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Colorado
is the only state ever to turn down the Olympics. In 1972,
they stunned the world when residents said they didn't want the 1976
Winter Olympics. In a landmark vote on November 7th, 1972, the voters
said by a 62% percent majority that they were unwilling to host the
Olympics because of
the cost, pollution and population boom it would have on the State Of
Colorado,
and the City of Denver.
Guests stayed in Denver hotels at their
own risk until the first hotel with locks on the doors opened in 1872.
Reported one newspaper at the time: "Guests may lie down to
peaceful slumbers, undisturbed by apprehensions of getting their heads
blown off."
The Smuggler II Mine near Aspen
produced the largest silver nugget in the world in 1894. It weighed
more than a ton.
Colorado
has one of the only working diamond mines in the United States near
the
Colorado- Wyoming
border.
 Colorado
has almost as many dead towns (about 500) as live ones (650). Mining
booms and busts left the mountains littered with more than 300
ghost
towns that fascinate locals and tourists. The eastern plains and
western canyon lands are also haunted by more than 200
ghost
towns.
In 1863, one of Nevadaville's mines, the
Pat Casey (later the Ophir), was sold to Wall Street speculators. Stock shares of Nevadaville's mines were thus the first of any
Colorado
corporation to be quoted on the Big Board.
Millions of cattle came north along the Goodnight-Loving Trail, a
19th-century route from
Texas
through
Colorado
to Cheyenne.
The
Buckhorn Saloon (est. 1860s) holds Denver Liquor License #1.
The largest building made out of ice in
North America was built in
Leadville
in 1895. It covered more than 3 acres, with towers as high as 90 feet.
Shaped like a medieval castle, it had two ballrooms and a
16,000-square-foot skating rink.
Leadville's
Ice Palace opened January 1, 1896 but was forced to close two
months later because of unseasonably warm weather. To read all about
the Ice Palace
click
here.
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