8 
GAZETTEER OF COLORADO. 
HISTORY. 
The eastern part of Colorado was a part of the Louisiana Purchase acquired from 
France in 1803; a narrow strip across the center from north to south was a part of 
the Texas Acquisition; while the western part was from the Mexican Cession under 
the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. 
The Territory of Colorado was organized February 28, 1861, from parts of Kansas, 
Nebraska. Utah, and New Mexico, and was admitted as a State on August 1, 1876. The 
region which is now Colorado was inhabited by the Ute tribe of Indians when first 
known to white men. Their homes were in the mountains, while the plains, then 
swarming with buffalo, were the common hunting grounds for this and other tribes. 
The first white settlers were of Spanish blood and entered from New Mexico at an 
early date. Their descendants still form an important element in the population of 
the southern part of the State. The first American immigration commenced about 
1860, and was induced by the discovery of gold placers in South Park and in the 
Arkansas Valley to the west, From that time the population of Colorado has 
increased rapidly, as is shown by the following table: 
J'o/ndation by censuses, 1860-lUoO. 
Census. 
Popula- 
tion. 
Increase. 
Census. 
Popula- 
tion. 
Increase. 
1860 
34, 277 
39, 864 
194, 327 
I'i r r< nl. 
1890 
412,198 
539, 700 
574, 030 
Per cent. 
112.1 
1870 
16.3 
387.5 
1900 
30.7 
1880 
1903 (estimated ) .. 
The population in 1905 was probably not far from 600,000. 
The males were in excess, there being in 1900, 295,332 males to 244,386 females; or 
of the entire population, 55 per cent were males and 45 per cent females. 
The number of foreign born were 91,155, or 17 per cent; while the native born 
were 448,545, or 83 per cent, of the entire population. 
The following table shows the distribution by race, in which it appears that 98 per 
cent of the population were white, 1.6 per cent negro, and the remaining 0.4 percent 
Indians, Japanese, and Chinese: 
Population by race in 1900. 
Race. 
Number. 
Race. 
Number. 
White 
529, 046 
8,570 
1,437 
Negro 
647 
The literacy of the people of Colorado is high. Of the population 10 years of age 
and over, only 4.2 per cent were unable to read and write. In this Colorado is 
exceeded by only nine of the States and Territories. 
The following are the chief cities with their population in 1900 and the estimated 
population in 1903: 
Population of principal cities. 
City. 
1900. 
1903. 
City. 
1900. 
1903. 
Denver 
133, 859 
28, 157 
21,085 
12, 455 
144, 588 
29, 237 
24,092 
13, 076 
10,147 
6,150 
5,315 
7,000 
Pueblo 
Boulder 
Trinidad 
Colorado Springs... 
Leadville 
