Colorado Trivia & Tidbits - Page 10

Looking for Colorado trivia? Try our list Colorado little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

A trail near Seven Falls leads to Inspiration Point, the original burial site of Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885), the author of more than 30 books, including A Century of Dishonor and the novel Ramona, and an advocate for the rights of American Indians. In 1891, her remains were moved to Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs.

first appeared: 1/16/2005

Between 1896 and 1923, apple varieties known as Black Twig, Gano, Jonathan, Winesap, Rome Beauty and Ben Davis were grown at Cross Orchards Historic Farm in Grand Junction (pop. 41,986). With more than 22,000 trees on 243 acres, the fruit ranch was one of the state's largest, employing more than 50 part-time workers for pruning, picking and packing. Each fall, the Museum of Western Colorado holds an Apple Jubilee Festival at the site.

first appeared: 1/2/2005

The Lodi apple was once popular on Colorado's Front Range. A small, thin-skinned yellowish-green apple with a sweet-tart flavor, the variety is sometimes referred to as the "transparent" apple and is said to make the best applesauce. Apples, of the genus Malus, belong to the Rosaceae plant family, which includes plums, blackberries and roses.

first appeared: 1/2/2005

Opened in 1974, Casa Bonita restaurant has become a landmark in Lakewood. With seating for 1,100 people, the restaurant features flaming-torch jugglers, an 85-foot pink tower and a 30-foot waterfall, from which cliff divers jump into a 14-foot-deep pool.

first appeared: 12/19/2004

Built in 1872 at a cost of $84,000, the Teller House Hotel in Central City (pop. 515) was at the time one of the finest hotels west of the Mississippi River, welcoming President Ulysses S. Grant in 1873. In 1936, artist Herndon Davis painted a woman’s face on the floor of the hotel’s bar, reported to be either a practical joke or the character Madeline from H. Antoine D’Arcy’s poem The Face Upon the Floor.

first appeared: 12/5/2004

In 1978, the Central City Opera celebrated the centennial of its Opera House—located next to the Teller House Hotel—by commissioning The Face on the Barroom Floor. The 30-minute opera tells of a love triangle that results in the accidental death of the heroine.

first appeared: 12/5/2004

Telluride (pop. 2,221) dedicates a few days each summer to doing absolutely nothing. First celebrated in 1991, the Nothing Festival—a tongue-in-cheek response to the community's busy festival schedule—urges people to celebrate peace and quiet. "Events" include the sun rising and setting as normal and gravity still being in effect.

first appeared: 11/21/2004

For 275 days each year, school children, shoppers, workers and skiers traveling between Telluride and Mountain Village (pop. 978) don't need a car—they can ride the free gondola, which also accommodates pets, mountain bikes and skis. Stretching for 2.5 miles and taking slightly more than 12 minutes, the gondola opened in 1996 and has reduced pollution and congestion associated with vehicle traffic.

first appeared: 11/21/2004

When drought dropped the level of Skelly Pond in Breckenridge (pop. 2,408) in January 2003, one corner of The Dredge restaurant—a $3 million replica of a frontier gold mining dredge—hit bottom. It was cut free from its moorings and allowed to float into deeper water. The Dredge is now moored again, however, and back in business.

first appeared: 11/7/2004

Linwood Cemetery, overlooking Glenwood Springs (pop. 7,736), contains the tombstone of gunslinger Doc Holliday, who died in the town on Nov. 8, 1887—but no one knows exactly where his body lies. Some say that Holliday, who was born in Georgia in 1851, was buried in the hilltop cemetery; others say that he was buried in town until the icy cemetery road became passable, but that his body was never moved.

first appeared: 10/24/2004

Linwood Cemetery also is where Harvey Logan, better known as Kid Curry (1865-1904), is buried. Considered to be the wildest member of the Wild Bunch that included Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Curry rustled livestock and robbed trains and banks. He was arrested several times, escaped, and finally died after a shootout with lawmen.

first appeared: 10/24/2004

Stories about how Rifle (pop. 6,784) earned its name involve a rifle and a creek. One tells of an explorer who left his rifle beside a creek, returned to retrieve it, and named the watercourse Rifle Creek. Another account claims that cowboys rounding up cattle near the meeting of three creeks would signal their approach by firing their rifles.

first appeared: 10/10/2004

Two mural maps of the United States, decorated with photos of some of the nation’s wackiest attractions, from the world’s largest rocking chair to the world’s largest prairie dog, hang in Denver International Airport. Artist and Continental Airlines employee Gary Sweeney created the display, named America: Why I Love Her, in the mid-1990s, inspired by boyhood driving vacations with his family in the 1960s.

first appeared: 10/3/2004

Denver International Airport’s main terminal building was named for aviation pioneer Elrey Jeppesen (1907-1996), whose Jeppesen Airway Manuals made the skies much safer for early pilots. Jeppesen began noting information, such as landmarks, smokestacks and runways, while flying mail routes in the 1930s. He moved to Denver in 1941.

first appeared: 10/3/2004

The ancient Pueblo Indians who lived at Yellow Jacket Pueblo near Cortez (pop. 7,977) between the middle 1000s and the late 1200s left behind petroglyphs, or rock art, known as “lizard men”—figures with narrow bodies and stick-like arms and legs. Yellow Jacket was one of the largest villages in the region, with up to 1,360 inhabitants.

first appeared: 9/19/2004

The Baca Grande development near Crestone (pop. 73) has become a spiritual center, where a Carmelite Catholic monastery, Zen Buddhist meditation center, Hindu ashram and a Tibetan Buddhist stupa coexist. Founded by Hanne and Maurice Strong in the early 1980s, the development led to the non-profit Manitou Foundation in 1988, to foster the interfaith community and guide local land preservation.

first appeared: 9/12/2004

Known as the “Father of Rocky Mountain National Park,” Enos Mills (1870-1922) campaigned from 1909 until the park’s opening in 1915 to protect a vast area near Estes Park (pop. 5,413). Along with writing and speaking about the importance of natural areas, Mills was a miner, snow observer, a government lecturer on forestry, a naturalist and an inn owner.

first appeared: 9/5/2004

At more than 7,500 feet above sea level, the San Luis Valley, which includes Alamosa (pop. 7,960), is one of the world’s highest alpine valleys. It’s also one of the largest, measuring 125 miles long and 65 miles wide—an area larger than the state of Connecticut.

first appeared: 8/29/2004

Alamosa was founded in 1878, when a train arrived from Fort Garland with settlers for the new town along the Rio Grande River. The train depot now is home to the town’s visitor information center and chamber of commerce.

first appeared: 8/29/2004

Located in Vail (pop. 4,531) at an elevation of 8,200 feet, the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens are among the world’s highest botanic gardens, featuring plants such as the Rocky Mountain clematis, alpine sunflower and alpine phlox. Founded in 1985, the gardens were named in 1988 for the former first lady, to honor her contributions to the Vail Valley and the nation.

first appeared: 8/22/2004

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