1890 United States Census
The Eleventh United States Census was taken beginning June 2, 1890. It determined the resident population of the United States to be 62,979,766—an increase of 25.5 percent over the 50,189,209 persons enumerated during the 1880 census. The data was tabulated by machine for the first time; the data reported that the distribution of the population had resulted in the disappearance of the American frontier. Most of the 1890 census materials were destroyed in a 1921 fire and fragments of the US census population schedule exist only for the states of Alabama, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, the District of Columbia; this was the first census in which a majority of states recorded populations of over one million, as well as the first in which multiple cities – New York as of 1880, Philadelphia – recorded populations of over one million. The census saw Chicago rank as the nation's second-most populous city, a position it would hold until 1990, in which Los Angeles would supplant it.
The 1890 census collected the following information: The 1890 census was the first to be compiled using methods invented by Herman Hollerith and was overseen by Superintendents Robert P. Porter and Carroll D. Wright. Data was entered on a machine readable medium, punched cards, tabulated by machine; the net effect of the many changes from the 1880 census: the larger population, the number of data items to be collected, the Census Bureau headcount, the volume of scheduled publications, the use of Hollerith's electromechanical tabulators, was to reduce the time required to process the census from eight years for the 1880 census to six years for the 1890 census. The total population of 62,947,714, the family, or rough, was announced after only six weeks of processing; the public reaction to this tabulation was disbelief, as it was believed that the "right answer" was at least 75,000,000. The United States census of 1890 showed a total of 248,253 Native Americans living in the United States, down from 400,764 Native Americans identified in the census of 1850.
The 1890 census announced that the frontier region of the United States no longer existed, that the Census Bureau would no longer track the westward migration of the U. S. population. Up to and including the 1880 census, the country had a frontier of settlement. By 1890, isolated bodies of settlement had broken into the unsettled area to the extent that there was hardly a frontier line; this prompted Frederick Jackson Turner to develop his Frontier Thesis. The original data for the 1890 Census is no longer available. All the population schedules were damaged in a fire in the basement of the Commerce Building in Washington, D. C. in 1921. Some 25 % of the materials were presumed another 50 % damaged by smoke and water; the damage to the records led to an outcry for a permanent National Archives. In December 1932, following standard federal record-keeping procedures, the Chief Clerk of the Bureau of the Census sent the Librarian of Congress a list of papers to be destroyed, including the original 1890 census schedules.
The Librarian was asked by the Bureau to identify any records which should be retained for historical purposes, but the Librarian did not accept the census records. Congress authorized destruction of that list of records on February 21, 1933, the surviving original 1890 census records were destroyed by government order by 1934 or 1935; the other censuses for which some information has been lost are the 1810 enumerations. Few sets of microdata from the 1890 census survive, but aggregate data for small areas, together with compatible cartographic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. Mayo-Smith, Richmond, "The Eleventh Census of the United States". In: The Economic Journal, Vol. 1, p. 43 - 58 1891 U. S Census Report Contains 1890 Census results Historical US Census data from the U. S. Census Bureau website Hollerith 1890 Census Tabulator by Columbia University "The Fate of the 1890 Population Census" from the National Archives website
Interstate 70 in Colorado
Interstate 70 is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from Cove Fort, Utah, to Baltimore, Maryland. In Colorado, the highway traverses an east–west route across the center of the state. In western Colorado, the highway connects the metropolitan areas of Grand Junction and Denver via a route through the Rocky Mountains. In eastern Colorado, the highway crosses the Great Plains, connecting Denver with metropolitan areas in Kansas and Missouri. Bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles prohibited on Interstate Highways, are allowed on those stretches of I-70 in the Rockies where no other through route exists; the U. S. Department of Transportation lists the construction of I-70 among the engineering marvels undertaken in the Interstate Highway system, cites four major accomplishments: the section through the Dakota Hogback, Eisenhower Tunnel, Vail Pass and Glenwood Canyon; the Eisenhower Tunnel, with a maximum elevation of 11,158 feet and length of 1.7 miles, is the longest mountain tunnel and highest point along the Interstate Highway System.
