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Three weeks ago, you had a chance to enter the Hard-core Colorado Trivia Contest, with the promise that there would be answers today. You now possess another item of trivia -- when did someone actually keep a promise in Colorado?
1. Why the argument between Alfred
and
Alferd
Packer? His parents named him Alfred, which
is on his military records, some legal papers and his
tombstone in Littleton. But during his Civil War service,
he had Alferd Packer
tattooed on his right arm, and
there is other evidence that he preferred that spelling for
a while.
2. In Denver's lusty days, Market Street was Holladay
Street, known widely as the Line,
with Hop Alley
nearby. Sackett Avenue in Salida was Front Street. Second
Street in Leadville was State Street, flanked by Hop Alley
and Stillborn Alley.
3. The lieutenant governor chairs the Colorado Promotion Association, and serves on the Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs.
4. On the rail route west from Denver, the trackage from Denver to Orestod was built by the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific and the Denver & Salt Lake. The Denver & Salt Lake Western built the stretch from Orestod to Dotsero. From Dotsero to New Castle, you're on actual Denver & Rio Grande track; the line from New Castle to Grand Junction was built by the Rio Grande Junction, a jointly owned venture of the D&RG and the Colorado Midland.
5. Among the few streams which flow into Colorado are three from Wyoming: Crow Creek, the Little Snake, and the Green. The Cimarron flows in from New Mexico.
6. Many entrants said our highest pass is Argentine Pass at 13,207; that elevation comes from The Colorado Pass Book by Don Koch. But in The Great Gates, Marshall Sprague puts Argentine at only 13,132; Mosquito is the highest, at 13,188.
Is there a hypsometrist at the Geological Survey who can give us a definitive answer?
Argentine,
the name of a nearby mining district,
comes from the Latin word for silver. Mosquito was
supposedly named because a mosquito was found squashed in
the minutes after an indecisive meeting to name the mining
district.
7. The only county ever abolished was Greenwood County, established in 1870 and dissolved in 1874. It was divided into Bent and Elbert counties.
8. The 14er that shouldn't be on the Colorado Mountain Club list is North Maroon Peak, co-star of many placemats and post cards. North Maroon (14,014) is just .4 mile from the summit of Maroon Peak (14,156) and the saddle drops only 234 feet. Ellingwood Peak (14,042) is .5 mile from Mt. Blanca's apex, and the saddle dips 342 feet.
Ellingwood is considered too close to be a separate peak. North Maroon is even closer, so it shouldn't be, either.
9. Colorado had three governors during a 24-hour period on March 16 and 17, 1905. Democrat Alva Adams was the apparent winner in 1904 and took office in 1905. But the Republican legislature declared that some ballots were fraudulent, so Adams' opponent, James Peabody, was really governor. Peabody took office on March 16 and resigned early the next day. The lieutenant governor, Jesse McDonald, completed the term.
10. There was no official commemoration on April 20 of the 75th anniversary of the Ludlow Massacre, and nothing has been announced for Nov. 29, the 125th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre.
Nobody got them all. I much enjoyed the light-hearted entries from Sands & Chappell of Summit County and from Steve Olstad of Broomfield. First-place was a tie between Richard Dais of Denver, who has a beer waiting for him here, and Rosemary Conner's eighth-grade Colorado history class at West Jefferson Junior High in Conifer.
They said they'd settle for root beer, which eliminates
some future trivial question like Name a columnist
convicted of corrupting minors.
Congratulations to
them, and thanks to all who entered.
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