Colorado Trivia & Tidbits - Page 4

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

—The Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant in Ames, near Ophir (pop. 113), was one of the world’s first commercial high-voltage alternating-current generation and transmission systems. Finished in 1891, the plant produced electricity for area mines. Eric Jacobson, operator of the hydroelectric power plant at Bridal Veil Falls near Telluride (pop. 2,221), restored and lives in a house atop the working power plant. The hydroelectric generator originally supplied power to a silver mine, which closed in the 1970s.

first appeared: 1/27/2008

—The site of one of the worst massacres in the history of the American West was dedicated in April as the Sand Creek Massacre National Historical Site, in Kiowa County (pop. 1,622). On Nov. 29, 1864, the Third Regiment of Colorado Volunteers, under the command of Col. John Chivington, ambushed and killed about 200 members of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian tribes. The historic site encompasses 12,500 acres, of which 2,400 are managed by the National Park Service. “Rambo” in Crested Butte (pop. 1,529) is said to be the steepest-cut ski run in North America, with some sections approaching a 60-degree angle.

first appeared: 1/13/2008

—Encompassing nearly 500,000 acres, the Weminuche Wilderness is the state’s largest wilderness area and includes three of Colorado’s “fourteeners,” peaks surpassing 14,000 feet. Located in the San Juan and Rio Grande national forests, the wilderness forms a quadrangle between Durango (pop. 13,922), Pagosa Springs (pop. 1,591), Creede (pop. 377) and Silverton (pop. 531).

first appeared: 12/30/2007

—Gay Balfour of Cortez (pop. 7,977) has found a solution to a doggone problem for many landowners in the West: prairie dogs. He built a vacuum with a 4-inch plastic hose that sucks the burrowing rodents from their underground homes and into a foam-rubber-lined tank. Balfour relocates the unwanted animals to lands where they are welcome. In 1997, Julie Aigner-Clark of Denver wanted to share her love of classical music and poetry with her newborn daughter, but she couldn’t find videos geared toward infants. With borrowed equipment, she made her own video. That baby step led to founding the Baby Einstein Co., which sells DVDs, videos, music CDs, books and toys. She sold the multimillion-dollar business to The Walt Disney Co. in 2001.

first appeared: 12/2/2007

—Since 1909, people have posed at the “1-mile high” marker on the steps of the state Capitol in Denver—but on different steps. Improved surveying techniques have staked the 1-mile—or 5,280-foot—elevation on three different steps. The original marker was the 15th step; the marker moved to the 18th step in 1969, then to the 13th step in 2003.

first appeared: 11/18/2007

—The state ranks first in the nation in the production of proso millet, a grain that is a key ingredient in most birdseed. Much of the crop is grown in Washington County (pop. 4,926) in the northeastern part of the state.

first appeared: 11/4/2007

Every October, residents of Manitou Springs (pop. 4,980) hold the Emma Crawford Coffin Race and Festival in memory of a young woman who settled in the health resort town in the late 1800s seeking a cure for her tuberculosis. Crawford died just before she was to marry and was buried, as she had requested, atop nearby Red Mountain. After years of stormy weather, the mountain’s granite gave way and Crawford’s coffin remains washed down; she was reburied in the Manitou Springs Cemetery. Her unfortunate circumstances are recalled during the wacky fall festival by runners who push decorated coffins with “Emmas” inside.

first appeared: 11/4/2007

—Don Walker of Florence (pop. 3,653) landed a state-record lake trout in May at Blue Mesa Reservoir near Gunnison (pop. 5,409). The whopper measured 44.25 inches long and weighed 50 pounds, 5 ounces, which is nearly 4 pounds larger than the previous record lake trout—caught by his brother-in-law Larry Cornell of Pueblo in 2003.

first appeared: 10/21/2007

Astronomer Kenneth L. Franklin of Loveland (pop. 50,608), who helped pinpoint the first sound to come from another planet and who invented a watch to be used on the moon, died in June at age 84. He was born in Alameda, Calif., in 1923.

