1.
Colorado
–
Colorado is a state in the United States encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,540,545 on July 1,2016, the state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish travelers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy silt the river carried from the mountains. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28,1861, Colorado is nicknamed the Centennial State because it became a state in the same year as the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers. Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, residents of the state are properly known as Coloradans, although the term Coloradoan has been used archaically and lives on in the title of Fort Collins newspaper, the Coloradoan. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are the states which have boundaries defined solely by lines of latitude and longitude. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado, Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado and this point, which holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia. A little less than one half of the area of Colorado is flat, East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Nebraska at elevations ranging from roughly 3,350 to 7,500 feet. The Colorado plains were mostly prairies, but they have many patches of forests, buttes. Eastern Colorado is presently covered in farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages. Precipitation is fair, averaging from 15 to 25 inches annually, corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops, and most of the villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams, however, heavy use of ground water from wells for irrigation has caused underground water reserves to decline. As well as agriculture, eastern Colorado hosts considerable livestock, such as cattle ranches. Roughly 70% of Colorados population resides along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The Front Range includes Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and other townships, on the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in Western Colorado are the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, and Montrose
2.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
Continental Divide of the Americas
–
The Continental Divide of the Americas is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide of the Americas begins at Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, the Divide crosses into the United States in northwestern Montana, at the boundary between Waterton Lakes National Park and Glacier National Park. In Canada, it forms the boundary of Waterton Lakes National Park. The Divide crosses into Wyoming within Yellowstone National Park and continues southeast into Colorado where it reaches its highest point in North America at the summit of Grays Peak at 4,352 m. It crosses US Hwy 160 in southern Colorado at Wolf Creek Pass, the Divide then proceeds south into western New Mexico, passing along the western boundary of the endorheic Plains of San Agustin. Although the Divide represents the height of land between watersheds, it not always follow the highest ranges/peaks within each state or province. In Mexico, it passes through Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Querétaro, México, the Federal District, Morelos, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Chiapas. In Central America, it continues through southern Guatemala, southwestern Honduras, western Nicaragua, western/southwestern Costa Rica, the divide reaches its lowest point in Central America at the Isthmus of Rivas at 47 m in Nicaragua. In North America, another, mainly non-mountainous divide, the Laurentian Divide, secondary divides separate the watersheds that flow into the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River from watersheds that flow to the Atlantic via the Missouri-Mississippi complex. Another secondary divide follows the Appalachian chain, which separates those streams, Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park, Montana, is the point where two of the principal continental divides in North America converge, the Great Divide and the Northern or Laurentian Divide. From this point, waters flow to the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean via the Gulf of Mexico, most geographers, geologists, meteorologists, and oceanographers consider this point the hydrological apex of North America. This is not the place on earth where two oceanic divides meet, i. e. where waters from a single point area feed into three different oceans. This status of Triple Divide Peak is the reason behind the designation of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park as the Crown of the Continent of North America. Sources differ, however, on whether Hudson Bay is part of the Atlantic or Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bays waters flow predominantly to the Atlantic and do not directly contribute to the Arctic Ocean. Another triple divide or triple point occurs in Canada at an unimportant-looking hump on the border between Alberta and British Columbia, on the slope of Snow Dome. At 3,456 metres, the point is higher than Triple Divide Peak, the exact location of the triple point is somewhat indeterminate because the Columbia Icefield and the snow on top of it shift from year to year. The snow that falls on it doesnt really flow downhill as water, ice flowing away from that point down the Athabasca Glacier goes to the Arctic Ocean, via the Athabasca and Mackenzie Rivers. Ice flowing west goes to the Pacific Ocean via Bryce Creek, ice flowing down the Saskatchewan Glacier goes via the North Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, and Nelson Rivers into Hudson Bay
4.
Colorado River
–
The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers of the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The 1, 450-mile-long Colorado River drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U. S. starting in the central Rocky Mountains in the U. S. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora. Known for its dramatic canyons, whitewater rapids, and eleven U. S. National Parks, the Colorados large flow and steep gradient are used for generating hydroelectric power, and its major dams regulate peaking power demands in much of the Intermountain West. Intensive water consumption has dried up the lower 100 miles of the river, beginning with small bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers, Native Americans have inhabited the Colorado River basin for at least 8,000 years. Most native peoples that inhabit the basin today are descended from groups that settled in the region beginning about 1,000 years ago. Europeans first entered the Colorado Basin in the 16th century, when explorers from Spain began mapping and claiming the area, early contact between Europeans and Native Americans was generally limited to the fur trade in the headwaters and sporadic trade interactions along the lower river. After most of the Colorado River basin became part of the U. S. in 1846, several expeditions charted the Colorado in the mid-19th century – one of which, led by John Wesley Powell, was the first to run the rapids of the Grand Canyon. American explorers collected valuable information that would later be used to develop the river for navigation, lesser numbers settled in the upper basin, which was the scene of major gold strikes in the 1860s and 1870s. Large engineering works began around the start of the 20th century, with guidelines established in a series of international. The U. S. federal government was the driving force behind the construction of dams and aqueducts in the river system, although many state. Most of the dams in the river basin were built between 1910 and 1970, the system keystone, Hoover Dam, was completed in 1935. The Colorado is now considered among the most controlled and litigated rivers in the world, as demands for Colorado River water continue to rise, the level of human development and control of the river continues to generate controversy. The Colorado begins at La Poudre Pass in the Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado, after a short run south, the river turns west below Grand Lake, the largest natural lake in the state. As it flows southwest, it gains strength from many tributaries, as well as larger ones including the Blue, Eagle. In a few areas, such as the marshy Kawuneeche Valley near the headwaters, arcing northwest, the Colorado begins to cut across the eponymous Colorado Plateau, a vast area of high desert centered at the Four Corners of the southwestern United States. In Utah, the Colorado flows primarily through the slickrock country and this is one of the most inaccessible regions of the continental United States. Here, the San Juan River, carrying runoff from the slope of Colorados San Juan Mountains, joins the Colorado from the east. S
5.
Grand Junction, Colorado
–
The city of Grand Junction is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city has a form of government, and is the most populous municipality in all of western Colorado. Grand Junction is situated 247 miles west-southwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver, as of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 58,566. Grand Junction is the 15th most populous city in the state of Colorado, Grand Junction serves as a major commercial and transportation hub within the large area between the Green River and the Continental Divide. It is the city of the Grand Junction Metropolitan Statistical Area which had a population of 146,723 in 2010 census. The city is located along the Colorado River, at its confluence with the Gunnison River which comes in from the south, the name Grand refers to the historical Grand River, it was renamed as the Upper Colorado River in 1921. The word Junction refers to the confluence of the Colorado and Gunnison rivers, Grand Junction has been nicknamed River City. The city is located near the midpoint of a 30-mile arcing valley, known as the Grand Valley, historically the valley was long occupied by the Ute people and by earlier indigenous cultures. It was not settled by white European-American farmers until the 1880s, since the late 20th century, several wineries have been established in the area. The Colorado National Monument, a series of canyons and mesas. Most of the area is surrounded by public lands managed by the US Bureau of Land Management. The Book Cliffs are a prominent series of cliffs that define the northern side of the Grand Valley. Interstate 70 connects the city eastward to Glenwood Springs and Denver and westward to Green River, Utah, Salt Lake City is reached to the west via Interstate 70 and U. S Route 6, and Las Vegas. The Country Jam Ranch is located near Grand Junction just north of I-70 at the Mack exit and this is a permanent festival site built for music festivals, including Country Jam. This event has been held annually since 1992, drawing thousands of music fans to the area. Two prominent trails are the Tabeguache and Kokopelli trails, the running from near Loma to Moab. Fruita, Colorado, with its 18-Road trail system, is within 10 miles of the city and has become a mountain biking destination. To the northeast, the weathered Little Bookcliffs cut across the skyline, to the southeast soars the Grand Mesa, one of the worlds largest flat-topped mountains
6.
Great Basin
–
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America. The region spans several physiographic divisions, biomes/ecoregions, and deserts, the term Great Basin is applied to hydrographic, biological, floristic, physiographic, topographic, and ethnographic geographic areas. The name was coined by John C. Frémont, who, based on information gleaned from Joseph R. Walker as well as his own travels, the hydrographic definition is the most commonly used, and is the only one with a definitive border. The other definitions yield not only different geographical boundaries of Great Basin regions, the Great Basin physiographic section is a geographic division of the Basin and Range Province defined by Nevin Fenneman in 1931. The United States Geological Survey adapted Fennemans scheme in their Physiographic division of the United States, the section is somewhat larger than the hydrographic definition. The culture area covers approximately 400,000 sq mi, or just less than twice the area of the hydrographic Great Basin, the hydrographic Great Basin is a 209,162 square miles area that drains internally. All precipitation in the region evaporates, sinks underground or flows into lakes, as observed by Frémont, creeks, streams, or rivers find no outlet to either the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean. The region is bounded by the Wasatch Mountains to the east, the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges to the west, the south rim is less distinct. The Great Basin includes most of Nevada, half of Utah, substantial portions of Oregon and California and small areas of Idaho, Wyoming, the term Great Basin is slightly misleading, the region is actually made up of many small basins. The Great Salt Lake, Pyramid Lake, and the Humboldt Sink are a few of the drains in the Great Basin, the Salton Sink is another closed basin within the Great Basin. The Great Basin Divide separates the Great Basin from the watersheds draining to the Pacific Ocean, the southernmost portion of the Great Basin is the watershed area of the Laguna Salada. The Great Basins longest and largest river is the Bear River of 350 mi, Lake Tahoe, North Americas largest alpine lake, is part of the Great Basins central Lahontan subregion. The hydrographic Great Basin contains multiple deserts and ecoregions, each with its own set of flora. The ecological boundaries and divisions in the Great Basin are unclear, the Great Basin overlaps four different deserts, portions of the hot Mojave and Colorado Deserts to the south, and the cold Great Basin and Oregon High Deserts in the north. The deserts can be distinguished by their plants, the Joshua tree and creosote bush occur in the hot deserts, the cold deserts are generally higher than the hot, and have their precipitation spread throughout the year. The climate and flora of the Great Basin is strongly dependent on elevation, as the elevation increases, because of this, forests occur at higher elevations. Utah juniper/single-leaf pinyon and mountain mahogany form open pinyon-juniper woodland on the slopes of most ranges, stands of limber pine and Great Basin bristlecone pine can be found in some of the higher ranges
7.
