Little Town on the Prairie

Subject
Denver history and people, Denver and regional timeline, the gold rush, literature, the environment

Fourth Grade Standards Covered In Activities
History: 2.a
Geography: 1.b, 1.c, 1.d, 2.a, 2.c, 2.d
Reading for All Purposes: 1.a
Writing and Composition: 1.a, 1.b, 1.c
Research and Reasoning: 1.d, 1.e, 1.f, 1.g, 1.h

21st Century Skills - Inquiry

What are the major era, events, and contributions of people in the history of Colorado?
Why did people of various cultures migrate to and settle in Colorado?
How have various individuals, groups, and ideas affected the development of Colorado?
How does writing create a visual image for the reader?

Time Frame
Activity One: A Visual Timeline of Denver and the Region
Time Frame: Two 45-minute periods
A chronological look at the region; requires research, illustrations, and presentations.
Activity Two: Strike it Rich in Cripple Creek
Time Frame: One 45-minute period; choose two procedures
Use a Touch Stone book to examine the Colorado Gold Rush.
Activity Three: Comparing Denver to a Little Town on the Prairie
Time Frame: One 45-minute period
Examine photographs and literature using inquiry-based questions.

Artifacts & Materials

Provided In Trunk Provided by Teachers
Timeline Cards Pens/pencils/crayons/paint
Photographs of early Denver Paper
Photographs of 1804 flood Computer/internet access
Strike It Rich In Cripple Creek, Leni Donlan
Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Excerpts from Little Town on the Prairie
Lifespan of a Grasshopper

Objectives
Through the use of literature and independent research, students will:
1) Understand Denvers early history;
2) Understand the affect of the environment on cities;
3) Utilize timelines to map Denvers growth.

Relevant Biographies
Augusta Tabor
Horace A.W. Tabor
Barney L. Ford
Background Information for Teachers Denvers History
Denver today is known as the Mile High City for its location one mile above sea level. And in
the 1900s the sprawling and glistening city was known as the Queen City of the Plains. It had
no such clever name before that time.

The first Native groups, such as the Arapaho and Cheyenne, moved into the region in late 18th
and early 19th century, moving with the buffalo and the seasons. The first trading post in the
region started in 1815. Throughout the next few decades, fur trappers, traders, and Native groups,
lived, hunted, and worked in the region. But in 1858, gold was discovered at Pikes Peak, and the
character and people of the region changed forever. Soon after, a few rough-hewn mining camps
developed at the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River.

The name Denver came about when a land speculator by the name of General William Larimer,
who had intentions of creating a large city, tried to curry favor with the governor of Kansas,
James. W. Denver. Ironically, unbeknownst to Larimer, Denver had already resigned as governor.
At the same time, another town, Auraria was built on the other side of the Cherry Creek. The two
developed a rivalry that lasted until 1860, when in a torchlight ceremony at the site of what is
now Confluence Park, the two towns united and agreed to the name Denver. Other cities in the
area, such as Montana City and St. Charles, also become a part of Denver. The region became
the Colorado Territory in 1861.

The Pikes Peak gold rush changed the course of the new town. In 1860, over 100 miners from all
over the country and all walks of life poured through Denver everyday.1 As more people arrived,
placer deposits (deposits of gold on the surface, usually in streams and river beds) became
more scarce and shaft and hard rock mining became necessary. Only companies could afford
the machinery, and independent gold seekers turned into company employees. Many Chinese
immigrants who had finished working on the Transcontinental railroad also sought their fortunes
in the Rockies. Racial tensions flared in the mines and camps, as white miners balked against a
foreign culture and accused Chinese miners of stealing their jobs.

By 1862, over 100,000 miners had flocked to the area. Most just passed through to the foothills,
as Denver proper had only poor, placer deposits; the real riches lay deep in the rock of the
mountains. Denver, therefore, became the supply hub for the hundred of thousands of hopeful
miners. Industrious entrepreneurs set up stores selling goods, services, and transportation to the
prospectors and the lucrative mining industry. Businessman Henri Murat declared in 1858 that
Gold is found everywhere...[but] you can make your fortune as a shoe-maker.

