Colorado County Histories

The state of Colorado encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. The state was named for the Colorado River, which early Spanish explorers named the Río Colorado for the red colored silt the river carried from the mountains.

Flag of ColoradoOn August 1, 1876, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado as the 38th state. Colorado is nicknamed the “Centennial State” because it was admitted to the Union in 1876, the centennial year of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Colorado is bordered by the northwest state of Wyoming to the north, the midwest states of Nebraska and Kansas to the northeast and east, on the south by New Mexico and a small portion of the southwestern state of Oklahoma, on the west by Utah, and Arizona to the southwest.

The discovery of a major silver lode near Leadville in 1878, triggered the Colorado Silver Boom. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 invigorated silver mining, and Colorado’s last, but greatest, gold strike at Cripple Creek a few months later lured a new generation of gold seekers. Colorado women were granted the right to vote beginning on November 7, 1893, making Colorado the second state to grant universal suffrage and the first one by a popular vote (of Colorado men).

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Collection Details

  1. DAVID BOYD,  A HISTORY: GREELEY AND THE UNION COLONY OF COLORADO, GREELEY TRIBUNE PRESS, 1890, 1899
  2. KATHERINE L. CRAIG,  CRAIG’S BRIEF HISTORY OF COLORADO: FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS, WELCH-HAFFNER PRINTING CO., 1923
  3. THOMAS M. MARSHALL,  EARLY RECORDS OF GILPIN COUNTY, COLORADO, 1859-1861, , 1920
  4. O.L. BASKIN,  HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK & BOULDER VALLEYS, CONTAINING A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE STATE OF COLORADO FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO [1880]; A HISTORY OF GILPIN, CLEAR CREEK, BOULDER & JEFFERSON COUNTIES; & BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES., O.L. BASKIN & CO, 1880
  5. WILBUR F. STONE,  HISTORY OF COLORADO – VOLUME 1, S. J. CLARKE, 1918
  6. WILBUR F. STONE,  HISTORY OF COLORADO – VOLUME 2, S. J. CLARKE, 1918
  7. WILBUR F. STONE,  HISTORY OF COLORADO – VOLUME 3, S. J. CLARKE, 1918
  8. WILBUR F. STONE,  HISTORY OF COLORADO – VOLUME 4, S. J. CLARKE, 1919
  9. WATROUS, ANSEL,  HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO , THE COURIER PRINTING & PUB. CO., 1911
  10. O.L. BASKIN,  HISTORY OF THE ARKANSAS VALLEY, O.L. BASKIN & CO, 1881
  11. O.L. BASKIN & WILLIAM B. VICKERS,  HISTORY OF THE CITY OF DENVER, ARAPAHOE COUNTY, AND COLORADO , O.L. BASKIN & CO.,
  12. O.L. BASKIN & WILLIAM B. VICKERS,  HISTORY OF THE CITY OF DENVER, ARAPAHOE COUNTY, AND COLORADO. , O. L. BASKIN & CO, 1880
  13. O.L. BASKIN & WILLIAM B. VICKERS,  HISTORY OF THE CITY OF DENVER, ARAPAHOE COUNTY, AND COLORADO: CONTAINING A HISTORY OF THE STATE OF COLORADO, A CONDENSED SKETCH OF ARAPAHOE COUNTY, A HISTORY OF THE CITY OF DENVER, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES., O.L. BASKIN & CO., 1880
  14. JUNIUS E. WHARTON,  HISTORY OF THE CITY OF DENVER: FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME. , BYERS & DAILEY, PRINTERS, NEWS OFFICE, 1909
  15. FRANK HALL,  HISTORY OF THE STATE OF COLORADO, EMBRACING ACCOUNTS OF THE PRE-HISTORIC RACES AND THEIR REMAINS; THE EARLIEST SPANISH, FRENCH AND AMERICAN EXPLORATIONS . THE FIRST AMERICAN SETTLEMENTS FOUNDED; THE ORIGINAL DISCOVERIES OF GOLD IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS; THE DEVELOPMENT OF CITIES AND TOWNS, WITH THE VARIOUS PHASES OF INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL TRANSITION, FROM 1858 TO 1890 ., BLAKELY PRINT. CO., 1889
  16. HOWBERT, IRVING,  INDIANS OF THE PIKE’S PEAK REGION, INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF SAND CREEK, AND OF OCCURRENCES IN EL PASO COUNTY, COLORADO, DURING THE WAR WITH THE CHEYENNES AND ARAPAHOES, IN 1864 AND 1868, , KNICKERBOCKER PRESS, 1914
  17. MILO L. WHITTAKER,  PATHBREAKERS AND PIONEERS OF THE PUEBLO REGION, THE FRANKLIN PRESS COMPANY, 1917
  18. GEORGE M. DARLEY,  PIONEERING IN THE SAN JUAN: PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF WORK DONE IN SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO DURING THE “GREAT SAN JUAN EXCITEMENT, FLEMING H. REVELL, 1876
  19. ,  PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF DENVER AND VICINITY, COLORADO; CONTAINING PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MANY WELL KNOWN CITIZENS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT; TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS OF ALL THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES., CHAPMAN PUB. CO., 1898
  20. JEROME SMILEY,  SEMI-CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF COLORADO (2 VOLS.) (VOL 1), LEWIS PUBLISHING CO., 1913
  21. JEROME SMILEY,  SEMI-CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF COLORADO (2 VOLS.) (VOL 2), LEWIS PUBLISHING CO., 1913
  22. ,  SOUTHERN COLORADO: HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE OF FREMONT AND CUSTER COUNTIES WITH THEIR PRINCIPAL TOWNS: CANON CITY AND OTHER TOWNS, FREMONT COUNTY: ROSITA, SILVER CLIFF, ULA, AND WET MOUNTAIN VALLEY, CUSTER COUNTY: WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE IMMENSE MINERAL REGIONS OF FREMONT AND CUSTER COUNTIES, BINCKLEY & HARTWELL, 1879
  23. ALICE P. HILL,  TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS, PIERSON & GARDNER, 1884
  24. SAMUEL CUSHMAN,  THE GOLD MINES OF GILPIN COUNTY, COLORADO; HISTORICAL, DESCRIPTIVE AND STATISTICAL, REGISTER STEAM PRINTING HOUSE, 1876
  25. EUGENE PARSONS,  THE MAKING OF COLORADO: A HISTORICAL SKETCH, A. FLANAGAN, 1908
  26. JAMES F. WILLARD,  THE UNION COLONY AT GREELEY, COLORADO, 1869-1871. (VOL 1), W.F. ROBINSON PRINTING CO., 1918
  27. BARTON WALTER MARSH,  UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL: A DESCRIPTION OF SCENERY, NATURAL RESOURCES, PRODUCTS, INDUSTRIES, EXPLORATION, ADVENTURE, ETC. MARSH, BARTON W. MONTROSE, CO: MARSH AND TORRENCE, 1905., MARSH AND TORRENCE, 1905

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