Traveling Tuesday: Colorado
“Denver is a beautiful city of some 75,000 inhabitants, built mostly of stone and brick. It contains the usual amount of fine buildings. One, in particular, we are lead (sic) to observe, and that Tabor’s Opera House, the largest in the world, excepting one in Paris, France. This building cost $850,000. The County Court House occupies an entire block, with buildings and ground. There are two large smelting works here.”
(Sue A. Sanders, California as I Saw It: First Person Narratives of California’s Early Years, 1849-1900)
The Tabor Opera House was constructed in just one hundred days in 1879 by mining magnate Horace Tabor. Located in Leadville, Colorado the man and his wife brought culture and arts to one of the rowdiest silver boomtowns.
Colorado came about as the result of three events: the purchase of the eastern part in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase, the western portion in 1848 through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and the purchase of a Texas claim in 1850. Settlers trickled in, but the Native Americans were the largest population, mostly made up of Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute peoples.
Then gold was discovered in 1858, and life changed. Reporter Horace Greeley announced the find in
the New York Tribune, and prospectors surged into the territory at the rate of 5,000 per week. The Natives were pushed further and further west, and as it became apparent there were millions of dollars to be had, companies arrived to make their fortune. On February 28, 1861, the Territory of Colorado was organized. Fifteen years later, it was admitted to the union as the State of Colorado.
The silver rush started in 1879, and once again miners poured into the area to find their fortune. Railroad lines began to crisscross the state bringing in even more travelers and settlers. Other minerals were discovered such as molybdenum and zinc which would later be used to help the WWII war effort. A picture taken in the late 1940s by Farm Security Administration photographer Russell Lee shows that the mountain streams continued to run yellow because of the tailings from the gold mills.
At over 100,000 square miles, Colorado is larger than England and Belgium as well as many other European countries. The terrain is mixed encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau, and the western edge of the Great Plains.
Colorado came about as the result of three events: the purchase of the eastern part in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase, the western portion in 1848 through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and the purchase of a Texas claim in 1850. Settlers trickled in, but the Native Americans were the largest population, mostly made up of Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute peoples.
Then gold was discovered in 1858, and life changed. Reporter Horace Greeley announced the find in
The silver rush started in 1879, and once again miners poured into the area to find their fortune. Railroad lines began to crisscross the state bringing in even more travelers and settlers. Other minerals were discovered such as molybdenum and zinc which would later be used to help the WWII war effort. A picture taken in the late 1940s by Farm Security Administration photographer Russell Lee shows that the mountain streams continued to run yellow because of the tailings from the gold mills.
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| Pixabay/BeverlyLussier |
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Gold Rush Bride Caroline (ON SALE!)
She thinks he’s high-handed and out for her gold. He thinks she’s difficult and money-hungry. Will they discover that love is the true treasure?
Scarred in a childhood accident, Caroline Vogel has yet to find a man willing to marry her, so she heads to the Pike’s Peak goldfields to pan enough ore to become a woman of means. When she and the handsome assistant trail boss hit it off, she begins to hope her future may not be spent alone. Then she catches wind of dark secrets from the man’s past, and she’s not sure what or who to believe.
Orphaned as a teenager, Oliver Llewellyn stole to survive, then used his skills for the army during the war. Nowadays, he applies his knowledge to catch dangerous thieves for the Pinkerton Agency, so guarding a young woman during a wagon train journey should be easy. But he didn’t count on the fact she’d angered a man bent on revenge. He also didn’t count on losing his heart.
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3bf3xZU
Gold Rush Bride Caroline (ON SALE!)
Scarred in a childhood accident, Caroline Vogel has yet to find a man willing to marry her, so she heads to the Pike’s Peak goldfields to pan enough ore to become a woman of means. When she and the handsome assistant trail boss hit it off, she begins to hope her future may not be spent alone. Then she catches wind of dark secrets from the man’s past, and she’s not sure what or who to believe.
Orphaned as a teenager, Oliver Llewellyn stole to survive, then used his skills for the army during the war. Nowadays, he applies his knowledge to catch dangerous thieves for the Pinkerton Agency, so guarding a young woman during a wagon train journey should be easy. But he didn’t count on the fact she’d angered a man bent on revenge. He also didn’t count on losing his heart.
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3bf3xZU
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