COLORADO
26 slides for class. Short lines. Every number in miles and km, feet and meters.
Colorado at a glance
Statehood
38th · August 1, 1876
Capital
Denver · also the biggest city
People
5.96 million · about 21st
Land
104,094 mi² (269,603 km²) · 8th
Motto
Nil sine numine · “Nothing without providence”
High point
Mount Elbert · 14,440 ft (4,401 m)
Mean height
Highest mean elevation of any state, about 6,800 ft (2,070 m)
Bird
Lark bunting
Time
Mountain Time
Peak = pico. Mile = milla.
Where is Colorado?
A rectangle of latitude and longitude. No river border. Four Corners is the southwest dot.
Border = frontera. Rectangle = rectángulo.
Where the name comes from
1 · Spanish “colored red”
Colorado described the red silt in the river that starts in these mountains.
2 · The river first
The name sat on the water before it sat on the state. In 1921 the Grand River in Colorado was renamed Colorado.
3 · Demonym
People are Coloradans (some say Coloradoans). Centennial marks 1876, 100 years after 1776.
Red = rojo. River = río.
Statehood day
38th · August 1, 1876
Gold and silver booms, a civil war pause, then a president’s proclamation on the nation’s 100th birthday year.
1858–59
Pikes Peak gold. “Pikes Peak or bust.” Denver is born as a camp.
1861
Colorado Territory, cut from Kansas, Utah, New Mexico, Nebraska lands.
1876
Statehood. The nickname is the date.
Silver = plata. Territory = territorio.
Denver, the capital
1 · 715,522 (2020)
Largest city. Metro about 3 million. Named for territorial governor James W. Denver.
2 · A step on the plains
The 13th step of the capitol is marked one mile above sea level (the mark has been rechecked and moved a little).
3 · Thin air
Visitors feel the altitude. Water, slow walks, and a day before you ski.
Altitude = altitud. Capital = capital.
Colorado Springs, the second city
1 · About 479,000
Second city. Pikes Peak 14,115 ft (4,302 m) stands over town.
2 · Academy + bases
The Air Force Academy. Fort Carson. Space commands nearby.
3 · Garden of the Gods
Red sandstone fins. Free park. A geology lesson you can walk.
Peak = pico. Sandstone = arenisca.
Boulder and the Front Range
A line of cities where plains hit rock: Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo.
Boulder
University of Colorado. Flatirons. A town that treats trails like streets.
Leadville
Highest incorporated city in the US: 10,152 ft (3,094 m).
Aspen / Vail
Silver towns that learned to ski. Winter is an industry.
Ski = esquí. Range = cordillera.
The smallest town
8 people · Lakeside (2020), a tiny enclave by Denver
Several mountain towns sit under 100 people. Bonanza, Sawpit, and Lakeside show how incorporation can outlive the boom.
Ghost bones
Silver crashed. The post office left. A few houses stayed.
Ski vs dust
Towns that found tourists lived. Towns that did not are fences and a sign.
Census caution
Seasonal workers move. Winter counts can look emptier than July.
Ghost town = pueblo fantasma. Mine = mina.
Land: rock, dune, park
Fourteeners
58 peaks at 14,000 ft (4,267 m) or more, more than any other state. Elbert is the tallest.
Great Sand Dunes
Tallest dunes in North America, up to about 750 ft (229 m), piled against the Sangre de Cristo.
Continental Divide
Rain on the west goes to the Pacific. Rain on the east goes to the Gulf. The roof splits the continent.
Dune = duna. Divide = divisoria.
Weather: sun, then a wall of snow
300 days of sun
Denver markets sunshine. Afternoon storms still build over the mountains in July.
Blizzard + chinook
A spring blizzard can drop 2 ft (61 cm). Then a chinook wind can melt it in a day and raise the thermometer 40 °F (22 °C).
Snow = nieve. Wind = viento.
Three days Colorado remembers
May 31, 1864
Cherry Creek flood
Denver’s early streets drowned. The city learned the creek was not a rumor.
Nov 29, 1864
Sand Creek
US troops attacked a Cheyenne and Arapaho camp. A massacre, now a historic site.
July 21, 1921
Pueblo flood
The Arkansas River wrecked downtown Pueblo. Hundreds dead.
Flood = inundación. Massacre = masacre.
Person 1 · Clara Brown
1 · Born enslaved
Virginia, about 1800. Sold, separated from family, freed in Kentucky.
2 · West by wagon
She cooked her way to Colorado in 1859, ran a laundry in Central City, and lent money to miners.
3 · A search
She spent her fortune looking for her children. Churches in Denver still tell her name.
Enslaved = esclavizada. Laundry = lavandería.
