Colorado in 1883 - Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo

George Franklin Cram published this Colorado map in 1883 as part of his Unrivaled Family Atlas of the World, issued in Chicago by A.C. Shewey & Co. This was Cram's first mass-produced world atlas, a 65-map volume printed just seven years after Colorado achieved statehood.

The map shows Colorado at a scale of roughly 1:2,260,000, with county boundaries outlined in green and the state border in red. Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo are all marked, and the Rocky Mountains are rendered through hachure shading to suggest the state's dramatic relief. Leadville, high in the mountains west of Denver, was in the middle of the silver boom that had made it briefly one of the largest cities in the state by 1883, a newer rush layered on top of the Pike's Peak gold fever that had first drawn settlers to Colorado a generation earlier. Railroads are shown crossing the state, a reflection of the mining and agricultural economy that was driving Colorado's growth at the time.

A print like this suits anyone with Colorado roots, a Centennial State transplant who wants a piece of home, or a collector chasing Cram's earliest atlas maps state by state. It ships unframed and is offered in multiple sizes, an easy choice for a housewarming, birthday, or anniversary gift.