Editing Colorado Territory (section)

===Early settlements, trade, and gold mining===
In 1779, Governor [[Juan Bautista De Anza|de Anza]] of New Mexico fought and defeated the Comanches under [[Cuerno Verde]] on the Eastern Slope of Colorado, probably south of Pueblo. In 1786, de Anza made peace with the Comanches, creating an alliance against the Apaches.

A group of [[Cherokee]] crossed the South Platte and [[Cache la Poudre River]] valleys on their way to [[California]] in 1848 during the [[California Gold Rush]]. They reported finding trace amounts of gold in the South Platte and its tributaries as they passed along the mountains. In the south, in the [[San Luis Valley]], early Mexican families established themselves in large land grants (later contested by the U.S.) from the Mexican government.

In the early 19th century, the upper [[South Platte River]] valley had been infiltrated by [[fur trade]]rs, but had not been the site of permanent settlement. The first movement of permanent U.S. settlers in the area began with the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]] of 1854, which allowed private land claims to be filed. Among the first settlers to establish claims were former fur traders who returned to the lands they once trapped, including [[Antoine Janis]] and other trappers from [[Fort Laramie]], who established a town near [[Laporte, Colorado|Laporte]] along the Cache la Poudre in 1858. See [[Forts in Colorado]].

In 1858, [[William Greeneberry Russell|Green Russell]] and a party of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgians]], having heard the story of the gold in the South Platte from Cherokee after they returned from California, set out to mine the area they described. That summer they founded a mining camp [[Auraria, Denver|Auraria]] (named for a gold mining camp in Georgia) at the confluence of the South Platte and [[Cherry Creek (Colorado)|Cherry Creek]]. The Georgians left for their home state the following winter. At [[Bent's Fort]] along the [[Arkansas River]], Russell told [[William Larimer, Jr.]], a Kansas land speculator, about the [[placer gold]] they had found. Larimer, realizing the opportunity to capitalize on it, hurried to Auraria. In November 1858, he laid claim to an area across Cherry Creek from Auraria and named it "[[Denver City, Colorado Territory|Denver City]]" in honor of [[James W. Denver]], the previous governor of the [[Kansas Territory]]. Larimer did not intend to mine gold himself; he wanted to promote the new town and sell real estate to eager miners.

Larimer's plan to promote his new town worked almost immediately, and by spring 1859 the western Kansas Territory along the South Platte was swarming with miners digging in river bottoms in what became known as the [[Colorado Gold Rush]]. Early arrivals moved upstream into the mountains quickly, seeking the lode source of the placer gold, and founded mining camps at [[Black Hawk, Colorado|Black Hawk]] and [[Central City, Colorado|Central City]]. A rival group of civic individuals, including [[William A.H. Loveland]], established the town of [[Golden City, Colorado Territory|Golden City]] at the base of the mountains west of Denver City, with the intention of supplying the increasing tide of miners with necessary goods.