second largest in the state in terms of the number of enplanements.

GOVERNMENT

• Governor: Jared Polis (Democrat)
• Present constitution date: 1876
• Electoral votes: 10
• Number of counties: 64
• Violent crime rate: 423.1 (per 100,000 residents)
• Death penalty: No (abolished 2020)

Constitution: The state constitution was adopted in 1876, the same year Colorado achieved statehood. There have been more than 150 amendments to the original document. Amendments may be proposed by the legislature, the electorate, or by constitutional conventions and must be approved by popular vote.

Branches of Government

Executive: The governor serves as the state's chief executive officer. Both the governor and lieutenant governor are elected every four years. An individual may serve no more than two consecutive terms. The governor, with the senate's approval, appoints the heads of the state's twenty main operating departments except for those headed by the secretary of state, attorney general, and state treasurer. All are elected by popular vote to four-year terms.

Legislative: The state legislature, called the General Assembly, is made up of a thirty-five-member senate and a sixty-five-member house of representatives. Senators serve four-year terms and representatives serve two-year terms; neither may serve more than eight consecutive years.

Judicial: The Colorado Supreme Court is the highest court in the state. It is comprised of seven justices who are appointed by the governor from a list of nominees chosen by a commission of private citizens. After a two-year term, voters approve each justice's retention on the court for another ten-year term. The justices select a chief justice from among their ranks. In addition to the Colorado Supreme Court, the state's judicial system is made up of a court of appeals, district courts, county courts, and municipal courts.

HISTORY

ca. 1300Ancient Pueblos, whose civilization had flourished for over one thousand years, abandon their settlements in the Mesa Verde region. The cause for their departure is not certain but may have been due to a major drought or aggression from nomadic tribes.

ca. 1500 Ute Indians immigrate to southern Rocky Mountain regions.

1541 Spaniard Francisco Vásquez de Coronado probably travels through southern Colorado as he explores the Southwest in search of gold and the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola.

1601 Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate's expedition treks through present-day southeastern Colorado.

1682 Explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claims the region of Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains for his native France.

1706 Spanish Captain Juan de Ulibarri claims southeastern Colorado for Spain.

1765 A Spanish expedition led by Juan Maria Rivera seeks gold and silver in the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

1776 Spanish missionaries dub the western Colorado region Mesa Verde while seeking a route from Santa Fe to California.

1803 The United States acquires the area of eastern Colorado as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

1806 Lieutenant Zebulon Pike leads a small band of US soldiers through the southwestern reaches of the Louisiana Purchase. He finds but fails to scale Pike's Peak (later named for him). The following year, Pike crosses the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and constructs Pike's stockade in the San Luis Valley.

1820 Major Stephen H. Long leads a party of explorers up the South Platte River. Long's Peak is later named for him. Dr. Edwin James, the expedition's historian, leads the first recorded ascent of Pike's Peak.

1832 The Bent brothers and Ceran St. Vrain open the trading post called Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River.

1842–53 Lieutenant John C. Fremont makes five exploratory expeditions into the Rocky Mountains.

1848 In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war with Mexico, the United States gains most of present-day Colorado that was not part of the Louisiana Purchase.

1850 Modern-day boundaries of Colorado are established when the US government purchases lands in the southeastern region claimed by Texas.

1851 Conejos, in the San Luis Valley, becomes the first permanent non-Indian settlement in Colorado. Fort Massachusetts is also established in the valley.

1858 Gold is discovered along Cherry Creek, near its meeting point with the South Platte River, setting off the region's first gold rush. Other strikes follow over the next two years, bringing waves of prospectors to the area.

1859 The state's first school opens at Auraria.

1861 Congress creates Colorado Territory. William Gilpin is appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as the first territorial governor. Colorado City is the first territorial capital, but a year later the territorial legislature chooses Golden as the new capital.

1863 Denver is linked to the East by telegraph line.

1864 Cheyenne and Arapaho men, women, and children are killed by US troops at the Sand Creek Massacre.

1867 Denver becomes the new territorial capital.

1868 Colorado's first smelter begins operation in Blackhawk.

1870 The Denver and Pacific Railroad connects Denver with the Union Pacific at Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the Kansas Pacific Railroad enters Colorado from the east.

1876 Colorado becomes the thirty-eighth State on August 1, in the United States' centennial year. John L. Routt is elected as first state governor.

1878 Denver's first telephones are installed.

1879 US government agent Nathan C. Meeker and other White officials are killed during a Ute uprising at White River.

1881 Colorado's Ute tribes are removed to reservations.

1883 Denver turns on its first electric lights.

1886 Denver Union Stockyards open.

1893 Numerous mines close around the state after the repeal of the Sherman Silver Act and the economic panic of 1893.

1894 Colorado becomes the second state (after Wyoming) to approve women's suffrage.

1899 The state's first beet-sugar plant opens in Grand Junction.

1903 Denver Juvenile Court begins operation as the first juvenile court in the United States; strikes of mine, mill, and smelter workers disrupt camps around the state. Demands for higher wages and better working conditions are unsuccessful.

1905 As the result of a political scandal, Colorado has three governors in one day. Accused of election fraud, Alva Adams is forced out two months after his election. The General Assembly, charged with deciding contested seats, selects Republican James H. Peabody to take his place, but he resigns the same day. Finally Jesse F. McDonald, Adam's lieutenant governor, takes office.

1906 The United States Mint in Denver issues its first coins.

1913 Transportation around the state is crippled for weeks after the "Big Snow" drops up to five feet of snow on Colorado.

1914 A coal miners' strike in southern Colorado culminates in the Battle of Ludlow between strikers and state militia forces; twenty men, women, and children are killed when troops fire upon and attempt to burn out the strikers.

1915 Congress establishes Rocky Mountain National Park; an automobile toll road to the top of Pike’s Peak opens.

1917 William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody dies and is interred on Lookout Mountain, near Denver.

1918 A branch of the Federal Reserve bank is opened in Denver.

1920 Editorials in the Denver Post critical of striking employees of the Denver Tramway Company provoke strikers to raid the newspaper offices, resulting in significant property damage.

1921 A major flood in Pueblo causes over one hundred deaths and $20 million in property damage.

1922 KLZ is the first commercial radio station to begin broadcasting in Colorado; in Denver, $200,000 is stolen from the Federal Reserve bank when a bank truck is held up in broad daylight leaving the US Mint. The robbers are never apprehended.

1923 Oil is discovered north of Fort Collins.

1924 The Ku Klux Klan gains control of the state's Republican Party, resulting in the election of many pro-Klan candidates, including Governor Clarence Morley. The Klan also gains a majority in both houses of the General Assembly, a US Senate seat, a Colorado Supreme Court judgeship, and seven positions on the Denver District Court.

1932–37 A long drought and strong winds cause major soil erosion in southeastern Colorado. This phenomenon becomes known as the Dust Bowl and creates major problems through much of the central West during the Depression years.

1942 After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the federal government sets up internment camps for Japanese Americans, including the Granada Relocation Center in Amache. In August and September over seven thousand Japanese-Americans from California are removed from their homes and relocated to the Amache camp.

1958 United States Air Force Academy opens near Colorado Springs. The academy's first class graduates in June 1959.

1962–65 Poisonous waste material disposed of in deep wells at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal near Denver cause earthquakes and tremors in the area.

1967 Colorado liberalizes abortion laws, allowing the procedure in cases of rape, incest, or threat to the mother's health. It is the first state to do so.

1972 Concerned about the cost and the environmental impact the event would have on the state, Colorado voters choose not to approve public funding for the 1976 Winter Olympics, and Denver turns down the opportunity to act as the host city.

1973 The Dwight Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel is constructed. Located between Summit and Clear Creek counties west of Denver, the tunnel bores through the mountains at an elevation of eleven thousand feet, making it the highest road tunnel in the world at the time.

1974 Busing is introduced to desegregate Denver public schools.

1976 Over 145 people are killed in a flood in Big Thompson Canyon after a cloudburst.

1988 Three workers are exposed to radiation at the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant, resulting in the plant's closing.

1999 Twelve students and a teacher are killed by two fellow students who then kill themselves in a massacre at Columbine High School in the Denver suburb of Littleton.

2006 Businessman Kenneth Lay, the infamous CEO of the defunct Enron Corporation, dies of a heart attack while awaiting sentencing and vacationing in Snowmass. Lay and his company became synonymous with corporate accounting fraud in the United States following its 2001 collapse.

2012 On July 20 twelve people are killed and seventy injured when a gunman attacks a movie theater in Aurora, California. The suspect, James Holmes, had been a graduate student in neuroscience at the University of Colorado until dropping out the month before the attack.

2014 On January 1, Colorado becomes the first state in the country to legalize the recreational use of marijuana and the first place in the world where cannabis is regulated from seed to sale. More than 55 percent of Coloradans had voted to amend the state constitution to legalize recreational marijuana in November 2012.

2018 Colorado elects the first openly gay governor of a US state when Democrat Jared Polis, a ten-year congressman, wins that year's gubernatorial election.

2019 On July 20, 2019, Colorado sets a new record high temperature of 115 degrees Fahrenheit at John Martin Dam. The state's previous record of 114 degrees was set on July 1, 1933, at Las Animas.

2020 In March, Colorado abolishes the state's death penalty. Governor Jared S. Polis signs the repeal into law and commutes the sentences of three inmates on death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

2021 Another high-profile mass shooting occurs in the state at a Boulder supermarket, leaving ten people dead.

2022 Governor Polis wins re-election.

FAMOUS PEOPLE

Tim Allen, 1953– (Denver) , Actor, comedian.

India Arie, 1975– (Denver) , Singer-songwriter.

Chauncey Billups, 1976– (Denver) , Basketball player, coach.

Ward Bond, 1905–60 (Denver) , Actor.

Spring Byington, 1893–1971 (Colorado Springs) , Actor.