Several notable Denverites were originally lured by the prospects of making it rich by mining. For
example, Augusta and Horace Tabor moved to Leadville area in 1859 in hopes of striking it rich.
While they did not make their fortune right away by mining, they ran stores and sold supplies
and food to miners, which led to a significant profit. Horace did eventually invest in a successful
silver mine, which made the Tabors extraordinarily wealthy. The family moved to Denver where
Horaces philanthropy built the Tabor Opera House; the most opulent building between Chicago
and San Francisco. The saga of Augusta, Horace, and Baby Doe Tabor was legend in Denver at
the time and people are still fascinated by the love triangle and wealth of the Tabors. Additionally,
a former slave named Barney L. Ford, also arrived in Colorado with plans to mine for gold. Ford
was unable to claim his own mine due to discrimination against blacks at the time. Instead Ford
opened a Barber Shop that unfortunately burnt down in the 1863 Denver fire. He then opened a
hotel and restaurant, becoming a successful businessman, and later, a civil rights activist.
Background Information for Teachers Denvers History continued
Denvers location was based entirely on the presence of gold in the hills. Unlike major cities of
the east, there are no major waterways connecting Denver to commerce and transportation hubs.
Fourteen thousand foot mountains just to the west also isolate the city. Denver is in fact one of
the most isolated major cities in the United States. The transcontinental railroad bypassed the
city and airlines originally avoided the area because of the Rocky Mountains. In 1860, despite of
its far-flung location, the city attracted a gold-rush of townspeople and entrepreneurs from all
over the world, and from all walks of life: storekeepers, bankers, saloon-keepers, newspapermen,
waitresses, cattle ranchers, and farmers settled in town or nearby to seek their own fortunes in
Colorados new city. Just ten years later, the Denver Chamber of Commerce brought the railroad
to Denver, connecting it to the Transcontinental Railroad and the rest of the world. In 1879, with a
stable population of 35,000, Denver became the first city in the west to have telephone service.

However, the first few years of the town were chaotic as miners moved into town for a short
while before moving to a mining town in the mountains. Eventually many came back, chased away
by a failed claim or the harsh mountain weather. Horace Greeley described the rapidly growing
metropolis as a log city of 150 dwellings, not three-fourths completed nor two-thirds inhabited,
nor one-third fit to be.2 While most early Denverites were men, a few hardy families planted
their roots here as well. The Countess Katrina Murat ran the El Dorado Hotel and took in laundry
on the banks of Cherry Creek. William Byers founded the Rocky Mountain News, the towns first
newspaper, while his wife Elizabeth did her best to help the poor and homeless folks she saw all
around her. The first child born in the area of what was to become Denver was William Denver
McGaa, son of William McGaa and his Arapaho wife. The first white child was a girl born to Mr.
and Mrs. Henry Hubbell in 1859. Mother and child were given several town lots for their role in
helping to populate Auraria.3

In early Denver, both the beauties and hazards of nature were near at hand. For more than 10,000
years, Native Americans had camped in the nearby valleys along the Front Range, following the
South Platte River to fertile fields and hunting grounds. Scenes of dazzling snow-capped Rockies,
herds of pronghorn, and glorious fields of wildflowers in the tall grass found their way into the
diaries and letters of early white settlers. However, hardships and natural disasters like snowstorms
and prairie fires regularly challenged the grit and patience of the town-builders. In 1863 a fire
destroyed much of Denvers business district. This disaster led to a new Brick Ordinance that was
in effect until the 1940s. This is why so many of Denvers old buildings are made of brick; it was
illegal to use wood. The following year, a flash flood swelled Cherry Creek, killing 20 and leaving
$350,000 ($4,765,778 in todays money) worth of destruction in its wake (photographs from the
flood are included in the Supplemental Materials section at the end of this Lesson Plan). An Indian
war also threatened the new city, cutting supply lines and leaving residents with only six weeks
of food. In addition, grasshopper plagues destroyed crops and gardens. Settlers claimed that the
swarms of insects ate the laundry left to dry on the clotheslines. The grasshoppers appeared in
swarms so thick that people described them as looking like a heavy snowstorm or snowflakes
so numerous as to cover the sky and darken the sun.4
1
http://www.miningbureau.com
2
http://www.denver.org/metro/history
3
Hicks, Dave. Denver History: Illustrated on Post Cards. A-T-P Publishing Company, 1980. Page 14.
4
http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/pioneers_and_cowboys/pestiferousironclads.html
Denvers History

1858
General Larimer takes over the St. Charles town site and re-names it Denver City.

1860
Auraria, Denver City and Highland come together and agree on the name Denver

1861
Congress makes Colorado a territory. Six weeks later the Civil War starts.

1863
A great fire destroys the business area of Denver.

1864
Cherry Creek swells and floods Denver, causing a lot of damage.

1870
The first train, the Denver Pacific Railroad, reaches Denver.

1880
Denver is wired for electricity. The Windsor Hotel is completed.

1881
Union Station Depot is completed. The Tabor Opera House opens.

1882
16th Street viaduct, Denvers first, is started.

