"Gold! Gold!! Gold!!! Gold!!!! Hard to get and heavy to hold." (Coel 1) Headlines in 1858 when gold was found along the Platte River. Which started a

booming economy in mining. Some struck it rich and some moved on. Some did farming and ranching, while others started a new business and some saw the money in tourism. In time some of these people have continued to become successful and others have found wealth. But what has really happened to the businesses of Colorado as a whole? Mining, farming and ranching, and tourism were important parts of Colorado around 1900 at the turn of the century, but many wonder if at the start of a new century is it the same.

As many people look back at the beginning of this century they say mining is what built Colorado. It is true, but it has also hurt us in the future. The positive side of mining is that it brought great revenue to Colorado. It also built cities and

helped businesses grow. A great example of this is the town of Leadville. It did not seem like Leadville would grow in 1876 because, "the region itself was like an empty beach, washed by two tides of mining activity and littered with abandoned sluices, empty cans, and rotti

Mining, farming and ranching, and tourism were parts of the late 1800's and early 1900's and still contribute to our economy now. All of these are still in our economy, but it is almost the opposite in the amount of money that is received from each. There are only a few mines left in operation in Colorado. Mining from the past century has really hurt our environment of today from the debris and mine run-off. Farming has slowed down with restrictions on use of water. Some farmers were not getting enough water and had to sell their lands. Ranching slowed down because we do not have the open grasslands for the cattle to graze on. Ranchers do not want to waste their money on hay so they sold all of their stock and move to the city. Tourism is the largest income in our state. Now we have large ski resorts, the mint, mountain climbing, camping, and everybody's favorite, the alpine slide. Our businesses are growing in the city, DTC, and Highlands Ranch Park. What every we have today we owe to the early 1900's for helping attract people to this wonderful state.

cities and feed the miners. Ranching helped the railroad and feed most of the eastern states. Tourism in Colorado started as a summer income time, but in the

One industry that helped keep the miners going was farming and ranching. The farming community would set up markets in mining towns and at the end of

"For the last century, Colorado has been something special for the American tourist. Since 1870 it has been easily accessible from the East by

Shedd, Albert, Dir. Posion in the Rockies. 1987. Videocassette. Educational

Some common words found in the essay are:
Colorado Mining, HAW Tabor, America Brettell, Posion Rockies, Wesley Iliff, York Tribune, Colony Hall, Denver Tribune, Platte River, Leadville Leadville, farming ranching, mining farming ranching, tourism colorado, mine run-off, colorado colorado, ranching tourism, mining farming, colorado mining, posion rockies, gold gold, mining towns, farming ranching tourism, stores saloons billiard, tourism colorado 1900, liquor stores saloons,
Approximate Word count = 1607
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)