COLORADO HISTORY

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COLORADO HISTORY

• COLORADO IN PLACE AND TIME PART I
• GEOGRAPHY

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COLORADO AT GEOGRAPHICAL CENTER OF THE UNITED
STATES
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COLORADOS BORDERS

• Create
• nearly perfect rectangle
• Enclose
• 104, 247 square miles
• Follow
• no river or stream
• no natural feature
• Are BOUNDARIES OF CONVENIENCE

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COLORADOS BORDERS

• Enclose 3 Historic Regions in the US
• The East/Midwest
• Tied through the Platte and Arkansas Rivers
• The South
• Tied through the Rio Grande
• The West
• Tied through the Colorado River the principal
  river of the Southwest

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COLORADOS BORDERS

• ENCLOSE THREE MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS
• ?NATIVE AMERICAN
• ? HISPANIC
• ? ANGLO EUROPEAN

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COLORADOS BORDERS

• ENCLOSE THREE MAJOR PHYSICAL REGIONS
• PLAINS High plains and the Piedmont
• MOUNTAINS
• PLATEAUS

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P L A T E A U S
MTNS
PLAINS
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COLORADOS PLAINS Carved and contoured into
3 landforms HIGH PLAINS prairie lands
stretching from Wyoming to Oklahoma. PIEDMONT
river valleys of Arkansas and Platte
Rivers VOLCANIC UPLANDS hills buttes of
south central Colorado
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HIGH PLAINS
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• SOUTH PLATTE RIVER
• ARKANSAS RIVER
• PURGATOIRE RIVER
• PALMER DIVIDE

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2
3
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COLORADOS HIGH PLAINS

• Area of shortgrass prairie
• ?Covered in buffalo grass
• and gramma grass
• Dotted by the
• occasional butte

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COLORADOS HIGH PLAINS
The Colorado Piedmont The area that parallels
the Platte and Arkansas Rivers.
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COLORADOS HIGH PLAINS

• The Raton Region
• Area of volcanic activity that borders northern
  New Mexico in south-central Colorado.
• Hills and buttes interrupt the topography here.

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COLORADOS HIGH PLAINS

• Although the furthest east of all physical
  regions, the plains were the last areas in
  Colorado to be settled
• Still reflect the character of the 19th century
• Country of open spaces and long vistas
• Country of endless wheat fields and corn fields
• Kept alive through irrigation

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• These are the most prominent and well-known
  feature of our state.
• Colorados Rocky Mountains are part of a great
  chain that stretches from Northern Canada into
  the Southwestern United States.
• In the United States, the Rocky Mountains reach
  their greatest height in Colorado.

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• The Colorado Rockies are known as the Roof of
  America.
• There are 56 named summits over 14,000 feet in
  elevation. (80 of all peaks over 14,000 in the
  US.)
• The mean elevation in Colorado is 6,800 feet
  above sea level

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• Mountains have been the major attraction for
  European visitors to the state.
• The first were the Fur Trappers
• Then came the Gold Seekers
• Then came the tourists

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• The mountains are important to the entire state
• Gather the snow that
• Draws the tourists
• Begins the rivers
• Feeds the irrigation on the plains

However there is a second side to snow Snows
can be dangerous avalanches, blizzards Can be
too pretty with unexpected results
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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• The Mountain Zone
• Bisects the state North/South

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• Not comprised of a single chain or range
• Series of Ranges and cross spurs

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• The First is called the Front Range
• Runs from Wyoming to Pikes Peak as a system
• Continues as a spur (Sangre de Cristos and
  Culebras) into New Mexico.
• It contains some of Colorados most well-known
  mountain peaks

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• Longs Peak

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• Mount Evans

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• Pikes Peak

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• Blanca Peak

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• Spanish Peaks

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• Second Range just to the west of Front Range
• PARK RANGE
• Runs from the Wyoming border to the head of the
  Arkansas River (near Leadville)
• Rabbit Ears Pass is part of the Park Range

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• THIRD IN LINE SAWATCH RANGE
• Runs from near Leadville to the San Luis Valley
• Features some of the highest, most spectacular
  peaks in the state
• The Collegiate Peaks

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• SAWATCH RANGE
• Also the two highest peaks in the state
• Mt. Elbert (14,433)
• Mt. Massive (14,421)

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• FOURTH IN LINE ELK MOUNTAINS
• West of the Sawatch Range and SW of the Roaring
  Fork River.
• The Elk Mountains stretch from Glenwood Springs
  south to Gunnison and Montrose.

