Colorado History

The following important events in the history of Colorado affected political boundaries, record keeping, and family movements.

1706: Claimed for Spain by Juan de Ulibarri

1803: The United States acquired the sections of Colorado north and east of the Arkansas River as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Beginning in 1806 government expeditions were sent to map the area, and fur trappers and traders followed in the

1806: Explored by Zebulon Pike.

1820's. Western settlers in the 1840s and 1850s bypassed Colorado on their way to the Pacific Coast.

1842: Explored by John C. Freemont.

1845: Central part of Colorado acquired with the admission of Texas as a state.

1848: The United States acquired the rest of present-day Colorado from Mexico.

1851:  Hispanic families from New Mexico founded San Luis, the oldest continually occupied town in Colorado.

1854:  The Colorado area was divided politically among the territories of Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, and New Mexico.

1858:  Denver and other mining towns were organized by Colorado's early gold seekers. In 1858 the miners also organized Arapahoe County of Kansas Territory.

1859: Colorado pioneers created what they called Jefferson Territory without the sanction of Congress. It was to have included all of present-day Colorado and some areas of Utah and Wyoming.

1861: Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians ceded land.

1861: (February 28,) Congress organized the Colorado Territory. The first seventeen counties were organized the same year.

1864: (November 29,) Col. John M. Chivington and troops attacked the Cheyenne Indians camped on Sand Creek 150 Indians were killed.

1865: Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche and Kiowa Indians ceded land.

1867-1869: Indian Champaign

1868: Shoshone and Ute Indians ceded land.

1870: Many Indians removed to Oklahoma.

1870: Railroad links between Denver and Cheyenne and between Denver and Kansas City connected Colorado with the east and west coasts.

1874:  Ute Indians ceded land.

1874-1875:  Indian Campaign

1876: (August 1,) Colorado became a state.

1878-1879: Northern Cheyenne Indians, lead by Chief Dull Knife, Wild Hog and Little Wolf surrendered in Colorado to U.S. forces. They were sent to Ft. Reno, Oklahoma, Later settled on a reservation in Montana.

1879:  (Summer) White River Ute Indians staged an armed uprising. A treaty was signed and the entire nation was removed to a reservation in Utah.

1880:  (western Colorado) Ute Indians ceded land and were removed to Utah.

1881: Western Colorado was officially opened to white settlement after most of the Ute Indians had been moved to reservations in Utah.

1890: Colorado's population exceeded 400,000 when the last major gold strike was made at Cripple Creek.

An especially helpful source for studying the history of Colorado is LeRoy R. Hafen, ed., Colorado and Its People: A Narrative and Topical History of the Centennial State, Four Volumes. (New York, NY: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1948; Family History Library book 978.8 H2h; film 1000143). Volumes 3-4 contain personal and family histories.

A bibliography of local histories is found in Bohdan S. Wynar and Roberta J. Depp, eds., Colorado Bibliography (Littleton, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1980; Family History Library book 978.8 A3c, pages 53-92).