1883
City Hall and Arapaho County Courthouse are built

1886
Ground broken for State Capitol. Electric trolleys begin to run in city.

1888
Cable car transit service begins.

1890
State Capitol cornerstone is laid. Elitchs Gardens opens.
Smelters are citys largest industry (Argo, Grant & Omaha, and Globe).
Activity One: A Visual Timeline of Denver and the Region

Procedure
1. Review a history of Denver with your students. Highlight key events and people. The Background
Information for Teachers and the Biographies in this Teachers Manual provide valuable
information.

2. Give each student a Timeline Card, or have them work in groups of two. There are thirty-three
cards, each with a date and a sentence or two describing a significant event or period in the
history of Denver and the region.

3. Have each student research that event and/or year to learn more about their Timeline Card. A
list of additional resources is available at the end of this lesson plan; this should provide students
a place to start their research.

4. Have each student draw a picture that illustrates the event(s) listed on the Card.

5. Have students pin-up both the Timeline Card and their illustration in chronological order around
the classroom.

6. Have each student talk about their year, event, and illustration to create a written, visual and
oral timeline of Denvers history.

Credit
An electronic version of the Timeline of Denvers History can be found at http://www.colorado.
gov/dpa/doit/archives/history/histchron.htm. There are also additional dates for the region on
this website.
Activity Two: Strike it Rich in Cripple Creek
This book can be read as a class or individually by students. This lesson will work best if the
students read the book before engaging in the activities, or if you do a read aloud before assigning
any of the activities.

Each of the procedures listed below can be stand-alone activities. Depending on your time frame,
choose which procedures are best suited to your class.

This book examines the Colorado gold rush. It allows students to discover ways in which gold
was found and taken from the earth in Colorado. It also discusses the causes and effects the
gold rush had on the towns, cities, and entire state of Colorado. Students learn how mining towns
grew and changed while examining problems that occurred in mining towns. Further, students learn
vocabulary related to the gold rush.

Procedure
1. Discuss the ways in which prospectors took gold from the earth (page 9). Write the techniques
on the board: panning, sluicing, digging and blasting tunnels. Have students work in pairs, or groups.
Have them list each technique and the tools that would be required. Have them decide amongst
themselves which would be the fastest/easiest way to mine, the hardest/most dangerous way to
mine, the most profitable way to find gold, and the way that had the greatest chance of finding
gold. Have them weigh all factors and then decide which way they would choose to mine.
NOTE: Artifacts relating to this activity are in this kit, including: a gold pan, candle
lantern, oil lantern, blast cap containers, iron pyrite (fools gold), gold ore, and a gold
scale. Show the artifacts to the class before they begin this activity. If there is time, have
each group take a closer look at each object before passing them to the next group.

2. Using examples provided in the text (page 24) discuss the problems in Cripple Creek. Have
students imagine how these problems would affect the people in Cripple Creek. How would it affect
the miners, mine owners, store owners, and families differently? How would a natural disaster,
like a fire or earthquake, affect people in Colorado today? What can they do to help prepare for
a natural disaster? What can the city do to prepare? The state? Discuss the different building
materials and building codes that help protect citizens today.

3. NOTE: This is a sensitive activity and you will have to decide if it is right for your classroom.
Pretend you are the owner of a mine and the students are your workers. A few are
super visors, some are white miners and even more are minorit y miners. I t is pay day at
the mine and you begin to hand out money (using fake coins or fake paper money you
created) to the class. But not everyone gets the same amount. Supervisors get the
most and minor it y miners get the least - even though they all wor ked as hard and as
long. Be sure to make sure that the students see the discrepancy in pay.

Lead a discussion with your students about this discrepancy. Why did it occur at the
time? Was it fair? What course of action would have been available to them? Would
they quit? Would they form an union and try to bargain collectively? Would they strike?
(Refer to page 24 and the glossar y of the book for a little more background about this
topic). What repercussions were possible if they choose to act? Bring the discussion up to
today? Do these practices still exist in the workforce? Are there types of discrimination?
What actions can they take today? What are the repercussions today for taking action?
Activity Two: Strike it Rich in Cripple Creek continued

4. The text describes how Cripple Creek became a very busy city during the Gold Rush (page 26).
Have students decide what types of stores would be in Cripple Creek at the time, and how many,
and what materials they would be made of. Then have them create a fictional map based on their
research of Gold Rush towns at the time in Colorado. Have the students come up with fictional
names for the shops on their map, for example, Cindys Cripple Creek Cookies for a bakery.
Discuss some of the different buildings, organizations, and amenities that a busy city of today,
such as Denver, has that are different from a busy mining city in the 1860s. What are some of
the problems that a busy city of today has that a mining city did not have back then. Which one
would the students rather live in?

