COLORADO 



361 



tn i In- Hiip|Hirt of liiiniiiii life on a considerably 



P'eater -e; t |e lllflll ill pie-cut, seems til bee\ ideliced 



by tin- pre.-ence <if -jreat numbers of abandoned and 

 prehistoric dwellings, sometimes perched upon dills 

 witliin sunn- canon, or on a high ridge or HH-XH, as 

 if for protection from hostile attack. Tin* Moqui 

 towns in Ari/onaare still inhabited by interesting 

 tribes of semi civilised aborigines, no doubt relics 

 of a race once very imirb more widely spread. The 

 whole course of the river below the junction is 

 about '.HMI miles; to its remotest sources it is 2000 

 mill's. Navigation is possible for ligl it- draught 

 si -a IIUM-S for over 600 miles. At extreme high 

 \\atiM-, steamboats sometimes go up to the mouth of 

 the Hio Virgen to loal rock-salt. The lower por- 

 tion of the river is visited at certain seasons by 

 bores, or high tidal waves, a phenomenon to be 

 seen in only a very few North American rivers. 

 The non-tidal portion of the river is subject to vast 

 and frequent changes of volume, and except where 

 confined by canon-walls, the river channel shifts to 

 and fro in its sandy alluvial bed to a very remark- 

 able degree. Navigation is much impeded by rocks 

 and sand-bars. 



COLORADO RIVER OF TEXAS rises by many head- 

 streams in the south part of the Llano Estacado, of 

 North-west Texas. Its two main head-streams 

 are the Concho or Salt Fork, and the Red or 

 North Fork. The river takes a devious south-east- 

 ward course of 900 miles, and discharges its waters 

 by two main outlets into Matagorda Bay. It is 

 aoout 900 miles long, and its drainage area is put 

 at 24,700 sq. in. Sand-bars at its mouth impede 

 navigation. Steamboats have ascended the river as 

 far as Austin, the capital of the state ; but the 

 stream is not much navigated. The basin of -the 

 river is in part very level, but in some parts of the 

 course the banks are bold and bluffy. The valley 

 of the Colorado is fairly supplied with timber, and 

 the soil is generally fertile ; but the rains are much 

 less abundant than in the river basins lying farther 

 to the eastward. It is stated that this river was 

 named Brazos by the Spanish colonists, and that 

 the Colorado of the same settlers was what is now 

 called th6 Brazos ; the names having been mis- 

 applied or transposed in later times by mistake. 

 The Colorado is the largest river wholly within the 

 state of Texas, except only the Brazos. 



Colorado, a west central state of the American 

 Union, in 37 41N. lat. , and 102 109 W. long., is 

 traversed N. and S. by ranges of 

 the Rocky Mountains. It takes 

 its name from the Colorado River, 

 to the basin of which all the western slope of 

 the state belongs as the eastern to the Mississippi 

 valley while part of the south is drained by the 

 Rio Grande. The area is 103,925 sq. m., or rather 

 more than half the extent of France ; so that Colo- 

 rado ranks as eighth in area among the states and 

 territories, being surpassed by Arizona, Alaska, 

 California, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas. 

 The vast ranges which traverse this region have 

 mostly an approximate north and south direction, 

 with manj r deviations. The high plains and over- 

 drained mesas to the west are not clearly marked 

 off from the mountain-region ; and much of the 

 western slope is actually mountainous. The eastern 

 slope, which embraces about two-fifths of the whole 

 state, is, apart from the foot-hills skirting the Hank 

 of the mountain-region, an open and comparatively 

 treeless plain, with a surface singularly mono 

 tonous, and for the most part devoted to the 

 pasturage of cattle and sheep, an interest which 

 is of high importance in nearly all parts of Colorado. 

 This level region averages 5000 feet in altitude, 

 and its lowest point is 3000 feet above sea-level. 