Ute people
–
Ute people /ˈjuːt/ are Native Americans of the Ute tribe and culture. They are now living primarily in Utah and Colorado, the Ute are in the Great Basin classification of Indigenous People. They have three Ute tribal reservations, Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah, Southern Ute in Colorado, and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, the majority of Ute are believed to live on one of these reservations. The State of Utah is named after these people, the primary language of the Ute people is English. However, some of the people speak their ancestral Ute language. It is related to the Southern Paiute language and belongs to the Southern subdivision of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, a dictionary and grammar have been written for the language, and the Bible has been translated into Ute. Several orthographies exist, but the language is written in the Latin script, different ideas about the phonetic spelling of many names and some words has caused confusion about the spelling, so many names are often spelled in several different ways. An example is Timpanogos, which has also been spelled as Toompahnahwach, Tumpanuwac, Tumpanawach, Timpanog, Tumpipanogo or Timanogos, from this area, speakers of Uto-Aztecan languages gradually diffused northward and southward. The Ute, Paiute, Shoshone, Comanche and some belong to what is called the Numic subdivision within the Uto-Aztecan language family. It is believed that this Numic group originated near the border of Nevada and California, then spread North, the Numic group is divided into 3 main subdivisions - Southern, Central and Western. Not all of the languages are mutually intelligible, especially those in different subdivisions, Ute and Southern Paiute are Southern Numic Languages, while Shoshone, Gosiute and Comanche are Central Numic, and Northern Paiute and Bannock are Western Numic. The Numic-speaking tribes share many cultural, genetic and linguistic characteristics, many of the tribes met and merged with each other or divided from each other at various times. For instance, the Comanche split off from the Shoshone in about the mid-1600s, since the mid-1800s, some Ute bands merged with Southern Paiute bands to become Paiute. Some possibly Shoshonean tribes, such as the Timpanogos, merged with the Ute and it is also true that there were many times when the tribes did not get along. The name Comanche is from the Ute name for them, kɨmantsi, before Mexican settlers arrived, the Utes occupied significant portions of what are today eastern Utah, western Colorado, including the San Luis Valley, and parts of New Mexico and Wyoming. The Utes were never a group within historic times, instead. Some of the largest known groups were the Capote, Moache, Moanumts, Parianuche, Taviwach, Weeminuche, also the Uintah or Uinta, Uncompahgre tribe and White River Utes. The last partial migration of the Utes within this area was in the year 1885, “In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln signed an executive order establishing the original Uintah Valley Reservation in the eastern part of the Utah territory
8.
Utah Territory
–
The creation of the territory was part of the Compromise of 1850 that sought to preserve the balance of power between slave and free states. The creation of the Utah Territory was partially the result of the petition sent by the Mormon pioneers who had settled in the valley of the Great Salt Lake starting in 1847. S. The Mormon settlers had drafted a constitution in 1849 and Deseret had become the de facto government in the Great Basin by the time of the creation of the Utah Territory. Following the organization of the territory, Young was inaugurated as its first governor on February 3,1851, in the first session of the territorial legislature in September, the legislature adopted all the laws and ordinances previously enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret. In 1861, partly as a result of this, the Nevada Territory was created out of the part of the territory. Non-Mormons also entered the easternmost part of the territory during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, in 1861 a large portion of the eastern area of the territory was reorganized as part of the newly created Colorado Territory. Territories that encompassed land that would become part of the Territory of Utah, Mexican Cession,1848 State of Deseret
9.
Colorado Territory
–
The territory was organized in the wake of the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1858–1861 which brought the first large concentration of white settlement to the region. The boundaries of the Colorado Territory were identical with those of the current State of Colorado, the organization of the territory helped solidify Union control over a mineral-rich area of the Rocky Mountains. Statehood was regarded as fairly imminent, but territorial ambitions for statehood were thwarted at the end of 1865 by a veto by President Andrew Johnson. Statehood for the territory was an issue during the Ulysses Grant administration. The Colorado Territory ceased to exist when the State of Colorado was admitted to the Union in 1876, on the western side of the divide, the territory included much of the eastern Utah Territory, all of which was strongly controlled by the Ute and Shoshoni. The Eastern Plains were held more loosely by the intermixed Cheyenne and Arapaho, as well as by the Pawnee, Comanche. By the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the Native American presence had been eliminated from the High Plains. The land claims of Texas were, at first, controversial, the Comanche and Jicarilla Apache also formally ruled over the southeastern portions of the state. Arapaho and Cheyenne also hunted, warred, and sometimes lived in the far eastern and northeastern portion of the state as well, in 1776, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante explored southern Colorado in the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition. Frémont expedition in 1845–46, and the Powell Geographic Expedition of 1869 by John Wesley Powell, in 1779, Governor de Anza of New Mexico fought and defeated the Comanches under Cuerno Verde in southwestern Colorado. In 1786, de Anza made peace with the Comanches, creating an alliance against the Apaches, a group of Cherokee crossed the South Platte and Cache la Poudre River valleys on their way to California in 1848 during the California Gold Rush. They reported finding trace amounts of gold in the South Platte, in the south, in the San Luis Valley, early Mexican families established themselves in large land grants from the Mexican government. In the early 19th century, the upper South Platte River valley had been infiltrated by fur traders, the first movement of permanent U. S. settlers in the area began with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed private land claims to be filed. In 1858, Green Russell and a party of Georgians, having heard the story of the gold in the South Platte from Cherokee after they returned from California and that summer they founded a mining camp Auraria at the confluence of the South Platte and Cherry Creek. The Georgians left for their state the following winter. At Bents Fort along the Arkansas River, Russell told William Larimer, Jr. a Kansas land speculator, Larimer, realizing the opportunity to capitalize on it, hurried to Auraria. In November 1858, he claim to an area across Cherry Creek from Auraria and named it Denver City in honor of James W. Denver. Larimer did not intend to mine gold himself, he wanted to promote the new town, early arrivals moved upstream into the mountains quickly, seeking the lode source of the placer gold, and founded mining camps at Black Hawk and Central City
10.
Montrose, Colorado
–
The City of Montrose is the Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Montrose County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 19,132 at the 2010 United States Census, the main road that leads in and out of Montrose is U. S. Highway 50. The town is located in south-western Colorado, and is known for its regional recreational areas. Demographically, the town is majority white, with a large Hispanic population and it is also the home of a few major engineering projects, namely the Gunnison Tunnel. Montrose was incorporated on May 2,1882 and named after Sir Walter Scotts novel A Legend of Montrose, the Denver & Rio Grande railroad was built west toward Grand Junction and reached Montrose later in 1882, and the town became an important regional shipping center. A branch railroad line served the mineral-rich San Juan Mountains to the south, the Uncompahgre Project is one of the oldest of those in the area by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. The canal is used for recreation, water rushing through the canal below the tunnel creates a kayak-surfing spot called the M-wave. However, the wave is on property and is unsafe for inexperienced riders. Tourist and recreation opportunities are important to the regional economy, Montrose is a gateway to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park to the east of town. In the winter, it is a hub for ski areas of the San Juan Mountains to the south. Early in the history, prehistoric people lived in the vicinity. The panels recorded cultural events and were a means of artistic expression, the site is listed on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties and the National Register of Historic Places. Montrose is the birthplace of American screenwriter and novelist Dalton Trumbo, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.5 square miles, all of it is land. Montrose is in the end of the Uncompahgre valley, and is built on the Uncompahgre river. It is surrounded by, to the north, Grand Mesa, to the east, the Black Canyon, to the south, the San Juan Mountains, the valley is arid, and is only arable due to the water from the Gunnison Tunnel. Montrose features a semi-arid Continental climate zone, the town sits on high grasslands in the Uncompahgre Valley of Western Colorado. Snowfall occurs during the winter but is short lived due to the high altitude. As of the census of 2000, there were 12,344 people,5,244 households, the population density was 1,076.3 people per square mile
11.
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
–
The City of Glenwood Springs is the Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Garfield County, Colorado, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 9,614 and it is also home to two of the campuses and the administrative offices of the Colorado Mountain College system. Glenwood Springs in 2015 was named the Most Vibrant Small Town Arts Environment in the United States by Southern Methodist University and it was named the Most Fun Town in America by Rand McNally and USA Today in 2011. Glenwood Springs was originally known as Defiance, a name still used by local teams or businesses. Defiance was established in 1883, a camp of tents, saloons and it was populated with the expected crowd of gamblers, gunslingers, and prostitutes. The location of Glenwood Springs, as well as gaining a stop on the railroad, the city has seen famous visitors, including President Teddy Roosevelt, who spent an entire summer vacation living out of the historic Hotel Colorado. Doc Holliday, a wild west legend from the O. K. Corral gunfight, kid Curry is buried in the same location. Infamous serial killer Ted Bundy was imprisoned in the Glenwood Springs jail until he escaped on the night of December 30,1977, Glenwood Springs was one of the first places in the United States to have electric lights. The original lighting was installed in 1897 inside of the Fairy Caves in Iron Mountain, later, a dam was built in Glenwood Canyon, providing water for the Shoshone power plant. Glenwood Springs is located in the mountain valleys that host the confluence of the Colorado River. The surrounding terrain is steeply contoured on all sides, with numerous caves to be found, extensive geothermal resources exist in the area, most famously manifest in the local hot springs, but also evidenced through other features such as the Dotsero maar. Occasional proposals to leverage the geothermal energy for other purposes arise, Glenwood Springs has experienced several significant mudslides throughout its history, a threat mitigated somewhat by public works. Glenwood Springs is one of the most walkable towns in America, due to assertive planning by city management during the early years of the city, Glenwood Springs owns some of the most senior water rights to tributaries of the Colorado River. Despite very little risk of water supply inadequacy, unlike most of the American West, supply is so ample that the city has an incomplete understanding of its own water rights. The towns drinking water is supplied primarily through senior rights to major watersheds in the Flat Tops Wilderness Area, and the tap water is generally of excellent quality. Extensive mineral deposits exist further up the Crystal River and the Roaring Fork, however, Glenwood Springs itself lies outside of the Colorado Mineral Belt, and there are no mineral or oil and gas sources near Glenwood Springs proper or its watersheds. Valley inversions and heavy traffic to Aspen can lead to air quality issues during exceptionally cold spells of winter. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, Glenwood Springs has an area of 5.7 square miles, of which 0.01 square miles
12.