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• LAST ARE THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS
• Break the linear pattern of other ranges
• Created in volcanic activity 15 million years ago
• Principal mining area with sparse settlement
• Ouray, Silverton, Telluride and Creede are the
  towns

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS
• Contain some of the most precipitous peaks
• Known as Colorados Alps
• Mt. Sneffels
• Mt. Wilson

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• Separating the ranges are
• INTERMONTANE BASINS
• ? They are commonly called parks but are
  actually large, treeless expanses, high altitude
  deserts and grasslands.
• ? There are four of these basins in Colorado

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• The furthest north is called NORTH PARK
• Gives rise to the North Platte River
• Is the general area of Jackson County
• Walden is the principal town

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• Just south of North Park is MIDDLE PARK
• The coldest recorded temperatures have occurred
  here
• Grand Lake and Hot Sulphur Springs are here

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• SOUTH PARK is west of Colorado Springs
• Known as Bayou Salado until the 1830s
• Lies at 9100 feet above sea level
• South Platte River bisects South Park
• Fairplay is the principal town

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS

• The SAN LUIS VALLEY is the furthest south
• The average elevation here is 7500 feet
• It is 100 miles long and 70 miles across
• The Rio Grande bisects the San Luis Valley

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COLORADOS MOUNTAINS
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COLORADOS PLATEAUS

• Plateaus dominate the western one-quarter of
  Colorado
• The region is diverse
• Plateaus
• Mesas
• Canyonlands
• Floodplains

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COLORADOS PLATEAUS

• The largest is the Colorado Plateau
• It is part of Four States

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COLORADOS PLATEAUS

• Mesas
• Highlands capped with erosion resistant
  sedimentary rock
• Grand Mesa
• Mesa Verde

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COLORADOS PLATEAUS

• Canyon lands
• Most dramatic are along the Colorado River
• Glenwood Canyon
• Colorado National Monument

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COLORADOS PLATEAUS

• Floodplains
• Lower reaches of the Gunnison, Uncompahgre and
  Colorado Rivers
• Delta, Montrose, Grand Junction

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COLORADOS RIVERS
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COLORADOS RIVERS

• CHARACTERISTICS
• Rivers are not navigable in Colorado
• South Platte Too thick to drink, too thin to
  plow!
• Rivers have had a major effect on Colorado
• First land routes into the area
• Provide water for irrigation
• Location of cities and towns
• Especially at the intersections of rivers/streams
• Denver, Pueblo, Grand Junction, Delta, Greeley

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COLORADOS CLIMATE

• Colorado is an ARID STATE
• Average yearly precipitation 16.6 inches
• Wide variation from 7 inches to 60 inches
• Altitude is a major factor
• 5 times as much moisture at 14,000 feet as at
  5,000 feet
• Central Location Continentality
• Removed from the mediating effects of the ocean
• Great range in daily temperatures from day to
  night
• Thirty to Fifty degrees

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COLORADOS CLIMATE

• RAIN SHADOW EFFECT
• General flow of winds is from west to east
• Mountain ranges drain moisture from the air
• Colder air loses its ability to hold moisture
• Drop in temperature of 3 to 5 degrees for every
  1000 feet increase in elevation
• When air reaches the eastern slope it lacks
  moisture
• Rain shadow lack of rain for 30 120 miles
  east
• Air emerges as dry winds or chinooks

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COLORADOS CLIMATE
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COLORADOS CLIMATE

• Westerly winds

• Mountains ring moisture from air

• Rain shadow is result

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COLORADOS CLIMATE

• UPSLOPE OCCURS WHEN THE WINDS SHIFT AND COME FROM
  THE EAST

• SOURCE OF SOME OF THE MOST DEVASTATING STORMS
  IN COLORADOS HISTORY

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COLORADOS GEOGRAPHY

• The TOPOGRAPHICAL and CLIMATIC features of
  Colorado
• Create Special characteristics that ALL
  INHABITANTS have had to face ACROSS TIME
• The CHALLENGE OF CLIMATE AND TOPOGRAPHY forms one
  of the major themes in Colorado history.
• These themes emerge in the historiography of
  Colorado.