The portion through Glenwood Canyon was completed on October 14, 1992. This was one of the final pieces of the Interstate Highway System to open to traffic, is one of the most expensive rural highways per mile built in the United States; the Colorado Department of Transportation earned the 1993 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for the completion of I-70 through the canyon. When the Interstate Highway system was in the planning stages, the western terminus of I-70 was proposed to be at Denver; the portion west of Denver was included into the plans after lobbying by Governor Edwin C. Johnson, for whom one of the tunnels along I-70 is named. East of Idaho Springs, I-70 was built along the corridor of U. S. Highway 40, one of the original transcontinental U. S. Highways. West of Idaho Springs, I-70 was built along the route of U. S. Highway 6, extended into Colorado during the 1930s. I-70 enters Colorado from Utah, concurrent with US 6 and US 50, on a plateau between the north rim of Ruby Canyon of the Colorado River and the south rim of the Book Cliffs.
The plateau ends just past the state line and the highway descends into the Grand Valley, formed by the Colorado River and its tributaries. The Grand Valley is home to several towns and small cities that form the Grand Junction Metropolitan Statistical Area, the largest conurbation in the area regionally known as the Western Slope; the highway directly serves the communities of Grand Junction and Palisade. Grand Junction is the largest city between Denver and Salt Lake City and serves as the economic hub of the area; the freeway passes to the north of downtown, while US 6 and 50 retain their original routes through downtown. US 6 rejoins I-70 east of Grand Junction. I-70 exits the valley through De Beque Canyon, a path carved by the Colorado River that separates the Book Cliffs from Battlement Mesa; the river and its tributaries provide the course for the ascent up the Rocky Mountains. In the canyon, I-70 enters the Beavertail Mountain Tunnel, the first of several tunnels built to route the freeway across the Rockies.
This tunnel design features a curved sidewall, unusual for tunnels in the United States, where most tunnels feature a curved roof and flat side-walls. Engineers borrowed a European design to give the tunnel added strength. After the canyon winds past the Book Cliffs, the highway follows the Colorado River through a valley containing the communities of Parachute and Rifle. East of the city of Glenwood Springs, the highway enters Glenwood Canyon. Both the federal and state departments of transportation have praised the engineering achievement required to build the freeway through the narrow gorge while preserving the natural beauty of the canyon. A 12-mile section of roadway features the No Name Tunnel, Hanging Lake Tunnel, Reverse Curve Tunnel, 40 bridges and viaducts, miles of retaining walls. Through a significant portion of the canyon, the eastbound lanes extend cantilevered over the Colorado River and the westbound lanes are suspended on a viaduct several feet above the canyon floor. Along this run, the freeway hugs the north bank of the Colorado River, while the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad occupies the south bank.
To minimize the hazards along this portion, a command center staffed with emergency response vehicles and tow trucks on standby monitors cameras along the tunnels and viaducts in the canyon. Traffic signals have been placed at strategic locations to stop traffic in the event of an accident, variable message signs equipped with radar guns will automatically warn motorists exceeding the design speed of one of the curves; the USDOT makes provision for bicycles, which are prohibited along Interstate Highways, along the freeway corridor in Glenwood Canyon. The highway departs the Colorado River near Dotsero, the name given to the railroad separation for the two primary mountain crossings, the original via Tennessee Pass/Royal Gorge and the newer and shorter Moffat Tunnel route. I-70 uses a separate route between the two rail corridors. From this junction I-70 follows the Eagle River toward Vail Pass, at an elevation of 10,666 feet. In this canyon I-70 reaches the western terminus of U. S. Highway 24, which meanders through the Rockies before rejoining I-70.
US 24 is known as the Highway of the Fourteeners, from the concentration of mountains exceeding 14,000 feet along the highway corridor. Along the ascent, I-70 serves the ski resort town of Vail and the ski areas of Beaver Creek Resort, Vail Ski Resort and Copper Mountain; the construction of the freeway over Vail Pass is l
Georgetown, Colorado
Georgetown is a Territorial Charter Municipality, the county seat of Clear Creek County, United States. The former silver mining camp along Clear Creek in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains was established in 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush; the federally designated Georgetown-Silver Plume Historic District comprises Georgetown, the neighboring town of Silver Plume, the Georgetown Loop Historic Mining & Railroad Park between the two towns. The town population was 1,034 at the 2010 census; the Georgetown Post Office has the ZIP code 80444. The town sits at an elevation of 8,530 feet above sea level, nestled in the mountains near the upper end of the valley of Clear Creek in the mountains west of Denver along Interstate 70. Although a small town today, the town was a historic center of the mining industry in Colorado during the late 19th century, earning the nickname the "Silver Queen of Colorado", it has evolved into a lively historical summer tourist center today with many preserved structures from the heyday of the Colorado Silver Boom.
