History Colorado

Let's spelunk right into the history of mining in Colorado! From Gold to Silver and from the plains to the mountains, mining changed and evolved significantly from the 1860s to the 1930s. Join us to explore mining in Colorado and how it connects to the physical geography, how technology and adaptations made it possible and how it had impacts on the land and people who were already in the region .

Mining in Colorado (1860s -1930s)

Created by: History Colorado

Welcome to the Borderlands of Southern Colorado, an ancient crossroads. They have a violent history of conquest and enslavement, but also traditions of beauty and diversity. A place where Indigenous cultures blend with Spanish, Mexican, and American traditions to create a unique identity unlike any other in the world. This identity lives within the people of the Borderlands, and it goes with them wherever they move. Borderlands people don’t stay still. By choice, by force, or by necessity, they have moved a lot. They are mobile people who have lived beyond boundaries and between languages. They are people who live "sin fronteras" - without borders.

Colorado Borderlands

Created by: History Colorado

Grade 6-8

It’s flat, windy, and dry--the middle of nowhere. The Eastern Colorado prairies look pretty bleak to most people. But to new homesteaders, they look like heaven. A family can prosper here and build for the future. There’s plenty of land (it’s free--just stake a claim), a railroad, a good school, and a strong community. So let's go to Keota, Colorado!

Little Town on the Plains: Keota, Colorado

Created by: History Colorado

Over 100 years ago, the 19th Amendment was passed. Our collective understanding of what this means to us as citizens and a nation have shifted throughout time. In this kit we will explore changing perspectives on, citizenship and exclusion, and the legacies of this moment in our state and federal history.

Women's Voting Rights in Colorado-High School

Created by: History Colorado, Denver Public Library, Special Collections and Archives

Grade 9-12

Over 100 years ago the 19th Amendment was passed. It was the largest expansion of voting rights in US history and continues to be relevant today. How did women gain the right to vote and why does it matter? How was voting different then vs. today? Who was excluded from voting over time? Who were key leaders in the national and Colorado suffrage movement? How did Colorado passing women’s suffrage in 1893 help lead to national women’s suffrage in 1920? What was the long term impact?

Women's Voting Rights in Colorado-Middle School

Created by: History Colorado, Denver Public Library, Special Collections and Archives

Grade 6-8

In 1893, Colorado passed a law that expanded voting rights to some women nearly 25 years before a national law was passed. This changed the course of history in Colorado and continues to inspire social, economic, political and cultural advancements today. This resource kit explores the Women's Vote Movement in Colorado.

Women's Voting Rights in Colorado-Elementary School

Created by: History Colorado, Denver Public Library, Special Collections and Archives

From Mesa Verde to the Dust Bowl, and to the changing contemporary landscape of the Rocky Mountains, discover the important role water has played in Colorado history — and the environmental challenges people faced in the past and present.

Water Quest

Created by: History Colorado

Grade 3-8

Ute people are the longest continuous residents of Colorado and are still here today. Explore the history of the Ute people-CO's oldest inhabitants.

Ute Tribal Paths

Created by: History Colorado

During the era of the mountain men, people of many different cultures came together to trade furs, goods, and information. How did people live during this period of time? What role did Bent’s Fort play in international trade? How did beliefs and prejudices affect how people were treated and cultural relations? Explore this brief, but important, era in our history!

Bent's Fort and the Fur Trade

Created by: History Colorado

The Borderlands are an ancient crossroads. They have a violent history of conquest and enslavement, but also traditions of beauty and diversity. They are a place where Indigenous cultures blend with Spanish, Mexican, and American traditions to create a unique identity unlike any other in the world. This identity lives within the people of the Borderlands, and it goes with them wherever they move. And Borderlands people don’t stay still. By choice, by force, or by necessity, they have moved around a lot. They are mobile people who have lived beyond boundaries and between languages. They are people who live sin fronteras - without borders. Welcome to the Borderlands of Southern Colorado.

La Gente: Borderlands

Created by: History Colorado

Grade 6-8

Explore some of the ways we can know about the past. Practice and compare the many disciplinary lenses we can use to learn about the past while exploring the form, function, continuity and change of objects from across history.

Exploring Ways of Knowing

Created by: Field Museum, History Colorado

Grade 9-12

Dog Patch is a neighborhood in the East Side of Pueblo, CO, founded in the 1950s. Its majority Hispanic and economically disadvantaged residents live there still, advocating for fair treatment and working to combat stereotypes about their community. In many ways, the themes discussed by Dog Patch residents reflect other majority-Hispanic communities across Colorado.