Aspen, Colorado
–
Aspen is the Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. Its population was 6,658 at the 2010 United States Census, founded as a mining camp during the Colorado Silver Boom and later named Aspen because of the abundance of aspen trees in the area, the city boomed during the 1880s, its first decade of existence. In the late 20th century, the city became a retreat for celebrities. Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson worked out of a downtown hotel, singer John Denver wrote two songs about Aspen after settling there. Today the musicians and movie stars have been joined by corporate executives, as a result of this influx of wealth, Aspen boasts some of the most expensive real estate prices in the United States and many middle-class residents can no longer afford to live there. It remains a popular tourist destination, with outdoor recreation in the surrounding White River National Forest serving as a complement to the four ski areas in the vicinity. Production expanded due to the passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, by 1893, Aspen had banks, a hospital, a police department, two theaters, an opera house and electric lights. Economic collapse came with the Panic of 1893, when President Cleveland called a session of Congress. Within weeks, many of the Aspen mines were closed and thousands of miners were put out of work, eventually, after wage cuts, mining revived somewhat, but production declined and by the 1930 census only 705 residents remained. Remaining, however, were fine stocks of old buildings and residences. Aspens development as a ski resort first flickered in the 1930s when investors conceived of a ski area, friedl Pfeifer, a member of the 10th Mountain Division who had trained in the area, returned to the area and linked up with industrialist Walter Paepcke and his wife Elizabeth. The Aspen Skiing Corporation was founded in 1946 and the city became a well-known resort. Paepcke also played an important role in bringing the Goethe Bicentennial Convocation to Aspen in 1949, Aspen was now on the path to becoming an internationally known ski resort and cultural center, home of the Aspen Music Festival and School. The area would continue to grow with the development of three ski areas, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands, and Snowmass. In 1977, notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, while in the Pitkin County Courthouse in Aspen for a hearing, jumped from a second-story window. He remained free for six days, hiding out on Aspen Mountain, in 1977, Aspen was thoroughly photographed for the Aspen Movie Map project funded by the U. S. Department of Defense. The Movie Map is one of the earliest examples of virtual reality software, Aspen is notable as the smallest radio market tracked by Arbitron, ranked at #302. Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality under Colorado law, an elected council of four members and the mayor supervise the citys operations, managed on a day-to-day basis by the city manager, an appointed official who serves at their pleasure
13.
Vail, Colorado
–
The Town of Vail is a Home Rule Municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 5,305 in 2010, the town was established and built as the base village to Vail Ski Resort, with which it was originally conceived. Vail Ski Resorts first season was in December 1962, it is the largest ski mountain in Colorado, Vail was incorporated in 1966, four years after the opening of Vail Ski Resort. The ski area was founded by Pete Seibert and local rancher Earl Eaton in 1962, the pass was named after Charles Vail, the highway engineer who routed U. S. Highway 6 through the Eagle Valley in 1940, which eventually became Interstate 70. Seibert, a New England native, served in the U. S. Armys 10th Mountain Division during World War II and he was wounded in Italy at the Battle of Riva Ridge but went on to become a professional skier after he recovered. Seibert, with former members of the 10th Mountain Division. During training for ski troopers at Camp Hale, he bivouacked on Vail Mountain, as plans continued for a new ski resort, Seibert hired Morrie Shepard as Vails first ski school director. Shortly after, Shepard recruited Rod Slifer from Aspen to be assistant ski school director, in December 1962 Vail officially opened for its first season. It operated a gondola lift and two ski lifts on the owned by the United States Forest Service. The village was established at the base of the mountain for local residents and it quickly grew throughout the valley with housing added first in East Vail and then West Vail, and additional lodging added in Lionshead in the late 1960s. Within the first years the village had a ski shop operated by John Houserman, a hotel and restaurant operated by Pepi Gramshammer, by 1969 Vail was the most popular ski resort in the state. In 1988 Vail opened China Bowl, making Vail the largest ski area in North America, Vails average elevation is 8,150 feet above sea level. The town has an area of 4.5 square miles. Gore Creek flows from east to west through the center of town, the town is surrounded by the White River National Forest and the Vail Ski Resort is leased from the United States Forest Service. Mount of the Holy Cross is visible from Vail Mountain, Vail Mountain rises from 8,120 feet to 11,570 feet, giving a vertical rise of 3,450 feet. It has a 5,289 acres skiable area,33 ski lifts,193 marked skiing trails on three faces, the front side, the bowls, and Blue Sky Basin. The seven back bowls are Sun Down Bowl, Sun Up Bowl, Teacup Bowl, China Bowl, Siberia Bowl, Inner Mongolia Bowl, Blue Sky Basin includes Petes Bowl and Earls Bowl—to commemorate Pete Seibert and Earl Eaton. Vail has warm summers and cold winters because of its elevation, minimum temperatures rarely rise above freezing point from late September to late May
14.
Fruit
–
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate seeds, accordingly, fruits account for a substantial fraction of the worlds agricultural output, and some have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings. On the other hand, in usage, fruit includes many structures that are not commonly called fruits, such as bean pods, corn kernels, tomatoes. The section of a fungus that produces spores is called a fruiting body. Many common terms for seeds and fruit do not correspond to the botanical classifications, however, in botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary or carpel that contains seeds, a nut is a type of fruit and not a seed, and a seed is a ripened ovule. Examples of culinary vegetables and nuts that are botanically fruit include corn, cucurbits, eggplant, legumes, sweet pepper, in addition, some spices, such as allspice and chili pepper, are fruits, botanically speaking. g. Botanically, a grain, such as corn, rice, or wheat, is also a kind of fruit. However, the wall is very thin and is fused to the seed coat. The outer, often edible layer, is the pericarp, formed from the ovary and surrounding the seeds, the pericarp may be described in three layers from outer to inner, the epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp. Fruit that bears a prominent pointed terminal projection is said to be beaked, a fruit results from maturation of one or more flowers, and the gynoecium of the flower forms all or part of the fruit. Inside the ovary/ovaries are one or more ovules where the megagametophyte contains the egg cell, after double fertilization, these ovules will become seeds. The ovules are fertilized in a process starts with pollination. After pollination, a tube grows from the pollen through the stigma into the ovary to the ovule, later the zygote will give rise to the embryo of the seed, and the endosperm mother cell will give rise to endosperm, a nutritive tissue used by the embryo. As the ovules develop into seeds, the ovary begins to ripen and the ovary wall, in some multiseeded fruits, the extent to which the flesh develops is proportional to the number of fertilized ovules. The pericarp is often differentiated into two or three distinct layers called the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, in some fruits, especially simple fruits derived from an inferior ovary, other parts of the flower, fuse with the ovary and ripen with it. In other cases, the sepals, petals and/or stamens and style of the fall off. When such other floral parts are a significant part of the fruit, it is called an accessory fruit, since other parts of the flower may contribute to the structure of the fruit, it is important to study flower structure to understand how a particular fruit forms. There are three modes of fruit development, Apocarpous fruits develop from a single flower having one or more separate carpels
15.
Gunnison River
–
The Gunnison River is a tributary of the Colorado River,164 miles long, in the Southwestern state of Colorado. It is the fifth largest tributary of the Colorado River, with a flow of 4,320 cu ft/s. The Gunnison River is formed by the confluence of Taylor and East rivers at Almont in eastern Gunnison County. Just past the town of Gunnison, the river begins to swell into the expanse of Blue Mesa Reservoir, a 36-mile-long reservoir formed by Blue Mesa Dam, where it receives the Lake Fork of the Gunnison. Just downstream it is dammed again to form Morrow Point Reservoir, the reservoirs produce hydroelectric power and supply water for the surrounding areas for both municipal and irrigation use. The reservoirs are the part of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, one of the longest, narrowest. Below Crystal Dam it begins to roar through massive cataracts and flows through the deepest part of the gorge, at the outlet of the canyon it receives the North Fork River, then downstream near Delta, Colorado is joined by the Uncompahgre River. The Gunnison River ranges in width from 100 to 1,000 feet and 3 to 50 feet in depth, the rivers powerful current and many rapids make upstream travel nearly impossible. It is navigable for small craft throughout its course and by larger boats below the Black Canyon, parts of the Black Canyon are non-navigable to any sorts of craft because of giant cataracts. Navigation through the canyon is dangerous and for experienced boaters only. It was again seen in 1776 by Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, at the time the Spanish name for the river was Rio de San Javier, and the Native American name was Tomichi. Escalante noted that Rivera thought it was the great Rio del Tizon, through the mid-1800s, the river was variously named the Eagle, Eagle Tail, South Fork of the Grand, Grande, and Grand River. Exploration reports and published maps in the 1850s and 1860s most commonly referred to the river as the Grand River, the upper section of the Gunnison River is designated as gold medal water and wild trout water. The designation begins 200 yards below the Crystal Dam and stretches through the Gunnison Gorge to the confluence of the North Fork, part of the rivers water is diverted to irrigate the Uncompahgre Valley via the 5-mile-long Gunnison Tunnel, which was built between 1905 and 1909. Dams on the river include Blue Mesa Dam, Morrow Point Dam, List of rivers of Colorado List of tributaries of the Colorado River Black Canyon National Park, Colorado. Gunnison River Information and Fishing Report
16.