first appeared: 10/21/2007

—The Wyman Living History Museum near Craig (pop. 9,189) depicts Colorado’s past through the collections of Lou Wyman, who founded the museum last year. Exhibits include Colorado license plates dating to 1912, a chain saw collection, a steam tractor and other implements of the state’s pioneer history that Wyman has been collecting since 1949.

first appeared: 10/7/2007

When Frank Crail moved his family to Durango (pop. 13,922), he considered opening either a car wash or a chocolate shop to support his dream of raising his seven children in a small, quiet town. In 1981, he opened the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, which today boasts more than 300 franchises. The candy in each shop is made in full view of customers using traditional cooking utensils, such as copper kettles on gas-fired stoves, and marble slab cooling tables.

first appeared: 10/7/2007

—Local lore has it that the mysterious lights dancing among the headstones of the Silver Cliff Cemetery in Silver Cliff (pop. 512) are the ghosts of pioneer miners. Scientific explanations for the town’s dazzling attraction include reflections of street and house lights bouncing off the marble gravestones and phosphorescence from decaying wood.

first appeared: 9/30/2007

—A pioneer in science and public health, Florence Sabin was the first woman to graduate from Johns Hopkins Medical School (1900), the first woman to become a full professor at the same medical college (1917), and the first woman elected president of the American Association of Anatomists (1924). Born in Central City (pop. 515) in 1871, Sabin played a key role in developing Colorado’s public health program.

first appeared: 9/9/2007

—Drivers who violate Fort Lupton’s (pop. 6,787) noise ordinance by blaring music from their cars are sentenced to listen to music they don’t like. Offenders in Municipal Judge Paul Sacco’s court are forced to gather once a month to listen to court-selected songs. Because most offenders are young, they are subjected to a heavy dose of lounge music, including Wayne Newton and Dean Martin, classical selections and an occasional polka.

first appeared: 8/26/2007

A grave marker near Beulah (pop. 1,164) memorializes the Solid Muldoon, a hoax perpetrated in 1877 about the discovery of a petrified ancient man. The Solid Muldoon, named after a strongman popularized in song, actually was a 7-or-so-foot-tall statue that was paraded to the gullible for 50 cents a look. A replica is said to be buried beneath the grave marker along Colorado Highway 78.

first appeared: 8/26/2007

—Need to know where ZIP code 64870 is? Ask Boulder’s David Rosdeitcher, the ZIP Code Man. A self-described “memory artist,” Rosdeitcher will answer “Webb City, Mo.,” while juggling balls or clubs. Rosdeitcher claims to have absolute recall of 48,000 postal districts in the United States and many foreign countries. He holds the Guinness World Record for most consecutive ZIP codes identified at random. He also can recommend restaurants in each ZIP code.

first appeared: 8/12/2007

—One of the famous 25 Big Boy steam engines—Number 4005—built by Union Pacific from 1941 to 1944 is permanently parked at the Forney Museum of Transportation in Denver. The massive 132-foot-long locomotives weighed 1.2 million pounds and were built to pull a 3,600-ton train. Because of their great length, the frames of the Big Boys were “hinged,” or articulated, allowing them to negotiate curves.

first appeared: 7/29/2007

—Chicks With Picks ice-climbing clinics for and by women were started by Kim Reynolds, an outdoor instructor in Ridgway (pop. 713). Begun in 1999 and geared toward climbers of all skill levels, the clinics are conducted in Box Canyon in Ouray (pop. 813) and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

first appeared: 7/15/2007

“Rocky Mountain High,” the late John Denver’s ode to Colorado, was adopted in March as the state’s second official song. The other state song, “Where the Columbines Grow,” was adopted by the General Assembly in 1915. Supporters of the measure insisted that the 1970s hit refers to the natural high people experience when they view the state’s scenic wonders.

first appeared: 7/15/2007

—When Breckenridge (pop. 2,408) officials bought the Bailey Building to house the Breckenridge Welcome Center in 2003, they got more building than they bargained for. Hidden inside the walls was a two-story, 19th-century log cabin, believed to have been built at the peak of the town’s mining boom. The cabin was restored and now houses an interpretive museum and multimedia displays of local history.

first appeared: 7/1/2007

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