The town stretches north-south along Clear Creek, hemmed in by the mountains, with the historic downtown located at the southern end and modern development located at the northern end of town. The town was founded in 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush by George and David Griffith, two prospectors from Kentucky, it was named "Georgetown" in honor of the older of the two brothers. Although founded during the gold rush, the town grew following the discovery of silver on September 14, 1864, by James Huff at a site 8 miles up the canyon in the Argentine Pass area. In the following years, thousands of mines were dug in the mountains surrounding the town and the town grew into a center for prospectors and mine workers in the surrounding mountains. Located in the valley floor, the town itself was not a mining camp but a center of commerce and entertainment for miners in the surrounding mountains. Silver, the main product from the district, was not discovered until 1864. John Henry Bowman came to Silver Plume, Colorado, in 1883 moved to Georgetown, Colorado, in 1885.
A machinist, he worked as foreman of the Miners Sampling Works. He was superintendent of the American Sisters Mine, a company in which he owned stock. American Sisters Mine was a consolidation of Two Sisters Mine and Native American Mine, silver mines located on Columbia Mountain in upper Clear Creek County, Colorado. In 1891-1892, John Bowman and his wife, Lavinia Potts Bowman built what became known as the Bowman/White House in Georgetown. There they raised two daughters and Mary Ellen. In 1899, Iorria married J. E. Carnal and moved to Ohio. For the most part, Mellie stayed in the family home after she married John James White in 1901, she inherited half of her father's share in the American Sisters Mine and served on the Georgetown Library Association from 1911-1922. Mellie's husband, John James White, Sr. bought the remaining stock of what was now called the Two American Sisters Mine. He managed construction of a dam and power plant north of Georgetown, built a new shaft house and mill at the mine site.
White, an attorney, practiced law, served as the Police Judge and Mayor of Georgetown from 1900-1902, was President of the Georgetown school board. The Bowman-White House still remains, is registered as a historical site in Georgetown, Colorado. Georgetown was incorporated on January 10, 1868, a few months it wrested the county seat from nearby Idaho Springs, a larger community today; the historic courthouse dates from this year. Georgetown is the only Colorado municipality that still operates under a charter from the Territory of Colorado which includes a Police Judge as Mayor and a Board of Selectmen instead of a Town Council; the building of the narrow gauge Colorado Central Railroad up the canyon from Golden in the 1870s further increased the central position of the town. Although most of the railroad was removed, a portion remained between the town and Silver Plume and is operated today as a tourist railroad called the Georgetown Loop; the town experienced its greatest growth and prosperity during the Colorado silver boom of the 1880s when it rivaled Leadville to the west as the mining capital of Colorado.
At one time, before the collapse of the silver boom in 1893, the town population exceeded 10,000, a movement arose among local citizens to move the state capital there from Denver. The frontier gambler, Poker Alice, lived for a time in Georgetown and in several other Colorado communities where she was considered an expert player and dealer. Following the collapse of the Silver Boom, the town population dwindled. In the 1950s the town began to experience a small renaissance as an après-ski watering hole for the thousands of skiers who passed through the town on their way down from the mountains at the ski areas near Loveland Pass and Guanella Pass. Small craft shops began to set up businesses in the once decrepit 19th century storefronts. By the late 1960s, the establishment of a museum in one of the historic hotels had made the town a popular summer tourist destination where visitors could relive the experience of walking among structures from the mining boom; the historic downtown was used as the location for the filming of a scene from the 1978 movie Every Which Way But Loose starring Clint Eastwood.
The scene features the climactic showdown between the Black Widows motorcycle gang. The town was used in the 1998 film Phantoms which included the historic Hotel de Paris, as well as the colonial-style post office; the made-for-TV movie The Christmas Gift, starring John Denve
Argo Tunnel
The Argo Tunnel called the Newhouse Tunnel, is a 4.16-mile mine drainage and access tunnel with its portal at Idaho Springs, Colorado, USA. The tunnel intersected nearly all the major gold mines between Idaho Springs and Central City, is the longest such drainage tunnel in the Central City-Idaho Springs mining district; the mines drained by the Argo Tunnel are no longer active, the water draining out the tunnel was a source of pollution in Clear Creek until the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency began treating the water. Large drainage tunnels in other mining districts include the Sutro Tunnel on the Comstock Lode in Nevada, the Leadville Tunnel and the Yak Tunnel at Leadville, Colorado; the associated gold ore mill and an adjacent gold mine are open to public tours, as of 2017, The tunnel itself is now open to the public. The Argo Tunnel was started from its southern terminus at Idaho Springs in September 1893, reached its final length of 4.16 miles in November 1910, after several pauses in the work.