Dog Patch- Exploring Change in a Colorado Hispanic Community

Created by: History Colorado

SONG FOR THE TIMES. By a Frontier Individual. Tune—"Hard Times" come again no more. There’s a crowd in every village, and every town, astir, Who are going to gather up the gold; There’s a sound in every cottage, and a wring every ear, 'Pike’s Peak’ is the land for the young and old. Chorus.—’Tis the life and the dream of the many, 'Pike’s Peak’, 'Pike’s Peak’, the land of brave and bold. Many ways we have wandered and now we are told, 'Pike's Peak' is the place to get the gold. There’s a young lovely maiden, scarce sixteen summers old, Whose thoughts over the distant prairie roam, Where the idol of her vision is digging for the gold— Pike’s Peak is the place to make your home. Chorus—'Tis the life and the dream of the many, & ‘Fare the well, says the farmer to his loving child and wife, Be merry till the day we meet again, ... happy life. Pike’s peak is the place to get the 'tin.’ ‘I am tired’ says the merchant ‘of selling goods for years' When a fortune can be made in half the time. So he takes a barrel of whisky, besides a Sweitzer cheese Pike’s Peak is the place of his design. There is youths of every nation and men from far and near, Who are going to make their fortunes quick, There goes ‘paddy with his shovel, there Yoccup with his beer— Pike's Peak is the place to raise the chink.

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Newspaper Article, SONG FOR THE TIMES

History Colorado

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Newspaper Advertisement, Chicago and Rock Island R.R. Line

Column 5; CHICAGO AND ROCK ISLAND R. R. Line from Chicago, AND THE Platte Valley Route From Council Bluffs. FOR person seeking the most expeditious and pleasant route to the Gold Regions, the above route offers superior inducements in point of time, distance, facilities for procuring outfits, etc., etc. TWO EXPRESS TRAINS Leave Chicago daily, running through to Iowa City without change, connecting with the WESTERN STAGE COMPANY’S LINE Or Mail Coaches to Council Bluffs, then connecting with the line now running to Fort Kearney, which will be extended through to the Mines early in the spring. Parties can procure teams, provisions, mining implements, etc., etc., at Chicago, Iowa City, Council Bluffs and Omaha City at reasonable rates. [Pointing finger image] Through tickets to Iowa City, Council Bluffs, Omaha City and Fort Kearney, can be procured at all principal ticket offices in the United States and Canadas, and at the Company’s office at Chicago. JOHN F. TRACY, General Superintendent. W. L. St. JOHN. General Ticket Agent

History Colorado

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Newspaper Article, OUR CENTRAL GOLD REGION-THE PIKE’S PEAK MINING DISTRICT.

From the New York Herald. OUR CENTRAL GOLD REGION-THE PIKE’S PEAK MINING DISTRICT. "We publish to-day an accurate and interesting history of the discovery of gold on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, and of the subsequent operations of the gold hunters, with the latest intelligence from that region, and a carefully prepared map of the mining district. It seems that so long ago as 1848 the first trace of gold was discovered by some Cherokee hunters on the banks of the stream known as Cache-la-Poudre, one of the tributaries of the South Platte. The following summer | similar evidence of the existence of gold in | Pike’s Peak district was reported by another expedition. The facts were made known to some settlers in the Indian country who had formerly been residents of the gold mining district of Georgia, and by them they were communicated to some friends in their native State. These latter determined to explore the country where the reported discoveries were made, but were prevented from carrying out their design until 1858, when a party was formed under the leadership of one Green Russell, whose name has. been given to diggings discovered by the party. About the same time(spring, 1858) a Delaware Indian offered for sale in the town of Lawrence, in Kansas Territory, some scale gold which he said he had found on the sources of the South Platte. The news spread, and within a few months numerous companies were formed in Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri to prospect the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. — The Georgia and the Lawrence companies united in the neighborhood or what is now Denver City. Gold was discovered, but in small quantities, and many of the gold seekers returned to the settlements disappointed and disheartened. "

History Colorado

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Map, of the Gold Region with the routes thereto

Map showing routes of the Gold region across the Kansas territory

History Colorado

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Map, Inactive Mines of Colorado

"This inventory covered approximately 900 coal mines and over 7,000 metal mines." Verso: Brief description of each mining district. -- Chart of "extreme hazards, dangerous features, environmental problems and total features encountered." Denver, Colo.: Mined Land Reclamation Div., 1982.

History Colorado

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Receipt, Boulder Agency of The Boston and Colorado Smelting Co.

A paper receipt received of G.R. Williamson from the Boulder Agency of the Boston and Colorado Smelting Company on August 21st, 1879. The receipt includes 1825 pounds of Sax "Yellow Pine" Ore mined from the Sugar Loaf Mining District in Boulder County, Colorado. The ore was valued at $333.34.

