< PREVIOUS ] [ 2004 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >
Every so often, a group of youngsters, like a school class or a scout troop, decides to learn about democracy. They propose a new Official Something of the State of Colorado, research the topic, get the ear of a friendly legislator, and lobby the bill through committees and chambers until it reaches the governor's desk.
That's how we got an Official State Insect, the Colorado Hairstreak Butterfly (Hypaurotis cysaluswas). And earlier this month, it's how we got an Official State Rock: Yule Marble, which comes from Colorado and was used for the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington, D.C.
The quarry is near the town of Marble, one of the few things about that area's geography that makes sense. The two closest county seats are Glenwood Springs (45 miles) and Aspen (59 miles), but Marble is not in Garfield or Pitkin County. It's in Gunnison County, and the county seat is about 125 miles away.
It's almost as bad as nearby Basalt. It sits between Glenwood Springs (23 miles) and Aspen (19 miles), but it's in Eagle County, and the seat is 55 miles away,
This makes you wonder what they were thinking, back when those lines were drawn. I've heard only one explanation, and that concerns the big chunk of Saguache County that lies on the Western Slope, much closer to Gunnison than to Saguache. Gunnison County got Marble, George Sibley once joked, to make up for the land in Saguache County that should have been in Gunnison County.
Back to our new Official State Rock. Yule Marble is certainly an important Colorado contribution to masonry, but if I'd been in charge, I'd have picked the pink Front Range Sandstone -- maybe the Lyons variety. It faces many older buildings (like on the CU Boulder campus) and it forms attractive sidewalks and patios.
Perhaps some future class project could make Yule Marble to Official State Metamorphic Rock, and Lyons Sandstone could be the Official State Sedimentary Rock. That would also leave an opening for Official State Igneous Rock, and it appears that we can't have too many Official State Stones.
After all, we already have an Official State Gemstone: the aquamarine, found near the summit of 14,269-foot Mt. Antero just up the road from me. More recently, we acquired an Official State Mineral, rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home Mine near Alma.
But don't have an Official State Metal, which seems odd, given that our state seal features a miner's hammer and pick. It was gold which first drew Americans into Colorado, and silver that built Denver into a city. Over the years, molybdenum might have been the most important economically, so it would be my nominee.
On the other hand, if we designated uranium, radium or plutonium as the Official State Metal, that likely deter immigration, which would in turn reduce highway crowding, water demand, suburban sprawl and related problems.
As noted, we have an Official State Insect, but the eight-legged beasties have been left out because we do not have an Official State Arachnid. There's only one real contender, the Rocky Mountain Wood Tick (Dermacentor andersoni Stiles). From now until July, every trip outdoors in Colorado will involve consideration of this critter, since it spreads Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Colorado Tick Fever.
Further, some members of the legal profession might feel
honored in the process, since one description of the tick
calls it a blood-sucking parasite.
Adding the Wood Tick to our Official Collection would also simplify the process of adding simpler life forms. The spotted fever pathogen, Rickettsia rickettsii, could be our Official State Bacterium, and Colorado Tick Fever would make a fine Official State Virus.
There are other forms of microscopic life which might become official; one serious contender for Official State Microbe would be Giardia lamblia, a protozoa often found in mountain streams, and one that makes Colorado famous when tourists return home and discover that they dare not get more than 20 feet from a bathroom.
As for prehistoric life, we already have an Official State Fossil, the Stegosaurus, a dinosaur which weighed 6,800 pounds, but had a walnut-sized brain which weighed only 2.5 ounces.
Any resemblance to our legislature is probably just a coincidence, but on the other hand, the more time they spend declaring Official State Somethings, the less time they have for regulating magazine displays, writing sex-education curricula and protecting wimpy right-wing college students,
< PREVIOUS ] [ 2004 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >