[continued from page 17] Texas was annexed into the United States in 1845, and the northern land claims of Texas were sold to the United States in the 1850 Compromise. Looking at the names of landmarks, towns and rivers, we can see the influence of early Spanish explorers and later American explorers Zebulon Pike, Stephen Long, John C. Fremont and John W. Gunnison. What would Colorado be without the Sangre de Cristos Mountains, Pikes Peak, Longs Peak and the Gunnison River? Each explorer brought a new understanding of this land with his stories and maps and left an indelible mark on the state. By the 1859 Pikes Peak gold rush, what would become Colorado had been parceled out to the territories of Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico and Utah. Kansas became a state on January 29, 1861, and one month later Colorado became a territory on February 28, 1861. The new Colorado Territory consisted of 17 counties, two of which (El Paso and Fremont) are located in the same places today, although their shapes and sizes have changed. Colorado had 26 counties when it became a state on August 1, 1876. More counties were added as populations grew and people wanted county seats closer to home, especially in larger counties. By 1913, there were 63 counties. The number of counties didn’t change for 85 years until Broomfield County was approved by the voters of Colorado in 1998.
The Homestead Act of 1862 The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed U.S. citizens to file an application and lay claim on 160 acres of government-surveyed land. The gold was playing out in the goldfields, and some miners took up homesteads in Colorado Territory under the new act rather than returning to their homes in the east. Others moved from the east to take advantage of the Homestead Act The 4oth parallel, the line between Nebraska and Kansas, became an important baseline for surveying these new homestead lands. Baseline Road in Boulder, which is aligned with the 40th parallel, was used as the basis for up to 70 percent of the surveyed lands in Colorado
18 Colorado Country Life APRIL 2010
Tracing their footsteps with maps, the author can follow her great-great-grandparents, Wilburn and Elizabeth Christison, through time.
Territory. In order to receive a patent on the land, the homesteader needed to live on the land for five years and make the required improvements on the land, which included a 12-foot by 14-foot dwelling and raising crops. After the homesteader “proved up” his land, he received a land patent or deed of title to the land. Civil War veterans were allowed to deduct the time they served in the war from the residency requirements. People could also purchase land by residing on the homestead for six months, making some improvements and paying the government $1.25 an acre. An 1866 Map of Public Surveys in Colorado Territory shows early townships running along the Front Range along with detailed mapping of the goldfields.
Geological Surveys The territory of Colorado was beginning to be topographically and geologically mapped, and in 1867 Clarence King did a considerable amount of mapping along the 40th parallel. F.V. Hayden, who was in charge of the USGS of the Territories, started surveying parts of Colorado in 1869. Hayden led a focused effort in 1873 by setting up three divisions for field operations in South Park, Middle Park and North Park. Hayden completed his Colorado work in 1877 and published The Geological and Geographical Atlas of Colorado. Today we enjoy an added benefit to Hayden’s surveying expedition — William Henry Jackson, noted photographer of the great west, worked as the photographer for the Hayden survey and left us with a legacy of photographs recording
the mining camps and towns of the time as well as breathtaking vistas of Colorado Rocky Mountain grandeur. To view a collection of Hayden’s maps and Jackson’s photographs, visit the Denver Public Library’s Digital Image Collection online. The CGS and the USGS carry on the work of Hayden today. The entire state of Colorado has been mapped topographically to a detailed scale of 1:24,000, and the CGS is currently working on mapping the state geologically to the same scale. Geological mapping includes details of the distribution of rocks, deposits or other geologic features along with detecting geological hazards. These detailed maps are especially useful in areas where development is occurring. Colorado is divided into almost 1800 quadrangles which cover about 56 square miles each or 7.5 minutes of latitude and longitude. “We’ve completed field mapping for 89 maps; 79 are completed and published,” said Dave Noe, state map manager of CGS. When I look at a Colorado map today, I think of the changes in the past 200plus years: the people who explored and mapped the land, the boundaries that evolved and the towns that boomed and disappeared. Each map in succession records the lives of the people who passed through or lived in Colorado in each era. And when I discover a Colorado map I haven’t seen before, I feel the same thrill I felt as a child when that shiny new Colorado map was pulled down at the front of my fourth-grade classroom. Gayle Gresham is a freelance writer and a librarian for Elbert County Library District. Her husband, John, has worked for Mountain View Electric Association based in Limon for 25 years. For more information Gayle Gresham about Colorado maps and pans for gold on Cache Creek, visit Gayle's Cache Creek. blog http://ColoradoReflec tions.blogspot.com
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