New-York daily tribune., 1865-11-23
COLORADO.

The thrty-seventh and newcst o'thc S.a.os
composing our Federal Union-tho iirst organ
iged within that vast eNpanse OF rugged noun
tsins and arid plains which ha. leen roughly
characterized a. "the Great American Dcsert -
has chosen her Governor. Representative in
Congress and State Legislature. and vii doubt
less send two L. s. Senators Ia the Federal
Metropolis within the next few weeks. The
birth Of a new State ia an event OF such momen,
as to demand something more than a hssty
paragraph.
Colorado stretches some 400 miles from east
10 west, by not quite 900 from north TO south
and contains about 10000 square mie-. The
Rocky Mountains traverse it, entire length,
giving rise within its boundaries 10 the Rio
Crande del Norte, to the Colorado, the Arkansas,
the Kansas, and the Platte. Ii is thus the
central watershed of our continent. Both
Pike's and Longs Peaks are in Colorado, with
the famous South and North PatkS-the former
giving rise 10 the Arkansas the latter to the
North Platte. Tie Rocky Mountains, with
their spurs, valleys ard forks, cover at least
entire area, presenting for many miles Of their
eastern face a bold and regular wall Of naked
| rock. whence their name Their two towering
peaks, already named, are seen from a great
distance across the gently rolling deser, on This
side, aliording landmarks to the dusty, weary
trayerser Of "the Plains These are the home
of innuncrabe but fast dwindling herds OF
Buffalo, which, however, are generally found
in the more fertile gades of Kansas and
Nebraska, hundred miles this side of the
Colorado line.
This region was first visited and described by
Mr.. Jenerson's exploring expedition more than
sixty years ago. few scmi-ciyii2od trap
pers and hunters-manly French half or
outlaws from the settlements along the Missouri
aud Mssis,ippi-irom time to time soiourned
therein. usually taking wives from the sayages
with whom they held intercourse; but. except at
theextrcme south-whch WAS then apart Of New
Mexico, and carly squatted upon by Spanish
Mexican herdsmen from around Santa Fe-there
we're no attempts at settlement and cultivation
until 1867, when Il band of Adventures from
Kansas-partly Georgians, who had mined first
in their own State, then in California, and at
length been attracted to Kansas by their zeal
for Slavery-werc lured hilhcr BY vague reports
Of gold discoveries on the upper Arkansas and
South Platte. They spent the mild season in
prospecting and panning to little purpose, and
finally most of them huddled for the Winter in
a collection of rude, petty cottonwood log huts
at the junction Of Cherry Creek with the South
Platte to which they gave the name Of Denver,
some fifty miles north and u little east of the
center of the present State, but ever since its
emporium and chief city. Denver is some twelve
TO fifteen miles from the eastern base of the
Rocky Mountains, which here rise i'll white,
bare, precpitous wall to hight of some 1000
feet, with higher and still higher ridges behind
these for a distance Of forty to eighty miles
Prospecting and panning in the adjacent
mountains was kept up by few throughout
the ensuing Winter. and, early in the following
May. productive "disgiugs" wero discovered