Grand Valley (Colorado-Utah)
–
The Grand Valley is an extended populated valley, approximately 30 miles long and 5 miles wide, located along the Colorado River in Mesa County, Colorado and Grand County, Utah in the United States. The valley contains the city of Grand Junction, as well as smaller communities such as Fruita. The valley is noted as a fruit growing region, with a large number of orchards. It takes its name from the Grand River, the name of the Colorado River upstream from its confluence with the Green River that was used by locals in the late 19th. Interstate 70 and U. S. Highway 6 run through the valley from west-to-east, the Grand Valley is part of the larger Colorado Plateau desert lands. The valley begins where the Colorado River widens at the mouth of De Beque Canyon to the east of Palisade, the Colorado receives the Gunnison River, one of its major tributaries, just south of Grand Junction near the midpoint of the valley. The valley is surrounded by large formations, including the Bookcliffs along the north side, the Grand Mesa along the southeast side. Colorado National Monument sits on a ridge on the southwest side of the valley west of Grand Junction, much of the surrounding table land areas rimming the valley are public lands controlled by the Bureau of Land Management. The valley was an area occupied by the Ute people. White settlers began to arrive in the 1880s, farming the valley for a variety of grains, in the 1890s, it was discovered that sugar beets grown in the valley had a high sugar content, leading to widespread cultivation of that crop. At the turn of the 20th century, evaporation techniques allowed fruit growers to ship their products more efficiently to distant markets, in 1918, the Government_Highline_Canal was completed to provide water to cultivate 50,000 acres in the valley. The project included a dam in De Beque Canyon, the largest of three such dams of this type in the nation. According to local legend, the valley was cursed by the native Utes upon their forced exodus to federal reservation grounds in Utah, the sand is supposed to alleviate the curses effects of a supernatural and metaphysical attraction by the valleys soil to the native individual. Of course, this is a myth and cannot be confirmed, however, many exiting locals, native and non-native alike, prefer not to take their chances with the alleged curse and keep the sand long after emigrating from the valley
17.
Crested Butte, Colorado
–
Crested Butte is a home rule municipality in Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 1,487 at the 2010 United States Census, the former coal mining town is now called the last great Colorado ski town. Crested Butte is a destination for skiing, mountain biking, the Colorado General Assembly has designated Crested Butte the Wildflower Capital of Colorado. The East River Valley where Crested Butte is located was used as a summer residence by the Ute people. However, they were displaced when European-Americans first entered the area. The first whites to explore the valley were beaver trappers, shortly followed by surveyors, captain John Gunnison, after who Gunnison County is named, was one of the early explorers to enter the area. In the 1860s and 1870s coal and silver began to open in the surrounding area. However, when mining began to decline, many of these towns failed. Crested Butte, however, was in a position to survive because it served as a supply town to the surrounding area. Another industry that served to support Crested Butte was ranching, when the coal mines closed, the town began to shrink, and eventually the local high school was closed. Students had to travel to Gunnison to go to high school, the town did not revive until a ski area was built on Crested Butte Mountain in the 1960s. From the 1960s to 1990, the Crested Butte public school only facilitated K-5 students, while 6th grade, in 1990 Crested Butte offered middle school in the railroad depot building. In 1992 a new school was completed which allowed the public school to facilitate grades K through 8. Finally in 1997, a new facility for the Crested Butte Community School was completed and this included the addition of a public high school so that the school now serves students in grades K-12. In 1993 the Crested Butte Academy opened in Crested Butte, bringing a high school into town. However, on 9 July 2008, the academy was closed due to financial difficulties that had plagued its entire existence. Since the 1970s, several companies have attempted to mine molybdenum on Mount Emmons near Crested Butte, in 1977 W Mitchell was elected mayor of Crested Butte and led a campaign which stopped AMAX from building a billion-dollar molybdenum mine on Mount Emmons. Because of his battle against the environmental impact, Mitchell is known as the man who saved a mountain
18.
Telluride, Colorado
–
The town of Telluride is the county seat and most populous town of San Miguel County in the southwestern portion of the U. S. state of Colorado. The town is a silver mining camp on the San Miguel River in the western San Juan Mountains. The first gold mining claim was made in the mountains above Telluride in 1875 and these telluride minerals were never located near Telluride, causing the town to be named for a mineral which was never mined there. However, the mines for some years provided zinc, lead, copper, silver. Telluride sits in a box canyon, steep forested mountains and cliffs surround it, with Bridal Veil Falls at the head of the canyon. Numerous weathered ruins of old mining operations dot the hillsides, a free gondola connects the town with its companion town, Mountain Village, Colorado, at the base of the ski area. Telluride and the area have featured prominently in pop culture. It is the subject of popular songs. It is especially known for its ski resort and slopes during the winter as well as an extensive festival schedule during the summer. The Telluride Historic District, which includes a significant portion of the town, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of Colorados 20 National Historic Landmarks. The town population was 2,325 in the 2010 United States Census, Gold was first discovered in Colorado near present-day Denver, setting off the Pikes Peak gold rush of 1858. The Smuggler gold vein above Telluride, and placer gold in the San Miguel River, were discovered in 1875, John Fallon made the first claim in Marshal Basin above Telluride in 1875 and early settlement of Telluride followed. The town itself was founded in 1878, Telluride was originally named Columbia, but due to confusion with Columbia, California, the name was changed by the post office in 1887. The town was named after valuable ore compounds of the element tellurium, a metalloid element which forms natural tellurides. Although gold telluride minerals were never found in the mountains near Telluride, the areas mines were rich in zinc, lead, copper, silver. Telluride began slowly because of its isolated location, in 1881, a toll road was opened by Otto Mears which allowed wagons to go where only pack mules could go before. This increased the number of people in Telluride, but it was expensive to get gold-rich ore out of the valley. In June 1889, Butch Cassidy, before becoming associated with his gang and this was his first major recorded crime
19.
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
–
The City of Steamboat Springs, often shortened as Steamboat, is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Routt County, Colorado, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,088, the city is an internationally known winter ski resort destination. The Steamboat Springs tourism industry is highlighted by Steamboat Ski Resort and it also contains the much smaller Howelsen Ski Area. It is located in the valley of the Yampa River, along U. S. Highway 40 just west of the Continental Divide. The area surrounding Steamboat Springs was originally inhabited by the Yampatikas Utes, trappers began to move through the area during the first decades of the 19th century. James Harvey Crawford, the founder of Steamboat Springs, first arrived in the spring of 1874, the Crawford family moved there in 1876, and for the first five years were the sole permanent residents of the town. The native Utes were forcibly removed from the area to a reservation in Utah by the U. S. Army starting in 1879. Milestones in the development of the town included the first sawmill in 1873, incorporation of the town in 1900. The economy of the region was based on ranching and mining. Steamboat is home to hot springs that are located throughout the area. Upon first hearing a sound, early trappers believed that a steamboat was coming down the river. When the trappers saw that there was no steamboat, and that the sound was coming from a hot spring, originally, skiing was the only method of transportation during harsh and snowy Rocky Mountain winters. In turn, the popularity of skiing as a winter pastime catalyzed development of the town, in 1913, Carl Howelsen, a Norwegian, moved to town and introduced ski jumping. Howelsen built the first jump on Howelsen Hill, now part of the Howelsen Ski Area and he also founded the annual Winter Carnival, a celebration still held each winter. The festival includes ski racing and jumping, dog sledding, and chariot events down Lincoln Avenue, light shows on both Mount Werner and Howelsen Hill are highlights. The Steamboat Ski Resort was largely established by two men, Jim Temple and John Fetcher. Temple led the effort to develop the area, Fetcher, a local rancher, was the main designer and builder. The resort opened on what was then called Storm Mountain in 1963, the company is one of the largest employers in Routt County and has more than 9,000 employees worldwide
20.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
–
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a United States National Park located in western Colorado and managed by the National Park Service. There are two entrances to the park, the south rim entrance is located 15 miles east of Montrose. The park contains 12 miles of the 48-mile long Black Canyon of the Gunnison River, the canyons name owes itself to the fact that parts of the gorge only receive 33 minutes of sunlight a day, according to Images of America, The Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The Gunnison River drops an average of 34 feet per mile through the entire canyon, by comparison, the Colorado River drops an average of 7.5 feet per mile through the Grand Canyon. The greatest descent of the Gunnison River occurs within the park at Chasm View dropping 240 feet per mile, the Black Canyon is so named because its steepness makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate into its depths. As a result, the canyon is often shrouded in shadow, at its narrowest point the canyon is only 40 ft wide at the river. The extreme steepness and depth of the Black Canyon formed as the result of geologic processes acting together. The Gunnison River is primarily responsible for carving the canyon, though several other events had to occur in order to form the canyon as it is seen today. The lighter-colored pegmatite dikes that can be seen crosscutting the basement rocks formed later during this same period, the entire area underwent uplift during the Laramide orogeny between 70 and 40 million years ago which was also part of the Gunnison Uplift. This raised the Precambrian gneiss and schist that makes up the canyon walls, during the Tertiary from 26 to 35 million years ago large episodes of volcanism occurred in the area immediately surrounding the present day Black Canyon. The West Elk Mountains, La Sal Mountains, Henry Mountains, with the Gunnison River’s course set, a broad uplift in the area 2 to 3 million years ago caused the river to cut through the softer volcanic deposits. Eventually the river reached the Precambrian rocks of the Gunnison Uplift, since the river was unable to change its course, it began scouring through the extremely hard metamorphic rocks of the Gunnison Uplift. The river’s flow was much larger than currently, with higher levels of turbidity. As a result, the river dug down through the Precambrian gneiss, the extreme hardness of the metamorphic rock along with the relative quickness with which the river carved through them created the steep walls that can be seen today. A number of canyons running into the Black Canyon slope in the wrong direction for water to flow into the canyon. It is believed that streams in the region shifted to a more north-flowing drainage pattern in response to a change in the tilt of the surrounding terrain. The west-flowing Gunnison, however, was trapped in the hard Precambrian rock of the Black Canyon. The Ute Indians had known the canyon to exist for a time before the first Europeans saw it
21.
Colorado National Monument
–
Colorado National Monument is a National Park Service unit near the city of Grand Junction, Colorado. Spectacular canyons cut deep into sandstone, and even granite–gneiss–schist, rock formations and this is an area of desert land high on the Colorado Plateau, with pinion and juniper forests on the plateau. The park hosts a range of wildlife, including red-tailed hawks, golden eagles, ravens, jays, desert bighorn sheep. Activities include hiking, horseback riding, road bicycling, and scenic drives, there are magnificent views from trails and the Rim Rock Drive, which winds along the plateau - as well as from the campground. Nearby are the Book Cliffs and the largest flat-topped mountain in the world and its feature attraction is Monument Canyon, which runs the width of the park and includes rock formations such as Independence Monument, the Kissing Couple, and Coke Ovens. The monument includes 20,500 acres, much of which has recommended to Congress for designation as wilderness. The area was first explored by John Otto, a spirit who settled in Grand Junction in the early 20th century. Prior to Ottos arrival, many residents believed the canyons to be inaccessible to humans. Otto began building trails on the plateau and into the canyons, as word spread about his work, the Chamber of Commerce of Grand Junction sent a delegation to investigate. The delegation returned praising both Ottos work and the beauty of the wilderness area, and the local newspaper began lobbying to make it a National Park. A bill was introduced and carried by the local Representatives to the U. S. Congress and Senate, the area was established as Colorado National Monument on May 24,1911. Otto was hired as the first park ranger, drawing a salary of $1 per month, for the next 16 years, he continued building and maintaining trails while living in a tent in the park. The park became well known in the 1980s partly due to its inclusion as a stage of the major international bicycle race. The race through the park known as The Tour of the Moon. The issue of national park status has arisen time and again, usually during bust cycles brought on by the Uranium industry and later oil and gas. As of June,2014 Congressman Scott Tipton and Senator Mark Udall have carried the process closer to fruition than any other representatives since the effort in 1907. The two Representatives appointed an 18-member committee of locals to study the issue and learn the facts in 2011, after a ground swell of support from local residents and business owners, the Representatives then appointed a committee of five local residents to write draft legislation. The draft legislation was announced and released in early 2014, a public comment period on the draft legislation began soon after with an end date of June 29
22.