History Colorado

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Negative, In Eagle River Canyon

Men pose by a Denver & Rio Grande engine and the Eagle River at the Belden Mine in Eagle County, Colorado.

History Colorado

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Stereograph, Tabor Opera House, Leadville

This photograph of the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado was taken by photographers Luke & Wheeler circa 1879-1881. Luke & Wheeler had a photography studio on 427 Harrison St. in Leadville 1879-1881. The photograph shows a view of Harrison Avenue, featuring the Tabor Opera House next to the Clarendon Hotel. The Opera House was located at 308 Harrison Avenue and the hotel was at 300 Harrison Avenue. Other signs on the street read, "St. Louis Beer on Draught," "Dentist," "Morgan Manlock, Mining (unclear) Real Estate." The street is busy, filled with people and horse-drawn wagons. In the lower left corner of the image, two wagons are gathered around a pile of chopped wood. Street lantern lights, tall power poles, and a telephone pole are also visible in the street scene. Inscription: Printed on front of stereograph mount: "Luke & Wheeler's Rocky Mountain Views." Stamp on back reads: "Rich'd H. Stevens With Mabie, Todd & Bard, Manufacturers of Gold Pens, Cases &c. No. 180 Broadway, New York."

History Colorado

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Negative, Brown Palace Hotel (portrait)

View of the Brown Palace Hotel at Tremont Place and Broadway in downtown Denver, Colorado. A horse-drawn buggy is parked nearby.

History Colorado

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Negative, Brown Palace Hotel Denver (landscape)

View of the Brown Palace Hotel at Tremont Place and Broadway in Denver, Colorado. Pedestrians, a bicyclist and a streetcar are nearby.

History Colorado

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Negative, Stages from Dolores

Stages loaded with men are in the street in front of J.J. Harris & Co mercantile store in Dolores (Montezuma County), Colorado. Men stand on the sidewalks and in the street, some with mining equipment and guns. A burro packtrain is in the street.

History Colorado

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Negative, The Col. Seller Mine, Leadville

View of Colonel Sellers Mine in Summit County, Colorado. Shows mines with tailings, frame buildings, tipples, and apparatus.

History Colorado

Activity

K-W-L - What did you learn?

What is one of the most interesting things that you learned in this Resource Kit?

Created by: History Colorado

Activity

What is the Story?

How did mining impact Indigenous nations in Colorado? Use words or images to answer the three questions below.

Created by: History Colorado

Activity

Reflection

Did mining have a positive or negative impact on the what is now the state of Colorado and the people who live here? Sort the images to answer this question.

Created by: History Colorado

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Indigenous Perspective

How did mining impact Indigenous nations in Colorado? Read the quotes from the different indigenous nations to think about this question. Also consider how the region they live in might impact their perspectives in different ways.

Created by: History Colorado

Activity

Indigenous Land in the Mining Era

How did mining impact Indigenous groups in Colorado? Look over the events that show changes to indigenous land in Colorado during the years of mining in the region.

Created by: History Colorado

Activity

Engagement #3: Mining's Impact on Colorado

Pick one aspect of mining, explain why it would change the territory we now know as Colorado. Is it a POSITIVE change or a NEGATIVE change?

Created by: History Colorado

Activity

Reporting! News from Pike's Peak Colorado (1860)

Read through the article (typed across these slides). How did Colorado change as a result of mining?

Created by: History Colorado

Activity

K-W-L: Know, Want to Know, Learn

What do you already know? And what do you still want to know? Respond in the boxes about the following topics; Colorado History, Colorado Geography and Mining.

Created by: History Colorado

Activity

Types of Mining: Placer Mining and Hard-Rock Mining

Men watch a miner pan for gold in Cripple Creek stream near Cripple Creek (Teller County), Colorado.

Created by: History Colorado

Activity

Engagement #2: Miner Adaptations

How did miners adapt in order to address the challenges of Colorado’s geography? Choose the most important adaptation and circle it. Then use a text box to write one sentence about WHY that was the most important adaptation.

Created by: History Colorado

Activity

Adapting to Overcome Challenges

Miners had to adapt to overcome the challenges presented by Colorado's geography in order to find gold! Living in the Rocky Mountains wasn't easy - from the terrain, to transportation to weather. Look through the pictures to determine what miners did to adapt and overcome these challenges. Identify the challenge and the adaptation in each image.

Created by: History Colorado

Activity

Engagement #1: Colorado's Physical Geography & Mining

How did Colorado’s geography create challenges for miners? Refer to Colorado Physical Map PDF below if needed.

Created by: History Colorado