The actual time spent driving the tunnel was seven months. The tunnel intersected nearly all the major mines between Central City; the tunnel was built on an incline of one-half percent, so that water from the mine workings that it intersected would drain out the entrance at Idaho Springs, rather than having to be pumped out of the individual shafts. In addition, ore cars from the mines could roll downhill to the ore mill at the tunnel entrance, rather than the ore having to be hoisted out of the shafts and trucked to mills; the tunnel was driven in a north-northwest direction, perpendicular to the predominant orientation of the gold veins. It was hoped that the tunnel would intersect undiscovered gold veins, but there is no record that important new ore bodies were discovered; the tunnel operated until January 1943, when miners working on the Kansas Lode near Nevadaville blasted into a water-filled mine working, a large slug of water flooded out the tunnel entrance, killing the four miners.
Shortly after the accident, the federal government ordered all gold mines in the US to shut down, to free men and material to mine metals considered more essential to the World War II war effort. The Argo Tunnel never reopened. Although no longer used, the Argo Tunnel continued to drain acid water from the mines, was recognized as a major continuing source of dissolved metals in Clear Creek. In May 1980, a surge of water flowed from the mine and turned the water in Clear Creek orange for some distance downstream; the temporary large increase in flow was attributed to a roof collapse somewhere within the tunnel damming a large volume of water behind it failing suddenly. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency listed the tunnel as part of the Central City/Clear Creek federal Superfund site in 1983, built a treatment system at the mouth to neutralize and remove heavy metals from the 700-US-gallon per minute acid mine drainage flow before it flows into Clear Creek; the treatment system began operation in 1998.
The water treatment plant is just west of the old ore mill. Gold mining in Colorado
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the northwestern region of the United States. It borders the state of Montana to the east and northeast, Wyoming to the east and Utah to the south, Washington and Oregon to the west. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canadian border with the province of British Columbia. With a population of 1.7 million and an area of 83,569 square miles, Idaho is the 14th largest, the 12th least populous and the 7th least densely populated of the 50 U. S. states. The state's capital and largest city is Boise. Idaho prior to European settlement was inhabited by Native American peoples, some of whom still live in the area. In the early 19th century, Idaho was considered part of the Oregon Country, an area disputed between the U. S. and the United Kingdom. It became U. S. territory with the signing of the Oregon Treaty of 1846, but a separate Idaho Territory was not organized until 1863, instead being included for periods in Oregon Territory and Washington Territory. Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, becoming the 43rd state.
Forming part of the Pacific Northwest, Idaho is divided into several distinct geographic and climatic regions. In the state's north, the isolated Idaho Panhandle is linked with Eastern Washington, with which it shares the Pacific Time Zone – the rest of the state uses the Mountain Time Zone; the state's south includes the Snake River Plain, while the south-east incorporates part of the Great Basin. Idaho is quite mountainous, contains several stretches of the Rocky Mountains; the United States Forest Service holds about 38 % of the most of any state. Industries significant for the state economy include manufacturing, mining and tourism. A number of science and technology firms are either headquartered in Idaho or have factories there, the state contains the Idaho National Laboratory, the country's largest Department of Energy facility. Idaho's agricultural sector supplies many products, but the state is best known for its potato crop, which comprises around one-third of the nationwide yield; the official state nickname is the "Gem State".
The name's origin remains a mystery. In the early 1860s, when the United States Congress was considering organizing a new territory in the Rocky Mountains, eccentric lobbyist George M. Willing suggested the name "Idaho", which he claimed was derived from a Shoshone language term meaning "the sun comes from the mountains" or "gem of the mountains". Willing claimed he had invented the name. Congress decided to name the area Colorado Territory when it was created in February 1861. Thinking they would get a jump on the name, locals named a community in Colorado "Idaho Springs". However, the name "Idaho" did not fall into obscurity; the same year Congress created Colorado Territory, a county called Idaho County was created in eastern Washington Territory. The county was named after a steamship named Idaho, launched on the Columbia River in 1860, it is unclear after Willing's claim was revealed. Regardless, part of Washington Territory, including Idaho County, was used to create Idaho Territory in 1863.