 The mountain- region contains many peaks exceed- 

 ing 14,000 feet in height, the loftiest being Blanca 



Copyright 1889, 1897, and 

 1900 in the U. S. by J. B. 

 Lippincott Company. 



Peak (14,401 feet); while the Hummit* exceeding 

 I :;,<<>< i feet are stated to ! more than one hundred 

 in number. The mountains, notwithstanding their 

 general parallelism, are greatly broken into short 

 and variously named chains, there being no one 

 ridg' that can distinctly claim to rank everywhere 

 as the main range of the system. Six passes rroHs 

 mountain ranges at points over 12,000 feet high ; 

 the Argentine Pans is 13,000 feet in altitude. Rail- 

 ways are led across many of these passes, and their 

 construction through the valleys and canons has 

 called for many brilliant displays of engineering 

 skill and boldness. A marked feature of the 

 mountain-region is presented in the parka, or rich 

 mountain-valleys, often very spacious, and generally 

 bearing evidence of being the basins of lakes once 

 extensive, but now nearly or quite dried up. The 

 central mountain-region, with its parks, canons, 

 and hot springs, and its rich mineral deposits, has 

 attracted most attention. The western part of the 

 state is far less accessible and less developed, 

 although its mineral wealth and the constniction 

 of railways have led to the settlement of some 

 parts of the region. 



The rainfall of Colorado is small ; yet the great 

 altitude causes a considerable local fall of rain and 

 snow, and several important streams take their 

 rise in the state, including several tributaries of 

 the Colorado ; the Arkansas and South-Platte, 

 flowing to the Mississippi ; and the Rio Grande, 

 the only stream which reaches the sea under ite 

 own name. Extensive and important irrigation- 

 works are fed by some of these streams. Colorado 

 has a great reputation as a health-resort, especially 

 for persons with pulmonary disease. The dryness 

 of the air is the great factor in the recovery of 

 consumptive patients in this region ; but some 

 invalids only after a considerable period become 

 so habituated to the rarefaction of the atmosphere 

 as not to be seriously annoyed by it. The medi- 

 cinal and thermal springs of the state are numerous, 

 and are visited by large numbers. A peculiar 

 disease called ' mountain fever ' is endemic in some 

 places, attacking principally strangers from lower 

 levels of country. 



Wheat, maize, barley, oats, hay, potatoes, fruits, 

 and garden and dairy crops prove remunerative 

 under irrigation. At the beginning of 1898 Colo- 

 rado had 16,000 miles of irrigating canals and 

 ditches, furnishing water to over 3,500,000 acres, 

 without reckoning the ditches constructed by indi- 

 vidual farmers ; and projects were then on foot for 

 extending the system, bringing under cultivation 

 thousands of acres more. Visitations of insect- 

 plagues, including the well-known Colorado |H>tato- 

 oeetle, have hitherto proved very destructive in 

 this state ; but the Rocky-mountain locust ( see 

 LOCUST ) has of late years been comparatively harm- 

 less. Stock and wool raising are im|x>rtant indus- 

 tries, yielding$15,500,000 in 1897. Lumber-cutting 

 also employs a large number of bands. 



Gold was first discovered in the neigh bourhood of 

 Pike's Peak in 1858, and at Clear Creek in 1S.V). 

 leading to the great immigration in 1S.">!>, IS4*, 

 and 1861 ; and in 1891 the famous Cripple Creek 

 (q.v.) discoveries were made; new mining-camps 

 are springing up in many parts of the state. The 

 earliest discoveries were of placer-deposits ; but 

 quartz-mining soon followed, and in more recent 

 years a considerable proj>ortion of gold has been 

 afforded by the richly argentiferous lead carbo- 

 nate ores for which the state is famous. The in- 

 troduction of the cyanide and chlorination processes 

 has made possible the treatment of low-grade <>re>, 

 which formerly could not be profitably worked, 

 because of the high charges for smelting. In the 

 working of the best silver ores much lead is ob- 

 tained, and Colorado takes rank as the first stale 