Dinosaur National Monument
–
Dinosaur National Monument is a U. S. National Monument located on the southeast flank of the Uinta Mountains on the border between Colorado and Utah at the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers. Although most of the monument area is in Moffat County, Colorado, the nearest communities are Jensen, Utah and Dinosaur, Colorado. This park contains over 800 paleontological sites and has fossils of dinosaurs including Allosaurus, Deinonychus, Abydosaurus and various long-neck and it was declared a National Monument on October 4,1915. The rock layer enclosing the fossils is a sandstone and conglomerate bed of alluvial or river bed known as the Morrison Formation from the Jurassic Period some 150 million years old. The dinosaurs and other ancient animals were carried by the system which eventually entombed their remains. The pile of sediments were buried and lithified into solid rock. The layers of rock were later uplifted and tilted to their present angle by the mountain building forces that formed the Uintas during the Laramide orogeny, the relentless forces of erosion exposed the layers at the surface to be found by paleontologists. The dinosaur fossil beds were discovered in 1909 by Earl Douglass and he and his crews excavated thousands of fossils and shipped them back to the museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for study and display. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the dinosaur beds as Dinosaur National Monument in 1915, though lesser-known than the fossil beds, the petroglyphs in Dinosaur National Monument are another treasure the monument holds. Due to problems with vandals, many of the sites are not listed on area maps, the controversy assumed major proportions, dominating conservation politics for years. They argued that, if a national monument was not safe from development, after much debate, Congress settled on a compromise that eliminated Echo Park Dam and authorized the rest of the project. The Colorado River Storage Project Act became law on April 11,1956. It stated, “that no dam or reservoir constructed under the authorization of the Act shall be within any National Park or Monument. ”Historians view the Echo Park Dam controversy as signaling the start of an era that includes major conservationist political successes such as the Wilderness Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Mantles Cave is a prehistoric Fremont culture residential site from 499 BC - AD1749, typical of high deserts, summer temperatures can be exceedingly hot, while winter temperatures can be very cold. Snowfall is common, but the snow melts rapidly in the arid, rainfall is very low, and the evaporation rate classifies the area as desert, even though the rainfall just barely exceeds 10 inches. The Wall of Bones located within the Dinosaur Quarry building in the consists of a steeply tilted rock layer which contains hundreds of dinosaur fossils. The enclosing rock has been chipped away to reveal the fossil bones intact for public viewing, in July 2006, the Quarry Visitor Center was closed due to structural problems that since 1957 had plagued the building because it was built on unstable clay. It was announced in April 2009 that Dinosaur National Monument would receive $13.1 million to refurbish, the Park Service successfully rebuilt the Quarry Exhibit Hall, supporting its weight on 70-foot steel micropile columns that extend to the bedrock below the unstable clay
23.
Leeds School of Business
–
The Leeds School of Business is a college of the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States, established 1906. The enrollment of 3,300 students includes undergraduates, masters candidates, in 2001, the college was named for the Leeds family, spearheaded by alumnus Michael Leeds of New York, who committed $35 million to the school. What is today known as the Leeds School of Business began in 1906 as the College of Comm, the University of Colorado was one of the leaders in establishing a college of commerce, according to the Biennial Report of 1906-1908. The report noted that the distinction between the College of Commerce and the business college. The man who is to be a leader in business must know something of law, economics, the markets of the world, in 1922, the business program became the School of Business Administration and relocated to the basement of Guggenheim, the former law school building. The faculty was enlarged to a total of 15, and the school was on its way to one of the universitys first principal professional schools. The business program was accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the AACSB recognition is only given to those schools that achieve and maintain established standards of excellence with respect to curriculum, faculty, library resources, and financial support. At this point the school was still without a real home. Classes were being held in buildings across campus. The school moved to its present location in 1970, in October 2001, the Leeds family of New York made a $35 million commitment to the University of Colorado Boulders business school, the countrys seventh largest endowment to a business school. The school was renamed the Leeds School of Business in recognition of the gift, from 2009-2011 Manuel Laguna served as interim dean after Dennis Ahlburg accepted the presidency of Trinity University in San Antonio. In January 2011 it was announced that David L. Ikenberry had been appointed dean of the Leeds School of Business and he had previously held the position of Associate Dean at the College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He stepped down as Dean in 2016, sharon Matusik, a Leeds School professor of strategy and entrepreneurship now serves as Interim Dean. Today the school has 55 tenure track faculty and 28 instructors, more than 3000 undergraduates,238 full-time MBA students,115 evening MBA students, the Richard M. Burridge Center for Finance The Robert H. and Beverley A. In August 2007, the renovated and expanded Koelbel building opened for classes. The old building was designed to hold 800 students, and had not been renovated in 38 years, the Leeds School of Business offers only one undergraduate degree, a Bachelors in Science of Business Administration, or a BSBA. A BSBA is offered with concentrations in Accounting, Finance, Marketing, the four-year degree requires a combination of Arts and Sciences core classes, a set of Business Core classes, concentration specific classes, and upper division business electives. Courses are offered in many aspects of business and these include Accounting, Business Ethics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, International Business, Management, Marketing, Real Estate and Sustainability
24.
University of Colorado Boulder
–
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado, United States. It is the university of the University of Colorado system and was founded five months before Colorado was admitted to the Union in 1876. In 2015, the university consisted of nine colleges and schools and offered over 150 academic programs, twelve Nobel Laureates, nine MacArthur Fellows, and 20 astronauts have been affiliated with CU Boulder as students, researchers, or faculty members in its history. The university received nearly $454 million in sponsored research in 2010 to fund programs like the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, the Colorado Buffaloes compete in 17 varsity sports and are members of the NCAA Division I Pac-12 Conference. The Buffaloes have won 28 national championships,20 in skiing, seven total in mens and womens cross country, approximately 1,500 students participate in 34 intercollegiate club sports annually as well. Two cities competed for the site of the University of Colorado, Boulder, the consolation prize for the losing city was to be home of the new Colorado State Prison. Cañon City was at a disadvantage as it was already the home of the Colorado Territorial Prison, the cornerstone of the building that became Old Main was laid on September 20,1875. The doors of the university opened on September 5,1877, at the time, there were few high schools in the state that could adequately prepare students for university work, so in addition to the University, a preparatory school was formed on campus. In the fall of 1877, the student body consisted of 15 students in the proper and 50 students in the preparatory school. There were 38 men and 27 women, and their ages ranged from 12–23 years, during World War II, Colorado was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a navy commission. The main CU Boulder campus is located south of the Pearl Street Mall and it consists of academic and residential buildings as well as research facilities. The East Campus is about a mile from the main campus and is composed mainly of athletic fields. CU Boulders distinctive architecture style, known as Tuscan Vernacular Revival, was designed by architect Charles Klauder. A month or so after approval, however, Klauder updated his design by sketching in a new wrap of rough, textured sandstone walls with sloping, multi-leveled red-tiled roofs and Indiana limestone trim. This formed the basis of a style which was used in the design of fifteen other buildings between 1921 and 1939. The sandstone used in the construction of all the buildings on campus was selected from a variety of front range mountain quarries. In 2011, Travel+Leisure named the Boulder campus as one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States. Currently Freshmen and others attending the University of Colorado Boulder have an option of 24 on-, Residence halls have 17 varieties of room types from singles to four-person rooms and others with apartment style amenities
25.
U.S. state
–
A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
26.
Denver
–
Denver, officially the City and County of Denver, is the capital and most populous municipality of the U. S. state of Colorado. Denver is in the South Platte River Valley on the edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile above sea level, making it the highest major city in the United States. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich, the reference for the Mountain Time Zone. Denver is ranked as a Beta- world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. With a 2015 estimated population of 682,545, Denver ranks as the 19th-most populous U. S. city, and with a 2. 8% increase in 2015, the city is also the fastest-growing major city in the United States. The 10-county Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated 2015 population of 2,814,330 and ranked as the 19th most populous U. S. metropolitan statistical area. The 12-city Denver-Aurora, CO Combined Statistical Area had an estimated 2015 population of 3,418,876, which ranks as the 16th most populous U. S. metropolitan area. Denver is the most populous city of the 18-county Front Range Urban Corridor, Denver is the most populous city within a 500-mile radius and the second-most populous city in the Mountain West after Phoenix, Arizona. In 2016, Denver was named the best place to live in the USA by U. S. News & World Report and this was the first historical settlement in what was later to become the city of Denver. The site faded quickly, however, and by the summer of 1859 it was abandoned in favor of Auraria, Larimer named the townsite Denver City to curry favor with Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver. Larimer hoped the name would help make it the county seat of Arapaho County but, unbeknownst to him. The location was accessible to existing trails and was across the South Platte River from the site of seasonal encampments of the Cheyenne, the site of these first towns is now the site of Confluence Park near downtown Denver. Larimer, along with associates in the St. Charles City Land Company, sold parcels in the town to merchants and miners, Denver City was a frontier town, with an economy based on servicing local miners with gambling, saloons, livestock and goods trading. In the early years, land parcels were often traded for grubstakes or gambled away by miners in Auraria, in May 1859, Denver City residents donated 53 lots to the Leavenworth & Pikes Peak Express in order to secure the regions first overland wagon route. Offering daily service for passengers, mail, freight, and gold, in 1863, Western Union furthered Denvers dominance of the region by choosing the city for its regional terminus. The Colorado Territory was created on February 28,1861, Arapahoe County was formed on November 1,1861, Denver City served as the Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until consolidation in 1902. In 1867, Denver City became the territorial capital, with its newfound importance, Denver City shortened its name to Denver
27.