Despite this lack of evidence for the origin of the name, many textbooks well into the 20th century repeated as fact Willing's account the name "Idaho" derived from the Shoshone term "ee-da-how". A 1956 Idaho history textbook says:"Idaho" is a Shoshoni Indian exclamation; the word consists of three parts. The first is "Ee", which in English conveys the idea of "coming down"; the second is "dah", the Shoshoni stem or root for both "sun" and "mountain". The third syllable, "how", denotes the exclamation and stands for the same thing in Shoshoni that the exclamation mark does in the English language; the Shoshoni word is "Ee-dah-how", the Indian thought thus conveyed when translated into English means, "Behold! the sun coming down the mountain. An alternative etymology attributes the name to the Plains Apache word "ídaahę́", used in reference to The Comanche. Idaho borders six U. S. states and one Canadian province. The states of Washington and Oregon are to the west and Utah are to the south, Montana and Wyoming are to the east.
Idaho shares a short border with the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. The landscape is rugged with some of the largest unspoiled natural areas in the United States. For example, at 2.3 million acres, the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area is the largest contiguous area of protected wilderness in the continental United States. Idaho is a Rocky Mountain state with scenic areas; the state has snow-capped mountain ranges, vast lakes and steep canyons. The waters of the Snake River rush through the deepest gorge in the United States. Shoshone Falls plunges down rugged cliffs from a height greater than Niagara Falls; the major rivers in Idaho are the Snake River, the Clark Fork/Pend Oreille River, the Clearwater River, the Salmon River. Other significant rivers include the Coeur d'Alene River, the Spokane River, the Boise River, the Payette River; the Salmon River empties into the Snake in Hells Canyon and forms the southern boundary of Nez Perce County on its north shore, of which Lewiston is the county seat.
The Port of Lewiston, at the confluence of the Clearwater and the Snake Rivers is the farthest inland seaport on the West Coast at 465 river miles from the Pacific at Astoria, Oregon. Idaho's highest point is 12,662 ft, in the Lost River Range north of Mackay. Idaho's lowest poi
Clear Creek County, Colorado
Clear Creek County is one of the 64 counties of the U. S. state of Colorado. As of the 2010 census, the population was 9,088; the county seat is Georgetown. Clear Creek County is part of CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. Clear Creek County was one of the original 17 counties created by the Colorado legislature on 1 November 1861, is one of only two counties to have persisted with its original boundaries unchanged, it was named after Clear Creek. Idaho Springs was designated the county seat, but the county government was moved to Georgetown in 1867. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 396 square miles, of which 395 square miles is land and 1.3 square miles is water. Jefferson County - east Gilpin County - northeast Park County - south Summit County - west Grand County - northwest I-70 US 6 US 40 SH 5 SH 103 Central City Parkway Pike National Forest Roosevelt National Forest James Peak Wilderness Mount Evans Wilderness American Discovery Trail Continental Divide National Scenic Trail Grays Peak National Recreation Trail Mount Evans National Recreation Trail Guanella Pass Scenic Byway Mount Evans Scenic Byway Clear Creek County tends to be somewhat divided between Republicans and Democrats.
In the 2012 election, Barack Obama won over Mitt Romney 54% to 42%. As of the census of 2000, there were 9,322 people, 4,019 households, 2,608 families residing in the county; the population density was 24 people per square mile. There were 5,128 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 96.37% White, 0.28% Black or African American, 0.73% Native American, 0.36% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.02% from other races, 1.20% from two or more races. 3.87% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 4,019 households out of which 28.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.60% were married couples living together, 6.90% had a female householder with no husband present, 35.10% were non-families. 27.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.30% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.81. In the county, the population was spread out with 22.60% under the age of 18, 5.60% from 18 to 24, 32.60% from 25 to 44, 32.20% from 45 to 64, 7.10% who were 65 years of age or older.
The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 108.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 110.20 males. The median income for a household in the county was $50,997, the median income for a family was $61,400. Males had a median income of $41,667 versus $30,757 for females; the per capita income for the county was $28,160. About 3.00% of families and 5.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.80% of those under age 18 and 5.60% of those age 65 or over. Idaho Springs Empire Georgetown Silver Plume Downieville-Lawson-Dumont Floyd Hill St. Mary's Upper Bear Creek Georgetown Loop Historic Mining & Railroad Park Georgetown-Silver Plume National Historic District Outline of Colorado Index of Colorado-related articles Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory Montana County, Jefferson Territory Colorado census statistical areas Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area Front Range Urban Corridor National Register of Historic Places listings in Clear Creek County, Colorado Clear Creek County Government website Clear Creek County Colorado Tourism and Visitors Site Colorado Historical Society
State of Colorado
Idaho Springs travel guide from Wikivoyage