5. Go over the vocabulary list on page 30 with your students. Have them write a story about a
gold prospector in Cripple Creek using at least ten of the vocabulary words. Ask the students to
include details like, where the miner came from, if the miner came with his/her family, what type
of mining they do, other miners they work with, details about their work, what town is like, and
if they end up getting rich.
Activity Three: Comparing Denver to a Little Town on the Prairie
Little Town on the Prairie is set in DeSmet, South Dakota. It provides an opportunity to learn about
another town founded on the prairie. It provides students the ability to compare and contrast two
early settlements in the region, discover why these towns began, and how they each confronted
and solved similar problems, for example, environmental issues.

Procedure:
1. Have students locate Denver, Colorado and DeSmet, South Dakota on a map. What can they
learn and/or infer about the size and environment of each town from a map?

2. The book starts around 1880 and ends in 1882. Break your students into three groups and
have each research one year - 1880, 1881, 1882 - in Denvers history. Have each group come up
with a Top-Ten list of important events from their year. A list of Additional Resources is included
at the end of this lesson plan.

3. Denver was founded as a mining town and people settled in DeSmet to farm. Have students
brainstorm how this difference might have affected the growth and character of each town. Some
possible questions might include, what type of people would settle in each town, which town do
they think had more people and why, what different types of stores would each town have needed,
what items did people bring with them to farm, to mine?

4. Break your students into small groups and give each group a copy of the provided excerpts from
Little Town on the Prairie and the photographs of early Denver. Have students compare Lauras
descriptions of the town to the photographs of early Denver. What are the similarities between the
two places? What are the differences? How is life different today in Denver? How is it the same?
The photographs of Denver range in dates from 1860s to the 1900s. Use the
photographs to stimulate conversation about early Denver. Have students: Describe
the buildings. What stores are in the city? What stores do you see today that
werent there in the beginning of the town? What are people wearing? What
forms of transportation can you see? How is the city different then Denver
today? How has the city changed over time? Have students work together to put the
photographs in chronological order by decade, using clues they see in the
buildings, transportation, and/or signs.
NOTE: There are great books that include old and current photos of Denver, these books
can be used in place of or in addition to the photographs provided in this lesson. Please
refer to the Additional Resources list.

5. Although settled for different reasons, Denver and DeSmet had similar environments and faced a lot
of the same problems related to Mother Nature. Using the provided excerpts, have students compare
Lauras descriptions of the weather to their own experience of living in and around Denver.

6. After the discussion have students write descriptive stories of their own weather or wild life
experience, or description of their neighborhood. Much like Laura had to paint pictures with words
for Mary, ask your students to be as descriptive as possible when creating their story.

7. Finally, have the students read their stories to the class. Once they are finished make copies
of the stories and compile them to create A Little Classroom on the Prairie book to give to all
of the students.
Additional Resources
For Kids
Avi. I Witness: Hard Gold: The Colorado Gold Rush of 1859, a Tale of the Old West. Hyperion
Books, 2008.

Borg, Mary. My Colorado. Cottonwood Press, Inc. 2001.

Donlan, Leni. Strike It Rich In Cripple Creek. Heinemann-Raintree, 2007.

Perry, Phyllis. A Kids Look at Colorado. Fulcrum Publishing, 2005.

For Teachers
Collier, Grant. Colorado, Yesterday & Today. Collier Publishing. 2005.

Grace, Stephen. It Happened in Denver. TwoDot. 2007.

Leonard, Stephen and Thomas J. Noel. Denver: Mining Camp to Metopolis. University of Colorado
Press.

McBrewster, John. Denver: Denver, History of Denver, Geography of Denver, List of Neighborhoods
in Denver, Diversity in Denver, Law and Govenment of Denver, Street System...Area, Denver
International Airport. Alphascript Publishing, 2009.

Miller, Frederic. History of Denver: Denver, Colorado, United States, Arapahoe County, Jefferson
Territory, Arapahoe County, Colorado, History of Colorado, Kansas Territory, Jefferson
Territory, Colorado Territory. Alphascript Publishing, 2009.

Zamonski, Stanley. The 59ers: Roaring Denver in the Gold Rush Days. Primer Publishers, 1983.

For Kids and Teachers

Dinar, Joshua. Denver Then and Now. Thunder Bay Press. 2002.