Elections in Colorado
–
A political organization is a political party when its candidate for governor receives at least 10 percent of the vote in the latest general election. Party members choose their partys nominees for the election in a primary election. To be designated to contest the partys nomination at a primary election, party members also elect the county central committee members at the primary election. Colorado uses a primary system. There are three aspects of party organization, the committee system, the designating assembly system. The committee system runs the party, the designating assembly system designates candidates to be elected as party nominees for public office. The major purpose of the system is to ultimately select delegates to the national convention. The systems operate with respect to public offices for the state, counties, US congressional districts, state senatorial districts, state representative districts, a precinct caucus is held in each precinct by each political party, where party members elect delegates to the county assembly. The county assembly chooses candidates to contest the election for county elected offices and elects members of the state assembly. The partys state assembly governs the party when it is in session, the precinct caucus also elects delegates to the county convention. The county conventions elect delegates for the convention and district conventions. The state convention members to the partys national committee, nominates electors to the US Electoral College. The precinct caucus also nominates candidates for the county committee, composed of precinct committeeman. The county central committee runs the party within the county, through a chairman who is assisted by an executive committee in larger counties. The county central committee chairman also compose the state central committee along with additional members, the district committees are also composed of the county central committee chairman. The state central committees also have a chairman and a state executive committee. The state central committee governs the party when the state assembly is not in session
28.
Geography of Colorado
–
The geography of the state of Colorado is diverse, encompassing both rugged mountainous terrain, vast plains, desert lands, desert canyons, and mesas. The state of Colorado is defined as the rectangle that stretches from 37°N to 41°N latitude. Colorado is one of only three U. S. states that have lines of latitude and longitude for boundaries. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the states highest point, Colorado has approximately 550 mountain peaks that exceed 4000 meters elevation. Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies entirely above 1000 meters elevation, the states lowest elevation is 3,317 feet at the point on the eastern boundary of Yuma County where the Arikaree River flows into the state of Kansas. To the east of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado are the Colorado Eastern Plains/High Plains, the Midwest states of Kansas and Nebraska border Colorado to the east and northeast. The plains are sparsely settled with most population along the South Platte, rainfall is meager, averaging about 15 inches annually. There is some irrigated farming, but much of the land is used for farming or ranching. Winter wheat is a crop and most small towns in the region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. The bulk of Colorados population lives along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor. This region is protected from prevailing storms by the high mountains to the west. To the west lies the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains with notable peaks such as Longs Peak, Mount Evans, Pikes Peak, and this area drains to the east, is forested, and partially urbanized. With urbanization, utilization of the forest for timbering and grazing resulted in accumulation of fuel, during the drought of 2002 devastating forest fires swept this area. The Continental Divide stretches along the crest of the Rocky Mountains, to the west of the Continental Divide is the Western Slope. Water west of the Continental Divide drains west into the Pacific Ocean via the Colorado River, Western Colorado is made up of mountains, mesas, desert canyons, and desert lands. Within the interior of the Rocky Mountains are several large parks or high broad 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 the northwest state of 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
29.
Government of Colorado
–
The Government of Colorado is the governmental structure as established by the Constitution of the State of Colorado. The constitution also allows participation of the electorate by initiative, referendum, recall. The statewide elected officers are, The Lieutenant Governor is elected on a ticket with the Governor, all statewide elected officers serve four-year terms. As a result, the Governor does not have direct management authority over either the Department of Education or any of the institutions of higher education. The legislative body of Colorado is the Colorado General Assembly made up of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Colorado Senate, members of the House are elected for two year terms from single-member, equal population districts. Approximately half of the members of the senate are elected each two years to four year terms from single-member, equal population districts. The House of Representatives has 65 members and the Senate has 35 for a total of 100 legislators in Colorado, the session laws are published in the Session Laws of Colorado. The laws of a general and permanent nature are codified in the Colorado Revised Statutes, the judiciary of Colorado is defined by Article VI of the Colorado Constitution as well as the law of Colorado. The administration of the judicial system is the responsibility of the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court as its executive head. Colorado courts include the, Colorado Supreme Court, Colorado Court of Appeals, Colorado district courts, Colorado county courts, Colorado water courts, all of the courts above, other than municipal courts and Denvers county court, are part of the state court system. Outside Denver, these matters are within the jurisdiction of the district courts, most crimes in Colorado are prosecuted by a district attorney. One district attorney is elected for each of the states 22 judicial districts in a partisan election, the state attorney general also has power to prosecute certain crimes, and in rare circumstances a special prosecutor may be appointed to prosecute a crime on a case by case basis. Municipal ordinance violations are prosecuted by city attorneys, Colorado is divided into 64 counties. Counties are important units of government in Colorado since the state has no secondary civil subdivisions, two of these counties, the City and County of Denver and the City and County of Broomfield, have consolidated city and county governments. A municipality may extend into multiple counties, Colorado law makes a few distinctions between a city and a town. gov Colorado Information Marketplace
30.
History of Colorado
–
This article covers Colorados historic period, when events were recorded. For Colorados prehistoric history, go to Prehistory of Colorado, the human history of Colorado extends back more than 13,000 years. The region that is today the state of Colorado was first inhabited by Native Americans, the Lindenmeier Site in Larimer County, Colorado, is a Folsom culture archaeological site with artifacts dating from approximately 8710 BCE. When explorers, early trappers and hunters and gold miners visited and settled in Colorado, in the early days of the Colorado gold rush, Colorado was a Territory of Kansas and Territory of Jefferson. On August 1,1876, Colorado was admitted as a state, Arapaho Nation — An Algonquian-speaking nation that migrated westward to the base of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century and settled on the piedmont and the eastern plains. They were relocated out of Colorado in 1865 following the Colorado War. Cheyenne Nation — An Algonquian-speaking nation very closely related to the Arapaho, like the Arapaho, they migrated westward in the 18th century to the base of the Rockies. They often lived in bands interspersed among the Arapaho, and were relocated out of Colorado in the 1860s. Comanche Nation — A Numic-speaking nation that lived on the High Plains of southeastern Colorado, closely related to the Shoshone, they acquired the horse from the Spaniards and roamed the southern Great Plains. The Comanche were removed to Indian territory, Shoshone Nation — A Numic-speaking nation that inhabited intermountain valleys along the north edge of the state, especially in the Yampa River valley, up through the late 19th century. Areas included North Park and Browns Park, Ute Nation — A Numic-speaking nation that has lived in the Southern and the Western Rocky Mountains for many centuries. Their leaders were Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta and they often clashed with the Arapaho and Cheyenne, and resisted the encroachment of these nations into the mountains. Until the 1880s, the Ute controlled nearly all of Colorado west of the continental divide, after clashing with white settlers in the 1880s in the Meeker Massacre, they were nearly entirely relocated out of the state into Utah, except for two small reservations in southwestern Colorado. The first Europeans to visit the region were Spanish conquistadors, Juan de Oñate who lived until 1626, founded what would become the Spanish province of Santa Fé de Nuevo México among the pueblos of the Rio Grande on July 11,1598. In 1706 Juan de Ulibarri claimed the territory of Colorado, in 1787 Juan Bautista de Anza established the settlement of San Carlos near present-day Pueblo, Colorado, but it quickly failed. This was the only Spanish attempt to create a settlement north of the Arkansas River, Colorado became part of the Spanish province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México as part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Spaniards traded with Native Americans who lived there and established the Comercio Comanchero among the Spanish settlements, in 1803 the United States acquired a territorial claim to the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains by the Louisiana Purchase from France. However, the conflicted with Spains claim to sovereignty over the territory
31.
Law of Colorado
–
The law of Colorado consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory, local, and case law. The Colorado Revised Statutes form the general statutory law, the Constitution of Colorado is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by the Colorado General Assembly, published in the Session Laws of Colorado, state agencies promulgate regulations in the Colorado Register, which are in turn codified in the Code of Colorado Regulations. Counties and municipalities may also promulgate local ordinances, in addition, there are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the current state of the law. The foremost source of law is the Constitution of Colorado. The Colorado Constitution in turn is only to the Constitution of the United States. Pursuant to the constitution, the Colorado General Assembly has enacted various laws. These in turn have been codified in the Colorado Revised Statutes, colorados legal system is based on a political party common law. Like all U. S. states except Louisiana, Colorado has a statute providing for the reception of English law. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject to judicial review, pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of Colorado have developed a large body of case law through the decisions of the Colorado Supreme Court and the Colorado Court of Appeals. The Colorado Reporter is a reporter for appellate decisions from 1883. Colorado is divided into 64 counties, as well as some 271 active incorporated municipalities, including 196 towns,73 cities, all such ordinances of a general or permanent nature and those imposing any fine, penalty, or forfeiture must be published
32.
Colorado State Public Defender
–
The Office of the Colorado State Public Defender provides legal assistance to individuals charged with a crime in Colorado state court who are financially unable to retain private counsel. The office consists of 21 regional trial offices, a centralized appellate office that handles appeals from every jurisdiction, in 1963, after Gideon v. Wainwright, the Colorado General Assembly passed the Colorado Defender Act. Four county public offices were established under the Act, Denver, Brighton, Pueblo. In 1970, the State Legislature passed Senate Bill 126, which created the Office of the State Public Defender as an independent state agency, initially, the Colorado Supreme Court appointed the Colorado State Public Defender. Rollie R. Rogers was the first State Public Defender and he served from October 1969 through February 1978. On August 1,1982, David F. Vela was appointed State Public Defender and he fulfilled the responsibilities of the office for more than 17 years, David S. Kaplan became the State Public Defender and served from January 1,2000 until October 31,2006. Upon his resignation, Douglas K. Wilson was appointed the 6th State Public Defender, robert E. Allen Michael L. Bender John L. Kane Jr. Claire Levy Larry Pozner Nancy E. Rice
33.
