Entering the Centennial State
Colorado
Named for the great river which rises in it and leaves it just southwest
from this point. The mesas, mountains and plains of Colorado were
the home first of wandering Indians. Especially the Utes in the west
and the ancestors of the pueblos who builts the cliff dwellings to the
southwest. Three centures ago Spanish priests and soldiers explored
and claimed this land.
From 1820 to 1850 many solitary hunters for beaver fur traced all
the mountain streams. In 1858-59 discoveries of gold led thousands to
cross the plains from the Missouri River and established this commonwealth.
Created a territory in 1861, a state in 1876 Colorado has since
grown and prospered.
The mountain state welcomes you to its peaks, its canyons and
tumbling streams.
