A little less than a decade after the California Gold Rush, Denver Colorado started seeing a rush of its own.
The South Platte River became the place to be for men seeking fortune. It is fun to imagine covered wagons and rustic cabins lining the edges of the river that is so different nowadays. Pikes Peak, where you can take a train today – up about 8,000 miles or so, became the scene for men and their families hoping to strike it rich with another gold rush. Even though there were lots of hard times to come for those original frontiersmen, they held tough, and as a result, we have an amazing and beautiful city nicknamed the Mile High City. Like lots of other western frontiers, some men came to not only look for gold but to just stake a claim for land. Americans have always been a people looking for ways to forge their own ways, and back in the 18th century, Denver provided opportunity. In 1861, about a hundred years after those first prospectors from Georgia showed up in what we now call Denver, the US government recognized the area by creating the Territory of Colorado. Not too much later, Colorado was admitted into the Union, officially, by President Ulysses S. Grant. And just three years after that, the Denver Telephone Dispatch Company was created. Embracing new ideas even then, Denver has survived harsh weather, wars, fires, floods, and other disasters throughout the years. Today, that same spirit of openness can be found among Denverites who openly embrace all types of people and vote in welcoming laws, including the legalization of cannabis about a decade ago.