Portal:Colorado

Colorado is the state of the United States of America that encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the high western edge of the Great Plains. Admitted to the Union on August 1, 1876, Colorado became the 38th U.S. state. Colorado ranks 21st in population, eighth in total area, and first in mean elevation among the 50 U.S. states. Fifty-five of the 124 highest major mountain peaks of North America rise in Colorado. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the population of the State of Colorado was 5,829,926 on July 1, 2022, an increase of 1.15% since the 2020 United States census. Denver is the state capital, the most populous city, and the heart of the most populous metropolitan area of the Rocky Mountain Region. Colorado Springs is the state's second most populous city. While the population of the Front Range Urban Corridor now exceeds five million, many rugged portions of the state remain pristine wilderness.

• On August 13, 2020, the Cameron Peak Fire ignited which would surpass the Pine Gulch Fire to become the most extensive wild fire in Colorado history.
• On March 13, 2020, a woman in El Paso County became the first person in Colorado to die from the COVID-19 virus.
• On July 31, 2020, lightning ignited the Pine Gulch Fire which would surpass the Hayman Fire of 2002 to become the most extensive wild fire in Colorado history.
• On October 14, 2020, the East Troublesome Fire ignited which would also surpass the Pine Gulch Fire to become the second most extensive wild fire in Colorado history. Experts say the onslaught of 2020 Colorado wild fires was aggravated by climate change.
• On December 30, 2021, the Marshall Fire killed two people and destroyed 1,084 homes and seven businesses and damaged another 149 homes and 40 businesses
• U.S. President James Buchanan signed the organic act creating the free Territory of Colorado on February 28, 1861.
• The Union Pacific Railroad was completed west to Julesburg on November 18, 1867.
• Deer Trail hosted the world's first organized rodeo on July 4, 1869.
• The first of what would become the Colorado State Fair opened in Pueblo on October 9, 1872, four years before Colorado became a state.
• U.S. President Ulysses Grant signed the presidential declaration admitting the State of Colorado to the Union on August 1, 1876.
• Katherine Lee Bates wrote America the Beautiful after a trip to the summit of Pikes Peak in the summer of 1893.

• ... that Yemi Mobolade is the first Black person and the first non-Republican to be elected the mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado?
• ... that Parkville lost out on becoming the Colorado Territory's capital by eleven votes and is now a ghost town largely buried under mining waste?
• ... that following the killing of Richard Ward by a Colorado sheriff's deputy, the deputy received an award for the injuries that he allegedly sustained during the incident?
• ... that the 1976 Big Thompson River flood took place several hours before Colorado's 100th anniversary of statehood?
• ... that Charles Johnson received the most votes for student body president at the University of Colorado Boulder, even though he had already been disqualified from running?
• ... that the No. 1–ranked 2023 Colorado Mines Orediggers, "college football's nerdiest contender", featured players with pigtails and a drawn-on blue mustache, a friar's haircut, and Harry Potter cosplay?
• ... that "The Potato King of Colorado" survived a shipwreck, mined for gold in Australia, and helped establish an alcohol-free Methodist colony?

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