Larimer staked flags along Cherry Creek’s eastern side and began his version of urban development. Teepees and tents that were slapped together gave way to shoddy lean-tos which gave way to buildings that marked the makings of a small boomtown. In short order, the dusty trails of a barely-sought region became the feverishly traveled roads of a Gold Rush frenzy. 1858: Prospectors from Georgia crossed the Colorado Territory and literally struck gold at the base of the Rockies.
