Introduction to
Colorado Symbols

Like other Southwest states, Colorado is blessed with unusually distinctive symbols and an elegantly beautiful state flag. The most prominent themes among Colorado’s symbols are the color red, mining and the Rocky Mountains. However, the state’s grasslands are also well represented.

In 1861, Congress chose Colorado as the name for a new territory out West. In Spanish, Colorado means “red.” Surprisingly, the region was named for the Colorado River, which is usually clear. Perhaps it was seen during a flood, when it was full of sediment. The Colorado River was in turn named by Spanish explorers who had ventured forth from Mexico.

The color red appears on Colorado’s state flag and seal. Colorado’s mining industry is also represented by symbols on the flag and seal, as well as by the state gemstone, mineral and rock (aquamarine, rhodochrosite and Yule marble) and the nickname Silver State.

Rocky Mountain High

Its flag and seal are also reminders that Colorado is the premier Rocky Mountain State. Colorado nicknames have included the Switzerland of America and, more recently, the Top of the Nation.

The state flower (columbine), tree (Colorado blue spruce), mammal (bighorn sheep), fish (greenback cutthroat trout), and insect (Colorado hairstreak butterfly) are all at home in the Rocky Mountains. In fact, the discoverers of the state flower and tree made historic ascents of Pikes Peak, one of Colorado’s highest mountains. The state gem is most common on two of Colorado’s highest mountains.

The columbine and blue spruce are probably Colorado’s most celebrated ecosymbols. The state song is Where the Columbines Grow.

Lowlands

The Great Plains sweeps west from the Missouri River before crashing into the Rocky Mountains. Colorado’s grasslands are represented by the state bird and grass, the lark bunting and blue grama.

The state fossil is the dinosaur Stegosaurus, which represents the Colorado Plateau, a rugged region of fantastic landforms that extends into New Mexico and Arizona. Arizona’s Grand Canyon was largely carved by the Colorado River.

Cultural Symbols

Colorado has very few cultural symbols, which is just as well because they’re a big yawn. The exception may be the state tartan. But naming the square dance the state dance and English the official language only tells us that Colorado is one of fifty states, many of which have also adopted the square dance and English.

Summary

Only three of Colorado’s ecosymbols are marginally shared by other states. The blue spruce also represents neighboring Utah. Nevada adopted the desert bighorn sheep, a subspecies of Colorado’s “Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.” Colorado’s state fish is one of several subspecies of cutthroat trout that represent various western states.

As with other states in the Southwest, only the flag can represent the whole enchilada, which may explain why Southwestern state flags are so uniformly elegant.

If you look closely at Colorado’s flag, you can see snows capping mountains that rose during the Age of Dinosaurs and mountain streams and rivers that uncover their bones, strewn throughout the Colorado Plateau. You can see Colorado’s state flower, the gold sought by Spanish conquistadors and the sun that rises over the Great Plains

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