Congress created the Colorado Territory in 1861, on the eve of the Civil War. Wartime issues and an economic slump derailed attempts to gain admission in the 1860s. Railroad development and silver strikes drew thousands of new fortune-seekers in the 1870s. President Grant signed a proclamation creating Colorado as the 38th state in the Union on August 1, 1876.

Colorado is the 38th state admitted to the Union.

Here is a bust of General U.S. Grant, who was the President at the time. Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain declared this likeness of Grant to be the best he'd seen.



He wrote about it in his autobiography, relating how Grant was still alive, but in bad shape, dying from throat cancer, so Clemens took the artist, K. Gerhardt, to the Grant home in order that the family could tell him how the forehead and nose should be shaped. They were having a big discussion about it, and then someone finally said, 'well, he's right in the next room, so let's go look at his forehead.'

They all trooped in there and had a look then returned to the parlor. Gerhardt was working along on the clay, and Grant decided to get up and join them, but his wife was worried he'd catch pneumonia so made him go back to bed. When Gerhardt was done for the day, he said he wanted to come back the next day to do some more, but General Grant's son said no, the bust was perfect as it was.

"See that portrait over there on the wall? Who do you think that is?" Clemens said he had no idea. "That's right," said the son, "it's supposed to be of my father, and it was just right, looked just like him, but then the artist wanted to do some more work on it, add some more touches, and now it doesn't look anything like him. Oh, we took it, and display it as a curiosity, but, no sir, this bust is perfect and I don't want to see it ruined by you trying to make it better."