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Denver, the capital of Colorado, is located at the foot of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains at the intersection of Interstate Highways 25 and 70. It was founded as Montana City on the South Platte River in 1858 by a group of prospectors. A bit later, Montana City gave way to Auraria, another mining town started by William Greenbury Russell during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. In November 1858, General William Larimer established a claim near Auraria and named it Denver City in honor of James W. Denver, Governor of the Kansas Territory. As the area's population grew, Denver managed to absorb the other communities. The Colorado Territory was created on November 1, 1861, and Denver was made it's capital. Colorado became a state on August 1, 1876, with Denver as its capital. Today it is one of the West's major cities and an excellent gateway into the Rocky Mountains. Denver's has a consolidated city - county form of government.
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