# Julesburg, Colorado

Julesburg is the statutory town that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Sedgwick County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,307 at the 2020 United States census.

## History

The original trading post was named for Jules Beni. Julesburg was on the Pony Express (1860–1861) route from Missouri to California.

### Jack Slade

In 1858, Joseph A. "Jack" Slade, a superintendent for the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company, was tracking down horse thieves, including Jules Beni. Slade caught up with him at Julesburg, but Beni shot him five times. Everybody thought that Slade was dead and several angry townsfolk chased Beni out of Julesburg. When they returned, they found Slade struggling to his feet, having miraculously recovered.
Beni continued to steal horses from the Pike's Peak Express Company, and Slade vowed to hunt him down. Beni attempted to ambush Slade at Slade's own ranch at Cold Springs. But Slade found out about the planned ambush and, along with some of his cowboys, captured Beni. Slade did not take Beni to authorities but instead shot him dead while he was tied to a fence post. He shot off each of his fingers, and then put the gun in Beni's mouth and pulled the trigger. Afterward, he severed Beni's ears as trophies.
This account is among the Stories of the Century, a syndicated television series starring and narrated by Jim Davis, which aired on March 4, 1955. Gregg Palmer (1927–2015) played the role of Slade, and Paul Newlan (1903–1973) portrayed Beni.

### Battle of Julesburg

Julesburg was a large and prominent stagecoach station and the site of Fort Rankin (later Fort Sedgwick). In revenge for the Sand Creek Massacre, one thousand Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota warriors attacked Julesburg on January 7, 1865. In the battle the Indians defeated about 60 soldiers of the U.S. army and 50 armed civilians. In the following weeks the Indians raided up and down the South Platte River valley. On February 2 they returned to Julesburg and burned down all the buildings in the settlement, although not attacking the soldiers and civilians holed up in the fort. At the time, the town was said to have had over 1000 buildings.

## Geography

Julesburg is located at 40°59′18″N 102°16′0″W﻿ / ﻿40.98833°N 102.26667°W﻿ / 40.98833; -102.26667 (40.988422, −102.266677). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km$^2$), all of it land.
The town is located on the north side of the South Platte River, along U.S. 138 and U.S. 385 and just off of I-76. It is the northernmost town in the state, less than 0.9 mi (1.4 km) south of the Colorado−Nebraska state line.

### Climate

Julesburg experiences a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with cold, dry winters and hot, wetter summers.
Climate data for Julesburg, Colorado, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1893–present :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 74 (23) | 79 (26) | 88 (31) | 94 (34) | 100 (38) | 107 (42) | 109 (43) | 109 (43) | 106 (41) | 95 (35) | 85 (29) | 77 (25) | 109 (43) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 63.4 (17.4) | 67.7 (19.8) | 77.9 (25.5) | 83.6 (28.7) | 91.9 (33.3) | 97.6 (36.4) | 100.8 (38.2) | 96.7 (35.9) | 95.4 (35.2) | 86.6 (30.3) | 74.8 (23.8) | 61.6 (16.4) | 101.4 (38.6) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 40.5 (4.7) | 44.0 (6.7) | 54.5 (12.5) | 61.9 (16.6) | 70.7 (21.5) | 81.5 (27.5) | 87.6 (30.9) | 85.3 (29.6) | 78.3 (25.7) | 64.5 (18.1) | 51.2 (10.7) | 40.5 (4.7) | 63.4 (17.4) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 28.2 (−2.1) | 31.1 (−0.5) | 40.2 (4.6) | 48.3 (9.1) | 57.7 (14.3) | 68.4 (20.2) | 74.4 (23.6) | 72.1 (22.3) | 63.6 (17.6) | 49.9 (9.9) | 37.6 (3.1) | 28.3 (−2.1) | 50.0 (10.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 15.9 (−8.9) | 18.2 (−7.7) | 25.9 (−3.4) | 34.6 (1.4) | 44.7 (7.1) | 55.3 (12.9) | 61.3 (16.3) | 58.9 (14.9) | 48.8 (9.3) | 35.3 (1.8) | 24.0 (−4.4) | 16.0 (−8.9) | 36.6 (2.5) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | −5.4 (−20.8) | −2.5 (−19.2) | 8.0 (−13.3) | 19.7 (−6.8) | 29.2 (−1.6) | 43.6 (6.4) | 51.4 (10.8) | 48.5 (9.2) | 35.3 (1.8) | 16.9 (−8.4) | 5.4 (−14.8) | −4.2 (−20.1) | −12.0 (−24.4) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −34 (−37) | −30 (−34) | −23 (−31) | −8 (−22) | 19 (−7) | 32 (0) | 35 (2) | 38 (3) | 16 (−9) | −3 (−19) | −14 (−26) | −38 (−39) | −38 (−39) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.41 (10) | 0.41 (10) | 1.00 (25) | 1.77 (45) | 3.00 (76) | 3.20 (81) | 2.33 (59) | 2.79 (71) | 1.52 (39) | 1.43 (36) | 0.41 (10) | 0.29 (7.4) | 18.56 (469.4) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 3.7 (9.4) | 4.0 (10) | 3.3 (8.4) | 2.3 (5.8) | 0.1 (0.25) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 2.0 (5.1) | 2.8 (7.1) | 3.5 (8.9) | 21.7 (54.95) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.9 | 5.7 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.0 | 6.8 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 56.3 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 1.8 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 10.5 |
| Source 1: NOAA ||||||||||||||
| Source 2: National Weather Service ||||||||||||||

## Education

Julesburg School District operates public schools.

## In media

Julesburg was featured in the 1960 episode "The Story of Julesburg" of the syndicated television series Pony Express. It was the setting of the 1959 Randolph Scott film, Westbound. "Julesburg" is the title of the second episode (1955) of the ABC western Cheyenne. A 2019 YouTube video by VOA News features Julesburg as the backdrop for a short documentary about Charmaine Teodoro, a math teacher from the Philippines who is currently working at Julesburg High School.