Colorado Trivia & Tidbits - Page 15

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

At 26.8 miles long, Colfax Avenue in Denver is one of the longest continuous commercial streets in the country. The avenue was named for Schuyler Colfax, an Indiana congressman who traveled through Colorado in 1865. Colfax later became the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and served as Ulysses S. Grant’s vice president from 1869 to 1873.

first appeared: 6/15/2003

A piece of central Asia can be found in Boulder’s Dushanbe Teahouse. Presented to Boulder by its sister city of Dushanbe in Tajikistan, the teahouse’s Persian-inspired art and architecture was created between 1987 and 1990 by more than 40 artisans in Tajikistan, then reassembled in Boulder. In central Asia, teahouses serve as gathering places; the Dushanbe Teahouse offers meals, workshops and classes, a tea festival, and—of course—afternoon tea.

first appeared: 6/8/2003

Rocky Ford (pop. 4,286) celebrates its melon crop every August with Watermelon Days, held as part of the annual Arkansas Valley Fair. The first Watermelon Day was held in 1878.

first appeared: 6/1/2003

In Olathe (pop. 1,573), summer brings the annual Olathe Sweet Corn Festival, celebrating a local crop that has been essential to the area’s economy. Last year, festival-goers consumed more than 70,000 ears of the sweet corn.

first appeared: 6/1/2003

The Great Pagosa Spring in downtown Pagosa Springs (pop. 1,591) is among the world’s largest and hottest geothermal pools. It is more than 850 feet deep, and at 145 degrees, is too hot to swim in. (Nearby mineral hot spring facilities use cooler water for therapeutic hot springs and a swimming pool.) The word pagosa comes from the Ute Indian word pagosah, which means “healing waters.”

first appeared: 5/25/2003

Two weeks after John Gregory’s 1859 discovery of gold near Central City (pop. 515), the gold rush was on. Two months later, some 10,000 people had arrived to seek their fortunes. The area around Central City became a leading mining center, eventually earning it the nickname, “The Richest Square Mile on Earth.”

first appeared: 5/18/2003

Marie Curie, who pioneered the discovery of radioactivity and its beneficial health uses, experimented in Paris with radium that was mined near Central City.

first appeared: 5/18/2003

The Conservation Carousel at the Denver Zoo is dedicated to rare or endangered wildlife species. The 48 hand-carved animals include gorillas, giraffes, pandas, lions, zebras, elephants, and a mother polar bear with cubs. A quarter of the proceeds from carousel rides help fund Denver Zoo conservation projects.

first appeared: 5/11/2003

Just west of Pikes Peak, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument at Florissant (pop. 2,480) reveals plant and insect life that lived 35 million years ago—33 million years before humans appeared. The 60,000 fossil specimens collected at the fossil beds since their discovery in the late 1800s have revealed more than 100 plant and 1,100 insect species. Many specimens are tiny and detailed, but some are much larger, such as the petrified stumps of redwood trees.

first appeared: 5/4/2003

At least seven major rivers have their headwaters in Colorado. East of the Continental Divide, the Rio Grande, North Platte, South Platte, Arkansas, Cache la Poudre, and Republican rivers flow toward the Atlantic Ocean. On the west side, the Colorado River flows toward the Pacific Ocean. Milner Pass contains the headwaters for both the Colorado and the Cache la Poudre, so water there actually flows in opposite directions, to both oceans.

first appeared: 4/27/2003

The largest known groundbreaking ceremony took place for the Colorado Convention Center expansion in Denver on April 29, 2002, setting a new Guiness world record for the number of groundbreakers present. The 1,217 people who participated included more than 100 local chefs in full whites, using ladles and soup spoons as groundbreaking tools.

first appeared: 4/20/2003

Skiers got a lift when an 848-foot rope tow was built for $2,500 in 1937 at Berthoud Pass, south of Winter Park (pop. 662). This was the state’s first lift-assisted ski area.

first appeared: 4/13/2003

In 1858, prospector David Kellogg and friends climbed to the top of some isolated flat-topped rocks, celebrated with a volley of gunfire, and christened the place Castle Rock (pop. 20,224).

first appeared: 4/13/2003

Opened in 1857, a general store now called R & R Market in San Luis (pop. 739) is the state’s oldest continuously operated business.

first appeared: 4/6/2003

In 1904, three men held the governor’s post in one day. Incumbent Republican James Peabody was defeated by Democrat Alva Adams, but both sides were accused of voter corruption during a turbulent time of striking mine workers. Peabody sent the militia to aid mine owners. The Republican-controlled Legislature voted to unseat Adams, then pronounced Peabody the winner upon condition that he immediately resign. Republican Lt. Gov. Jesse McDonald then became governor.

first appeared: 4/6/2003

Captivated by the beauty of the canyons and plateaus near Fruita (pop. 6,478), John Otto waged a one-man letter-writing campaign in the early 1900s to preserve the area as a national monument. In 1911, President Taft created the 20,453-acre Colorado National Monument and named Otto as its first superintendent.

first appeared: 3/30/2003

On a clear day, six states can be seen from the 60-foot Wonder View Tower built in 1926 in Genoa (pop. 211) on the highest point between Denver and New York City. Charles W. Gregory, the P.T. Barnum of Colorado, created the one-stop restaurant, gas station, motel, and oddities museum. When Interstate 70 bypassed the tower, traffic dwindled, but the famous attraction remains open.

first appeared: 3/23/2003

The Koshare Indian Museum in La Junta (pop. 7,568) houses a large collection of tribal art and artifacts and is home to the Koshare Indian Dancers. Organized in 1933, the dancers perform nationwide and at the museum, which is a showpiece in itself for its large, self-supporting log roof containing 635 logs.

first appeared: 3/16/2003

If it has wheels, chances are good it’s represented at the Forney Transportation Museum in Denver. The museum has more than 500 exhibits focusing on anything that once carried passengers. Vehicles on display include antique and exotic cars, bicycles, steam locomotives, buggies, and tractors.

first appeared: 3/9/2003

A statue of the title characters from one of Eugene Field’s best-known poems, Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, stands in Denver’s Washington Park. Field made his home in Denver in the late 1800s.

first appeared: 3/2/2003

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