The flag: a red C
1911
Andrew Carlisle Carson’s design: blue, white, blue stripes like sky and snow.
The C
Red C for Colorado. A gold disk inside it, like the sun on a peak.
Easy to draw
Students can sketch it in four strokes. That is why it works on stickers.
Stripe = franja. Sun = sol.
Four-moment timeline
1806
Zebulon Pike sees the peak he cannot climb. The name sticks.
1858
Gold on Cherry Creek. Denver City vs Auraria.
1876
Statehood on the centennial.
1915
Rocky Mountain National Park. Tourism becomes a second mine.
Park = parque. Gold = oro.
Industry
Aerospace + federal
Space commands, labs, Denver’s federal row. The Air Force is a neighbor.
Tourism
Ski, park, beer, bikes. Winter and summer both sell beds.
Energy + tech
Oil and gas on the west slope and plains. Software along the Front Range.
Ski resort = estación de esquí. Lab = laboratorio.
Farm: beef, peaches, barley
Cattle
Eastern plains. Feedlots and open range. Beef is still a language.
Palisade peaches
West slope orchards in a desert climate, saved by irrigation from the Colorado River.
Barley + hops
Beer towns: Fort Collins, Denver. Grain for a craft industry.
Cattle = ganado. Peach = durazno.
Food: three plates
Green chile
Pueblo and Denver bowls. Pork, heat, tortillas. A New Mexico cousin with a local accent.
Rocky Mountain oysters
Fried bull testicles. A ranch joke that is also a menu line. Order once for the story.
Green chili cheeseburger
The Front Range default. Ask how hot. Drink water, not the first soda.
Chile = chile. Fried = frito.
Game day
Broncos
Orange Sundays. Mile High (now Empower Field) since the AFL years.
Avalanche + Nuggets
Hockey and basketball titles in the same city. Ball Arena on game night.
Buffs
University of Colorado. Folsom Field. The mountain backdrop is not CGI.
Football = fútbol americano. Crowd = multitud.
Three Coloradans
CLARA BROWN
c. 1800–1885. Pioneer, lender, church planter in a gold camp.
CHIPETA
c. 1843–1924. Ute diplomat with Chief Ouray. She argued for her people in Washington.
JACK DEMPSEY
1895–1983 · Manassa. Heavyweight champion. The Manassa Mauler.
Champion = campeón. Leader = líder.
Real rules, and one fake one
1 · Real · Avalanche closures
CDOT shuts I-70. Fines for driving past a closed gate are real. Snow is a law.
2 · Real · Altitude and alcohol
The same beer hits harder at 5,280 ft (1,609 m). Not a statute. Biology. Still teach it.
3 · Real · Recreational cannabis, 2012
First state (with Washington) to vote yes. Federal law still disagrees. Airports are not the place.
4 · Myth · “It is illegal to catch a fish with your hands”
Noodling rules vary; Colorado generally wants a licensed hook, not a folk felony about bare hands in every creek.
Law = ley. Snow = nieve.
Slang you will hear
Fourteeners / 14er
A peak over 14,000 ft. “I bagged a 14er” means you climbed one.
The I-70 parking lot
Sunday night, skiers crawling back to Denver. Not a joke if you are in it.
Native
A bumper sticker: born here. Used against Californians who just arrived. Teach it as attitude, not a slur in class, but name the tension.
To climb = escalar. Traffic = tráfico.
Leadville: the cloud city
10,152 ft (3,094 m)
1 · Silver
In the 1880s it was one of the richest towns on earth. Opera houses at altitude.
2 · Thin air sports
A 100 mile (161 km) trail race. A heavy-metal marathon. Lungs learn fast.
3 · Still awake
About 2,600 people. Mining memory, ski access, a main street that did not die.
Silver = plata. Lungs = pulmones.
Four Corners: one step, four states
4 states on one brass mark
1 · The only one
Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico. Surveyors set the point. You can kneel in four laws.
2 · Navajo land
The monument sits on tribal land. Pay the fee. Buy the fry bread. Be a guest.
3 · A little off?
Internet lore says the marker is “wrong.” The legal corner is the monument as accepted. Teach “good enough for government work” with care.
Corner = esquina. Tribe = tribu.
Five questions
1. What is the capital of Colorado?
2. Why Centennial State?
3. What does colorado mean in Spanish here?
4. How high is “mile high”?
5. Four Corners joins Colorado with which three?
Question = pregunta. Answer = respuesta.
Thanks · Next: Connecticut
Colorado, episode 06: a red river, a mile of air, 58 fourteeners.
Answer key
1) a 2) b 3) c 4) a 5) b
Thanks = gracias.