Paleontology in Colorado
–
Paleontology in Colorado refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U. S. state of Colorado. The geologic column of Colorado spans about one third of Earths history, Fossils can be found almost everywhere in the state but are not evenly distributed among all the ages of the states rocks. During the early Paleozoic, Colorado was covered by a shallow sea that would come to be home to creatures like brachiopods, conodonts, ostracoderms, sharks. This sea withdrew from the state between the Silurian and early Devonian leaving a gap in the rock record. Areas of the state not submerged were richly vegetated and inhabited by amphibians who left behind footprints that would later fossilize, during the Permian the sea withdrew and alluvial fans and sand dunes spread across the state. Many trace fossils are known from these deposits, the sea returned during the Triassic, while exposed areas were a richly vegetated coastal plain that was home to dinosaurs. Colorado was again submerged by a sea during the Cretaceous period that was home to plesiosaurs up to 70 feet long, during the early part of the Cenozoic era, rainforests grew in Colorado. Later, another rich flora and fauna would come to be preserved in the Florissant beds, more recently the states modern prairies began to form and the state was home to creatures like bison, camels, horses, and mammoths. Local Native Americans have devised myths to explain local fossil bones, by the late 19th century, local fossils had attracted the attention of formally trainer scientists. Major finds include the Late Jurassic dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation, the Jurassic plated dinosaur Stegosaurus armatus is the Colorado state fossil. Stegosaurus is also the state dinosaur of Colorado, no Precambrian fossils are known from Colorado, so the states fossil record does not begin until the Paleozoic. At the start of the Paleozoic, Colorado was located near the equator, the state was submerged under a warm shallow sea. At least part of Colorado was covered by water during the Middle Ordovician. At the time, Colorado was home to invertebrates like articulated brachiopods, conodonts, gastropods, ostracods, pelecypods, sponges, trilobites, contemporary vertebrates included armored jawless fish called ostracoderms. Sometime between the Silurian and early Devonian the sea withdrew from the state, while the sea was gone local sediments were eroded away rather than deposited. During the Carboniferous the absent sea returned, although areas of the state remained dry land. Brachiopods, crinoids, sharks, and trilobites inhabited the sea, a rich variety of plants grew in Colorados terrestrial environments. Examples include Calamites, conifers, and lycopods, Mountain ranges were being raised in the western part of the state by geologic forces
34.
Transportation in Colorado
–
Colorados transportation network consists of a network of highway, surface street, rail, and air transportation options. While the public system in Denver is much more complex and developed than other parts of the state, tourism. Colorado is a state, so ground and air transportation are the primary focus of the state. Also, due to low population density outside of the Denver and Colorado Springs metropolitan areas, the main north–south route in Colorado is Interstate 25. The I-25 corridor follows the front range of the Colorado Rockies and connects Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Fort Collins, Greeley, Trinidad, I-70 crosses Colorado from west to east and is a primary viaduct for tourists and locals to visit mountain communities. Due to winter conditions, sections of I-70 are regularly closed during the winter and are expensive to maintain. Interstates I-225 and I-270 provide connection through heavy traffic corridors in the Denver Area, i-76 connects the Denver area with I-80 in Nebraska to the northeast. In 2011, Colorado ranked among the five deadliest states for debris/litter–caused vehicle accidents per total number of registered vehicles, in the United States, including Colorado, most civil aviation incidents are investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, as well as the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado maintains state highways for high-volume travel routes that do not qualify for federal funding, denvers Regional Transportation District, known locally as RTD, is the largest public transportation system in Colorado. The RTD system provides bus and light rail services in the majority of the Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area. Through its FasTracks initiative, RTD is working to build light rail. Other transportation services exist throughout the state, some systems, such as in Colorado Springs, focus on the local area. Other systems, such as found on the Western Slope connecting Glenwood Springs, Aspen. Denver and Colorado Springs are serviced by the FREX regional bus, Fort Collins, Loveland, Berthoud, and Longmont are serviced by the FLEX regional bus. Denver International Airport handles the majority of air traffic in Colorado and is the fifth busiest airport in the world, Colorado Springs Airport also handles commercial flights and offers service to national destinations. The majority of airports in the state handle on regional or private aviation needs. Centennial Airport, located in Arapahoe County, is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country, due to Colorados population growth, many highways are in need of expansion. Project proposals include expanding US36, I-70, and completing the Colorado State Highway 470 loop by building a highway between Golden and Boulder to replace Colorado State Highway 93
35.
Seal of Colorado
–
The Seal of the State of Colorado is an adaptation of the Territorial Seal which was adopted by the First Territorial Assembly on November 6,1861. The only changes made in the Territorial Seal design being the substitution of the words, State of Colorado, the first General Assembly of the State of Colorado approved the adoption of the state seal on March 15,1877. The Colorado Secretary of State alone is authorized to affix the Great Seal of Colorado to any document whatsoever. Below the eye is a scroll, the Roman fasces, a bundle of birch or elm rods with a battle ax bound together with a ribbon of red, white and blue with the words, Union and Constitution. The bundle of rods bound together symbolizes strength which is lacking in the single rod, the axe symbolizes authority and leadership. Below the scroll is the shield bearing across the top a red sky behind three snow-capped mountains and clouds above them. The lower half of the shield has two tools, the pick and sledge hammer, crossed on a golden ground. There is also evidence that Territorial Governor William Gilpin also was at least partially responsible for the design, both Weld and Gilpin were knowledgeable in the art and symbolism of heraldry. Elements of design from both the Weld and Gilpin families’ coats of arms are incorporated in the Territorial Seal, Nil sine numine is the state motto of Colorado. The Latin phrase appears to be an adaptation from Virgils Aeneid where in Book II, others say it is Nothing without God. Merriam Websters translates it as Nothing without the divine will, in the early mining days of the State, the unregenerate said it meant nothing without a new mine. The word numen means any divinity, god or goddess, or divine spirit, the motto appeared when Colorados first Territorial Governor William Gilpin asked the Secretary of the Territory L. C. Weld for a motto for the state seal. According to the story, Weld said, Well, Governor, Gilpin is said to have paused in thought for a moment and then responded Nil Sine Numine. On November 6,1861 by Joint Resolution the First Territorial Assembly adopted the motto with the territorial seal, list of Colorado state symbols Flag of Colorado Seal of the State of Colorado
36.
Economy of Colorado
–
The economy of the US state of Colorado according to The Bureau of Economic Analysis gross state product estimates for 2008 was $248.6 billion. The Colorado economy ranked 20th largest in the United States in 2008, per capita personal income in 2003 was $34,561, putting Colorado 8th in the nation. The states economy broadened from its mid-19th century roots in mining when irrigated agriculture developed, early industry was based on the extraction and processing of minerals and agricultural products. Current agricultural products are cattle, wheat, marijuana, dairy products, corn, in the second half of the 20th century, the industrial and service sectors have expanded greatly. The states economy is diversified and is notable for its concentration of scientific research, other industries include food processing, transportation equipment, machinery, chemical products, minerals such as gold and molybdenum, and tourism. Denver is an important financial center, as of August 2013, Colorado had 53,800 nonmilitary federal employees, which made of 2.3 percent of the state’s total nonfarm employment, slightly above the national average of 2.0 percent. In addition, there were 37,285 active military in Colorado, before Colorado was a state, it was a federal prison territory. There is also a significant amount of lands in the state, including 11 National Forests. There are also private companies that have operations in Colorado that deal with the governmental agencies in states. The Colorado income tax rate is a flat 4.63 percent of taxable income regardless of income level. Colorados state sales tax is 2.9 percent on retail sales, full-year Colorado residents can claim an excess sales tax refund on their individual state income tax return. Many counties and cities charge their own rates in addition to the state rate. There are also certain county and special taxes that may apply. The states senior property tax exemption was temporarily suspended by the Colorado Legislature in 2003, the tax break is scheduled to return for assessment year 2006, payable in 2007. Denvers economy, is based largely on its geographic position, the Denver metropolitan area is the largest in the area. Denver is the location of federal, high-tech, educational, commercial, financial, cultural, tourist, storage, the city is also home to several large corporations in the central United States. Many federal agencies are based or have offices in the Denver area, in addition to federal agencies, there are many companies based on federal defense and space projects. Lockheed-Martin and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. are examples, being the capital of the state of Colorado also gives many state jobs to Denver
37.
Politics of Colorado
–
Colorado has elected 17 Democrats and 12 Republicans to the governorship in the last 100 years. The people of the state of Colorado are also represented in the government of the United States by two United States Senators and seven Congressional Representatives. Of Colorados seven members of the United States House of Representatives, four are Republicans, the Senators were Michael Farrand Bennet and Cory Gardner. The Representatives were Diana Louise DeGette, Jared Schutz Polis, Scott Tipton, Ken Buck, Douglas L. Doug Lamborn, Michael Mike Coffman, until the election of Barack Obama, the people of Colorado had voted Republican in every U. S. Presidential Election since 1964, with the exception of 1992 when a plurality voted for Bill Clinton, Conversely, Colorado has a history of voter initiatives which severely restrict the power of state government. Some of these initiatives include Term Limits on legislators, Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and Amendment 23, passed in 2000, voters passed Referendum C in 2005, amending some restrictions of TABOR and Amendment 23. Colorado supported George W. Bush in both 2000 and 2004, Republicans have generally held control of statewide offices and the state legislature since the 1960s. In 2010, however, Republicans made big gains in the state and they won the statewide races of Attorney General, Secretary of State and Treasurer. Republicans also defeated two incumbent Democratic House members to hold a 4-3 majority in the states House delegation, furthermore, Republicans took control of the Colorado House of Representatives. This occurred even as Democrat John Hickenlooper won the governorship, albeit over weak and divided opposition, however, the Democrats regained the Colorado House by a large margin during the 2012 election. Colorado was a state in the 2008 U. S. Presidential Election between Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama, Obama won Colorado, by a margin of 8%, with 53% of the vote to McCains 45%. Currently, the Assembly is split with Democrats controlling the House, the 64th Colorado General Assembly was the first to be controlled by the Democrats in forty years, as the Republican Party traditionally held control of the state government. Colorado now being a state has seen increased competitiveness and consequently. The current Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives is Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, the Colorado Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, composed of 35 seats of approximately 143,000 people each. Senators are constitutionally limited to two consecutive four-year terms, the Senate is currently composed of 18 Republicans and 17 Democrats, and is led by President of the Senate, Bill Cadman, Majority Leader Mark Scheffel, and Minority Leader Morgan Carroll. 18 seats are up for election in 2016, the Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, composed of 65 seats of approximately 77,000 people each. Representatives are constitutionally limited to four consecutive two-year terms, the House is currently composed of 34 Democrats and 31 Republicans, and is led by Speaker of the House Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, Majority Leader Crisanta Duran, and Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso
38.
