Excerpt from The Resources, Wealth and Industrial Development of Colorado: Published by the Agricultural Department, Colorado Exhibit, at the World's Columbian Exposition, June 1, 1893 The wheels of progress have turned rapidly in Colorado. They now keep pace with the whirling machinery of all the industrial world, and each successive year leaves a record of advancement unequalled in the history of civilization. The eminent statesmen who formed our National Congress half a century ago derided the idea of white settlement being possible west of the Missouri river. No portion of the great West has played a more conspicuous part than Colorado in the changes which have been wrought in national history since those times. The first settlement in Colorado was made by a party of gold seekers, who located on the site of Denver in 1858. The first discovery of gold was made in the spring of 1859, and it was the fame of this discovery that gave rise to the memorable Pike's Peak flood of immigration, which became the basis of the present population and also the beginning of the wonderful industrial development of to-day. Colorado was organized as a territory in 1861, and when admitted as a State in the Union in 1876 had a population of only 65,000. By the census of 1890, it was accorded a population of 412,000. Its actual population in 1893 can safely be estimated at 450,000. Attracted by the great wealth and diversity of Colorado's natural resources, the more intelligent and courageous have come to the new country to bring it under the control of their genius and their labor. They have come from the fields and shops and the luxurious homes of North America, and they have come from every civilized quarter of the globe. So that it is the concentrated energy and genius of the world that is developing Colorado. In all the departments of industry the State is only in the primary stage of its development, with boundless wealth in the possibilities of its soil for agriculture, in its enormous treasures of silver and gold, in its vast deposits of coal and iron, and its immeasurable and diversified resources for manufacture. The natural advantages of Colorado present a surprising study to people abroad. The State comprises an area of 103,477 square miles, or 66,205,875 acres. It has two natural divisions - mountains and plains. The mountains are filled with the precious metals, with coal, iron and stone, with marble and granite and innumerable minerals of commerce and manufacture. In silver and gold it is the largest producer in America. The great park system of the Rocky Mountains, embracing the famous San Luis Park, South Park, Middle Park and North Park, comprises an area collectively larger than that of Ohio. These parks are valuable for stock raising and agriculture and contain some of the noted watering-place resorts, hunting and fishing grounds of Colorado. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.