Indulge in the strychnine-laced whiskey and opium-based laudanum of early Colorado. A lack of regulation and easy access to potent tinctures made for fun times in the Wild West, but often led to addiction and health concerns for a large part of Colorado's early population. Step into Denver's opium dens, breweries and recent headline-making legislation that continues to designate Colorado as the "wild West".

On a warm day in an otherwise blustery and cold January 1906, the first "Western Live Stock Show" opened in Denver under a circus tent. The event welcomed thousands of stockman from all across the American West to show-off their animals, trade stock and encourage a meatpacking center that rivaled those in Kansas City and Chicago. Discover how the Stock Show has grown into a state treasure and symbol of Colorado's deep agricultural roots.

Nestled between the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan Mountains, the scenic San Luis Valley holds a rich history for South-Central Colorado. Travel to San Luis, "Colorado's First Town," founded in 1851. Step inside the Valley's beautifully preserved 19 century churches. Explore agricultural legacies from La Vega, an expansive communal pasture land, to the People's Ditch, a man-made canal that holds the earliest adjudicated water rights in the state.

In 1969 Colorado acted to clarify its law with respect to under-ground water that is the water in alluvial aquifers hydraulically connected to surface waters. Increasingly this so called tributary groundwater was becoming an important source of supply especially for irrigation. Yet its development had proceeded virtually unregulated until 1965. This paper examines Colorado's experience in integrating the use of tributary groundwater with surface water....