Sports in Colorado
–
Sports in Colorado include professional teams, college sports, and individual sports. Colorado is the least populous state with a franchise in each of the professional sports leagues. The state is able to support the teams because it contains a large area with a higher population than any other city within 550 miles. Therefore, many of the residents in the states support the teams in Denver. Colorado is home to five NCAA Division I schools, plus a number of schools competing at lower levels. One school that competes at the lowest NCAA level, Division III, the Unser family includes Al Unser, Al Unser Jr. Bobby Unser, Robby Unser and Louis Unser, and have won the Indianapolis 500 among other motorsports events, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is a major motorsports event held at the Pikes Peak roads. Notable drivers include Mario Andretti, Michèle Mouton, Walter Röhrl, Ari Vatanen, Nobuhiro Tajima, Stig Blomqvist, Sébastien Loeb, the Cherry Hills Country Club has hosted professional golf tournaments such as the U. S. Open, U. S. Senior Open, U. S. Womens Open and PGA Championship
39.
Denver metropolitan area
–
Denver is the central city of a conurbation region in the U. S. state of Colorado. The conurbation includes one continuous region consisting of the six counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas. The Denver region is part of the Front Range Urban Corridor, the continuously urbanized area extends northwest into the City and County of Broomfield, bordering Jefferson and Adams counties, and south into Douglas County, adjoining Arapahoe County. Also included in the federally defined MSA are four counties, Elbert County on the southeastern prairie and Clear Creek, Gilpin. The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood Metropolitan Statistical Area comprises ten counties, in 2005 the RTD developed a twelve-year comprehensive plan, called FasTracks, to build and operate rail transit lines and expand and improve bus service throughout the region. Electricity is provided by Xcel Energy, cable television is provided by Comcast. Severity of pollution in this area has varied enormously over the years, in the late 1980s the area was frequently in violation of multiple National Ambient Air Quality Standards established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Regional Air Quality Council was formed in 1989 to create plans to address the problem, through a variety of measures the areas air quality was improved and in 2002 the EPA designated the area in compliance with all federal health-based air quality standards. Denver was the first major city in the United States to reach compliance with all six of these standards after previously violating five of them, since then the EPA introduced a new standard for small particulates and made the existing ozone standard stricter. In 2003 the new standard was frequently exceeded in the area and was occasionally exceeded as far away as Rocky Mountain National Park. The RAQC hopes to implement plans enabling the area to comply with the new standards by 2007. S
40.
Eastern Plains
–
The Eastern Plains of Colorado refers to a region of the U. S. state of Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains and east of the population centers of the Front Range. The Eastern Plains are part of the High Plains, which are the westernmost portion of the Great Plains, the region is characterized by mostly rolling plains, divided by the South Platte River and Arkansas River valleys. There are also several deciduous forests, canyons, buttes, the Eastern Plains rise from approximately 3,400 feet at the eastern border of Colorado with Kansas, where the Arkansas River leaves the state, to 7,500 feet east of the Denver Basin. Most of the Eastern Plains region lies within Colorados 4th congressional district, the Eastern Plains have a semi-arid climate and receive little rainfall. Much of the area relies on irrigation to survive, summers are typically hot and dry, often bringing thunderstorms, which are often severe, to the area, with some occasionally forming landspouts and tornadoes. Eastern Colorado winters are cold and dry, with significant snowfalls, temperatures can sometimes fall to -40 to -30 degrees Fahrenheit in extreme cold waves, although this is rare. Eastern Colorado was once home to many Native American tribes, the Plains Indians that lived in the region included the Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Pawnee, and Sioux. The Ute people formally ruled all over central and western Colorado, the Comanche once ruled all over southeastern Colorado, and the Jicarilla Apache ruled in southeastern Colorado as well. In 1541, the Spanish came to the now known as the south eastern portion of Colorado. Not having found any gold, the Spanish largely left the area untouched, during the late 17th and 18th century Spain and France claimed southeastern Colorado. In 1803 the United States gained possession of the land east of Rocky Mountains with the Louisiana Purchase, Pike was sent by the federal government to lay out the boundary lines of territory in 1806. This expedition investigated the area now known as Colorado Springs, the prominent mountain in the area was named Pikes Peak after Pike, the leading commander of the exploration. There were multiple expeditions sent to lay out and explore the territory throughout the early 1800s and this created multiple trading posts with fur trades attracting many backcountry adventurers. There was still no permanent settlement created until after the conclusion of the Mexican War in 1848, San Luis was founded on the Culebra River in 1851. Spanish-speaking settlers who had moved north from New Mexico founded it, San Luis was shortly followed by settlements of San Pedro, San Acacio and Guadalupe. The Eastern Colorado plains are among the most sparsely populated areas in the continental United States, the Dust Bowl devastated the region and further accelerated this outmigration. Kiowa County demonstrates the population decline and its associated effects, both the Pawnee National Grasslands and Comanche National Grasslands are located in the Eastern Plains. They are composed of marginal farmlands that were withdrawn from agriculture, Eastern Colorado is largely farmland, with many small farming communities
41.
Front Range Urban Corridor
–
The corridor derives its name from the Front Range, the mountain range that defines the west central boundary of the corridor. The Front Range Urban Corridor had an population of 4,757,713 on July 1,2015. The corridor comprises three primary subregions, the South Central Colorado Urban Area, the North Central Colorado Urban Area, the influence of the Corridor extends well beyond its defined boundaries. The Colorado Eastern Plains, Nebraska Panhandle and Albany County, Wyoming, among other areas, are culturally and economically tied to the Corridor, the definition included here is not used for the greater Front Range Megaregion, one of the 11 megaregions of the United States. The table below includes the information, The urban region. The Core Based Statistical Area as designated by the United States Office of Management, the CBSA population as of July 1,2015, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau. The county population as of July 1,2015, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau, the county population as of April 1,2010, as enumerated by the 2010 United States Census. The percent county population change from April 1,2010, to July 1,2015. In the State of Wyoming, the Front Range Urban Corridor includes the Town of Albin, the Town of Burns, the City of Cheyenne, the Town of Pine Bluffs, and unincorporated Laramie County. S. S
42.
High Plains (United States)
–
The southern region of the Western High Plains ecology region contains the geological formation known as Llano Estacado which can be seen from a short distance or from miles away on satellite maps. From east to west, the High Plains rise in elevation from around 1,160 feet to over 7,800 feet. The term Great Plains, for the region west of about the 96th or 98th meridian, nevin Fennemans 1916 study, Physiographic Subdivision of the United States, brought the term Great Plains into more widespread usage. Prior to 1916, the region was almost invariably called the High Plains, today the term High Plains is usually used for a subregion instead of the whole of the Great Plains. The High Plains has a cold semi-arid climate—Köppen BSk—receiving between 10–20 inches of precipitation annually, due to low moisture and high elevation, the High Plains commonly experiences wide ranges and extremes in temperature. This is the record for the greatest temperature change in 24 hours. The region is known for the steady, and sometimes intense, the winds add a considerable wind chill factor in the winter. The development of farms in the High Plains is one of the newest areas of economic development. The High Plains are anomalously high in elevation, an explanation has recently been proposed to explain this high elevation. As the Farallon plate was subducted into the mantle beneath the region, within the crust this water caused the hydration of dense garnet and other phases into lower density amphibole and mica minerals. The resulting increase in crustal volume raised the elevation about one mile, plants endemic to the region are shortgrass prairie, prickly pear cacti and scrub. Agriculture in the forms of ranching and the growing of wheat, corn. Some areas of the High Plains have significant petroleum and natural gas deposits, the combination of oil, natural gas, and wind energy along with plentiful underground water, has allowed some areas to sustain a range of economic activity, including occasional industry. For example, the ASARCO refinery in Amarillo, Texas has been in operation since 1924 due to the plentiful and inexpensive natural gas and water that are needed in metal ore refining. The High Plains has one of the lowest population densities of any region in the continental United States, Wyoming, smaller towns, on the other hand, often struggle to sustain their population. High Plains Regional Climate Center High Plains climatological resources High Plains information - U. S. Department of the Interior Trains on the High Plains Texas counties map showing the ecoregion
43.
Northern Colorado
–
Northern Colorado is the name for a region in the state of Colorado and a proposed state in the northeastern portion of Colorado. Northern Colorado is a region in the portion of Colorado. It borders northwestern Colorado, northeastern Colorado, the portion of Central Colorado, western and southwestern portions of Nebraska. Northern Colorado receives over 300 days of sunshine per year and has a Semi-arid climate, however, the parts located in upper elevations of the Rocky Mountains receive 300 inches of snow per year and have an Alpine climate. The University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State University, and the University of Northern Colorado are all located in Northern Colorado. S, State which would consist of several counties in the northeast portion of Colorado and possible counties from Nebraska and Kansas. A County Commissioner of Weld County stated his belief that the county sends more oil and gas revenue to the state than it receives back for schools, roads, and other services. In 2013 the Democratic-controlled Colorado General Assembly passed tighter gun laws, higher renewable energy reliance laws. A higher environmental standard oil and gas law was narrowly defeated. During the debates over these laws, talk of secession began in the Eastern Plains area, at a meeting of the states county commissioners in early June, a State House leader indicated that they would attempt to pass the oil environmental standards law again. Along with Weld County, several counties were invited to or interested in being involved with this proposal, Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma. Also interested in joining the new state are parts of Nebraska, colorados Eastern Plain counties all may possibly be involved in the split, but Larimer County Commissioners indicated that their county would not likely approve of a split. On July 8,2013 a meeting of representatives from 10 counties was held in Akron, the news media reported that some people in Lincoln and Cheyenne counties wish to join in forming the state. Additionally, the organizers reported that three other Colorado and two Kansas counties also wish to join in forming the state, the county commissioners involved discussed an alternative plan if breaking away is not feasible. Cheyenne County – outside of the proposed area – became the first county to refer the measure to the people on July 23,2013. A total of eleven counties placed the measure on the November 5,2013, voters in Cheyenne, Kit Carson, Phillips, Washington, and Yuma counties approved the measure. Initial invited county 51st State Initiative - secession campaign group
