Golden, the main town in what is now Jefferson County, Colorado, became the capital of the non-sanctioned "Jefferson Territory" which local citizens had instituted in the wake of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush in late 1859. Jefferson Territory operated a General Assembly representing twelve counties until turning over its jurisdiction to the federally-mandated new Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Wilbur Fisk Stone, editor, History of Colorado (Chicago, IL: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1918), 1: 171.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Lawmaking/Litigating