ENCYCLOPÆDIA Britannica DISCOVER AMERICA Colorado The Centennial State CHICAGO LONDON NEW DELHI PARIS SEOUL SYDNEY TAIPEI TOKYO
4 COLORADO INTRODUCTION The Rocky Mountain state of Colorado has the highest average elevation in the nation In fact the entire state is 3,300 feet or more above sea level World-famous ski slopes bring skiers by the millions to the state Thousands of years ago it was the grazing bison often called buffalo surrounded by grassy plains that drew the first inhabitants to the area The first signs of human existence in Colorado date back more than 10,000 years Prehistoric spearheads have been discovered near piles of bison bones This finding suggests that early inhabitants were migratory hunters They would have followed their source of food from place to The American bison is commonly known as the buffalo place without making permanent homes Houses and other evidence of people who lived approximately 2,000 years ago indicate that farming was an important way of life for them Today farming remains an important industry in the state The Colorado River was named for the red silt that colored the water Colorado means red in Spanish With an area of 104,100 square miles Colorado is the eighth largest state The Colorado state flag has two horizontal blue stripes that represent the sky and a white stripe in the middle that stands for snow A large red C stands for Colorado A gold ball in the middle of the C represents sunshine
INTRODUCTION 5 On a map it is apparent that Colorado is almost a perfect rectangle But the state’s rugged landscape is hardly made of straight lines Two thirds of Colorado is dominated by jagged mountains and plateaus The rest of the state contains rolling foothills and sweeping plains Located in the west-central region of the United States Colorado is bordered by Nebraska and Wyoming to the north Kansas to the east Oklahoma and New Mexico to the south and Utah to the west Although by size it is the eighth largest state Colorado’s population ranks only 24th in the nation With so many mountains and protected parklands much of the state remains unoccupied The Royal Gorge Bridge took seven months to construct Four Corners Monument in southwestern Colorado allows you to stand in four states at one time Utah Arizona New Mexico and Colorado all meet at one point The Royal Gorge Bridge is the highest suspension bridge in the world The quarter-mile-long bridge was built over a 1,053-foot canyon in 1929 Black Canyon in Gunnison National Park is known for its sheer cliff walls that rise up from the river It reaches a depth of 2,722 feet Picking wildflowers on public land is against the law in Colorado 0 0 Colorado Location Map Capital Denver Interstate highways 40 80 64 129 Mi Km Scale Population 4,301,261 Size 104,100 square miles Highest peak Mount Elbert 14,433 feet
