Driving Around Downtown Denver, Colorado in 4k Video

Filmed on Tuesday, January 30 2024, I drive around downtown Denver, CO to see what's going on.

The discovery of Gold in the Rocky Mountains in November 1858 in Colorado (then part of the western Kansas Territory) brought on a gold rush and a consequent flood of white immigration across Cheyenne and Arapaho lands.

In the summer of 1858, during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, a group of gold prospectors from Lawrence, Kansas, established Montana City as a mining town on the banks of the South Platte River in what was then western Kansas Territory, on traditional lands of Cheyenne and Arapaho. This was the first historical settlement in what later became the city of Denver.

On November 22, 1858, General William Larimer and Captain Jonathan Cox, both land speculators from eastern Kansas Territory, placed cottonwood logs to stake a claim on the bluff overlooking the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek, across the creek from the existing mining settlement of Auraria, and on the site of the existing townsite of St. Charles. Larimer named the townsite Denver City to curry favor with Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver.

Larimer, along with associates in the St. Charles City Land Company, sold parcels in the town to merchants and miners, with the intention of creating a major city that would cater to new immigrants. Denver City was a frontier town, with an economy based on servicing local miners with gambling, saloons, livestock and goods trading. In the early years, land parcels were often traded for grubstakes or gambled away by miners in Auraria.

In May 1859, Denver City residents donated 53 lots to the Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express in order to secure the region's first overland wagon route. Offering daily service for "passengers, mail, freight, and gold", the Express reached Denver on a trail that trimmed westward travel time from twelve days to six. In 1863, Western Union furthered Denver's dominance of the region by choosing the city for its regional terminus.

On February 28, 1861, the Colorado Territory was created, and Denver City was incorporated on November 7, 1861. In 1867, Denver City became the acting territorial capital, and in 1881 was chosen as the permanent state capital in a statewide ballot. With its newfound importance, Denver City shortened its name to Denver. On August 1, 1876, Colorado was admitted to the Union.

Although by the close of the 1860s Denver residents could look with pride at their success establishing a vibrant supply and service center, the decision to route the nation's first transcontinental railroad through Cheyenne City, rather than Denver, threatened the prosperity of the young town. The transcontinental railroad passed a daunting 100 miles away, but citizens mobilized to build a railroad to connect Denver to it.

Within three days, $300,000 had been raised, and citizens were optimistic. Fundraising stalled before enough was raised, forcing these visionary leaders to take control of the debt-ridden railroad. Despite challenges, on June 24, 1870, citizens cheered as the Denver Pacific completed the link to the transcontinental railroad, ushering in a new age of prosperity for Denver.

Finally linked to the rest of the nation by rail, Denver prospered as a service and supply center. The young city grew during these years, attracting millionaires with their mansions, as well as a mixture of crime and poverty of a rapidly growing city.

In addition to the elite and a large middle class, Denver had a growing population of immigrant German, Italian, and Chinese laborers, soon followed by African Americans from the Deep South and Hispanic workers.

Between 1880 and 1895, the city underwent a huge rise in corruption, as crime bosses, such as Soapy Smith, worked side by side with elected officials and the police to control elections and gambling.

The city also suffered a depression in 1893 after the crash of silver prices.

From 1953 to 1989, the Rocky Flats Plant, a DOE nuclear weapon facility that was about 15 miles from Denver, produced fissile plutonium "pits" for nuclear warheads. A major fire at the facility in 1957, as well as leakage from nuclear waste stored at the site between 1958 and 1968, resulted in the contamination of some parts of Denver, to varying degrees, with plutonium-239, a harmful radioactive substance with a half-life of 24,200 years.

In 1970, Denver was selected to host the 1976 Winter Olympics to coincide with Colorado's centennial celebration, but in November 1972, Colorado voters struck down ballot initiatives to pay for the high costs of the games. The notoriety of being the only city ever to decline to host an Olympiad after being selected has made subsequent bids difficult.

Denver has been known historically as the Queen City of the Plains and the Queen City of the West, because of its important role in the agricultural industry of the High Plains region in eastern Colorado.

#driving #drivingtour #denver