Colorado: A Historical Atlas

This is a thoroughly revised edition of the Historical Atlas of Colorado which was coauthored by Tom Noel and published in 1994. Chock-full of the best and latest information on Colorado this new edition features thirty new chapters updated text more than 100 color maps and 100 color photos and a best-of listing of Colorado authors and books as well as a guide to hundreds of tourist attractions. Colorado received its name (Spanish for red) after much debate and many possibilities including Idaho (an Indian name meaning gem of the mountains later discovered to be a fabrication) and Yampa (Ute for bear). Noel includes other little-known but significant facts about the state from its status as first state in the Union to elect women to its legislature to its controversial highest state designation elevated by the 2013 legalization of recreational cannabis. Noel and cartographer Carol Zuber-Mallison map and describe Colorados spectacular geography and its fascinating past. The books eight parts survey natural Colorado from rivers and mountains to dinosaurs and mammals; history from prehistoric peoples to twenty-first-century Color-oddities; mining and manufacturing from the gold rush to alternative energy sources; agriculture including wineries and brewpubs; transportation from stagecoach lines to light rail; modern Colorado from the New Deal to the present (including politics history and information on lynchings executions and prisons); recreation covering not only hiking and skiing but also literary locales and Colorado in the movies; and tourism encompassing historic landmarks museums and even cemeteries. In short this book has informationand surprisesthat anyone interested in Colorado will relish.