M. Scott Carpenter, 1925–2013 (Boulder) , Astronaut.

Lon Chaney, 1883–1930 (Colorado Springs) , Actor.

William Harrison (Jack) Dempsey, 1895–1983 (Manassa) , Boxer.

Douglas Fairbanks, 1883–1939 (Denver) , Actor.

Eugene Fodor, 1950–2011 (Turkey Creek) , Violinist.

Laura Gilpin, 1891–1979 (Austin Bluffs) , Photographer.

Dave Grusin, 1934– (Littleton) , Composer, jazz musician.

Ruth (Mosko) Handler, 1916–2002 (Denver) , Toy maker, creator of the Barbie doll.

Hugh Harmon, 1903–82 (Pagosa Springs) , Animator, cartoonist.

Ken Kesey, 1935–2001 (La Junta) , Author.

Homer Lea, 1876–1912 (Denver) , Author, soldier.

Ted Mack, 1904–76 (Greeley) , Radio and television host.

Edwin Douglas McArthur, 1907–87 (Denver) , Conductor, composer.

Trey Parker, 1969– (Conifer) , Television and film writer, director.

Byron Raymond White, 1917–2002 (Fort Collins) , US Supreme Court justice.

Florence Rena Sabin, 1871–1953 (Central City, Colorado Territory) , Physician, research scientist

Gladys Bagg Tabor, 1899–1980 (Colorado Springs) , Author, poet, journalist.

Marjorie Tallchief, 1927–2021 (Denver) , Ballet dancer, ballet director.

(James) Dalton Trumbo, 1905–76 (Montrose) , Screenwriter, novelist.

Paul Whiteman 1890–1967 (Denver) , Jazz bandleader.

TRIVIA

• In Fruita, the town folk celebrate "Mike the Headless Chicken Day" every year in honor of a chicken that lived for eighteen months after having its head cut off in 1945.
• The city of Denver lays claim to the invention of the cheeseburger. The trademark for the name Cheeseburger was awarded in 1935 to Louis Ballast.
• Three-quarters of the land area in the US at an altitude over 10,000 feet is in Colorado.
• Denver's Colfax Avenue is the longest continuous commercial street in the United States.
• The view from Pike's Peak was the inspiration for Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote "America the Beautiful."
• Great Sand Dunes National Monument is home of the tallest sand dunes in the United States. The 700-foot dunes are the product of wind erosion and ocean waters that covered the region over a million years ago.
• The "Four Corners" is the only place in the United States where a person can stand in four states at the same time. The states are: Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.
• The largest silver nugget in North America was found in Aspen in 1894. It weighed 1,840 pounds and was 93 percent pure silver; it was the largest nugget of such purity in the world.

Bibliography

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"Colorado." Quick Facts, US Census Bureau, 1 July 2022, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/CO/PST045222. Accessed 11 Sept. 2023.

"Colorado: State Profile and Energy Estimates; Analysis." U.S. Energy Information Administration, 21 Apr. 2022, www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=CO. Accessed 3 Oct. 2022.

"Colorado: 2020 Census." US Census Bureau, 25 Aug. 2021, www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/colorado-population-change-between-census-decade.html. Accessed 3 Oct. 2022.

"Economic Profile for Colorado." Bearfacts, US Bureau of Economic Analysis, 31 Mar. 2023, apps.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/. Accessed 11 Sept. 2023.

"Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Data Explorer." Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2022, crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/pages/home. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.

Lam, Linda. "Think It's Hot Now? Here Are the Hottest Temperatures Ever Recorded in All 50 States." The Weather Channel, 7July 2020, weather.com/news/climate/news/2020-07-07-hottest-temperature-records-united-states. Accessed 7 Aug. 2020.

Schulten, Susan. "The Civil War and the Origins of the Colorado Territory." Western Historical Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 1, 2013, pp. 21–46. Academic Search Premier, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=86460260&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 26 Apr. 2013.

"Tourism Pays for Colorado." Visit Denver, 2023, www.denver.org/tourism-pays/tourism-pays-for-colorado/. Accessed 11 Sept. 2023.

"2022 State Agriculture Overview: Colorado." National Agricultural Statistics Service, US Dept. of Agriculture, 11 Sept. 2023, www.nass.usda.gov/Quick‗Stats/Ag‗Overview/stateOverview.php?state=COLORADO. Accessed 11 Sept. 2023.

"Unemployment Rates for States, 2022 Annual Averages." US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1 Mar. 2023, www.bls.gov/lau/lastrk22.htm. Accessed 11 Sept. 2023.

Vigdor, Neil. "Colorado Abolishes Death Penalty and Commutes Sentences of Death Row Inmates." The New York Times , 23 Mar. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/colorado-death-penalty-repeal.html. Accessed 7 Aug. 2020.

Vrtis, George. "Gold Rush Ecology: The Colorado Experience." Journal of the West, vol. 49, no. 2, 2010, pp. 23–31. Academic Search Premier, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=57716672&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 26 Apr. 2013.

Melissa Sherman