City of Denver History
By IntraDenver staff writer

Shrouded in groves of cottonwood, the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek was a prime spot for setting up camp in the 1800’s. Native Americans could be found there along with many a gold prospector. And in 1859 friends of James W. Denver, then governor of the Kansas Territory, thought they struck it rich right there in the confluence of the rivers when flakes of placer gold appeared in their gold pans. Within the year the cottonwoods were gone and hundreds of cabins lined the muddy banks.

After overcoming such trials and tribulations as a flood, several fires, and Indian attacks, the city finally banded together an army, which warded off invading Confederates during the Civil War. By 1867, Denver was the capital of the Colorado Territory and when Colorado became a state in 1876, Denver stood proud as the state capital.

It wasn’t, however, gold in Denver that kept the people here, because there just wasn’t much gold to be found in the area. It was the industry produced by the gold found in the mountain towns that created the boom in this town. The miners needed things that mining communities couldn’t offer and Denver stepped up to be the source for those necessities. Railroads sprung up and shipping merchandise in and out of Denver became a major industry with a link to the Union Pacific transcontinental railroad in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Travel to and from Denver also became easier done than said by way of the new railway.

Houses began springing up and the dry and barren landscape began taking on greener tones with the creation of the "City Ditch." Irrigation canals ran through the neighborhoods with water supplied by a stream in the foothills just south of the town. The town settlers transplanted trees from the places they had come from and a diversely landscaped community began to emerge as the "Queen City of the Plains."

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