Colorado.
The name conjures images of skiers whizzing down snowy mountains, cowboys smoking cigarettes and branding cattle, and hippie burnouts smoking pot and, uh, whizzing down snowy mountains.
But if you were born here—like I was—then perhaps it might just seem like any other nearly perfect rectangle on the map. Skiers and potheads and mountains and cowboys fade into the woodwork amidst the strip malls and highways and suburbs.
When I take a step back, I realize there is something magical about the state. Colorado is one of the most valuable brand names in the union, thanks in large part to those imaginary skiers that slalom through people’s brains when they hear the word. Whereas West Virginia and North Dakota struggle to repair or refine their public image, Colorado is a brand that’s long been able to sell beer and trucks and smokes and all sorts of other consumer products for a good long time. In the end, however, Colorado is a place, and like any other place it is not a concept or idea but a tangible thing with its own unique inhabitants, geology, politics, and peculiarities, not to mention history—which is as good a place as any to start.
The rectangle on the map now known as Colorado was home to native people for 13,000 years or so until the Europeans started showing up in the late 1500s. The United States bought the eastern side of modern-day Colorado from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and forced Mexico to give up the rest of it as part of the treaty ending the Mexican-American War in 1848. Three years later, the first European settlers—who also happened to be Hispanic—moved to what is now Colorado and established the town of San Luis.
Most of the state was part of the Territory of Kansas throughout the 1850s, but a gold rush in 1858 led to a few residents trying to establish it as a separate Territory of Jefferson. That plan didn’t fly—probably because the Republican-controlled congress didn’t want to honor a Democratic Southerner on the eve of the Civil War—and the area enjoyed a month in limbo after eastern Kansas became a state in January 1861. After a month of anarchy, the Territory of Colorado was officially established in February. Fifteen years later, only 156 years ago, the Centennial State came into being.
Since then, the three most important moments in Colorado history are the genesis of the state’s ski industry in 1915, the Denver Broncos’ first Super Bowl victory in 1998, the invention of Crocs-brand footwear in Boulder in 2002, and the legalization of marijuana in 2012. The first and last important moments—the opening of Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs and weed going legit—need no explanation. The second helped give the state confidence on the national stage, which wavered after the Broncos, worshipped with fundamentalist fervor by fans, lost four Super Bowls by a cumulative score of 163 to 50. The third and final important moment cemented the fact that Coloradans could out-casual any other state by wearing candy-colored polymer clogs instead of tying our shoes.
Beyond the slopes and the pro football team and the neon footwear and the legal weed, what I ultimately love about Colorado is the vast tracts of wilderness and open space, the amazing spots around so many bends in the road, and the location pretty much in the middle of nowhere, which is exactly where I want to be.
– Eric Peterson
rambleusa@gmail.com
But if you were born here—like I was—then perhaps it might just seem like any other nearly perfect rectangle on the map. Skiers and potheads and mountains and cowboys fade into the woodwork amidst the strip malls and highways and suburbs.
When I take a step back, I realize there is something magical about the state. Colorado is one of the most valuable brand names in the union, thanks in large part to those imaginary skiers that slalom through people’s brains when they hear the word. Whereas West Virginia and North Dakota struggle to repair or refine their public image, Colorado is a brand that’s long been able to sell beer and trucks and smokes and all sorts of other consumer products for a good long time. In the end, however, Colorado is a place, and like any other place it is not a concept or idea but a tangible thing with its own unique inhabitants, geology, politics, and peculiarities, not to mention history—which is as good a place as any to start.
The rectangle on the map now known as Colorado was home to native people for 13,000 years or so until the Europeans started showing up in the late 1500s. The United States bought the eastern side of modern-day Colorado from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and forced Mexico to give up the rest of it as part of the treaty ending the Mexican-American War in 1848. Three years later, the first European settlers—who also happened to be Hispanic—moved to what is now Colorado and established the town of San Luis.
Most of the state was part of the Territory of Kansas throughout the 1850s, but a gold rush in 1858 led to a few residents trying to establish it as a separate Territory of Jefferson. That plan didn’t fly—probably because the Republican-controlled congress didn’t want to honor a Democratic Southerner on the eve of the Civil War—and the area enjoyed a month in limbo after eastern Kansas became a state in January 1861. After a month of anarchy, the Territory of Colorado was officially established in February. Fifteen years later, only 156 years ago, the Centennial State came into being.
Since then, the three most important moments in Colorado history are the genesis of the state’s ski industry in 1915, the Denver Broncos’ first Super Bowl victory in 1998, the invention of Crocs-brand footwear in Boulder in 2002, and the legalization of marijuana in 2012. The first and last important moments—the opening of Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs and weed going legit—need no explanation. The second helped give the state confidence on the national stage, which wavered after the Broncos, worshipped with fundamentalist fervor by fans, lost four Super Bowls by a cumulative score of 163 to 50. The third and final important moment cemented the fact that Coloradans could out-casual any other state by wearing candy-colored polymer clogs instead of tying our shoes.
Beyond the slopes and the pro football team and the neon footwear and the legal weed, what I ultimately love about Colorado is the vast tracts of wilderness and open space, the amazing spots around so many bends in the road, and the location pretty much in the middle of nowhere, which is exactly where I want to be.
– Eric Peterson
rambleusa@gmail.com