Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Statehood
American expansion in the West spread to Colorado with the discovery of gold in the
mountains west of Denver in 1859. In 1861, the boundaries of Colorado Territory were
defined, and President Lincoln appointed William Gilpin the first governor.
In 1870 two sets of railroad tracks reached Denver, ending Colorado's isolation. The
Denver Pacific Railroad connected Denver with the Union Pacific's transcontinental line at
Cheyenne, WY, and the Kansas Pacific arrived from Kansas City, MO. That same year,
General William Palmer began planning the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad's narrow-
gauge tracks into the mountain mining camps. The mining emphasis shifted from gold to
silver during the 1870s as mountain smelter sites, like Leadville and Aspen, developed into
thriving population centers almost overnight.
National political expedience led to Colorado statehood in 1876, the centennial of US in-
dependence.
