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The City of Central, commonly known as Central City, is the Home Rule Municipality in Gilpin and Clear Creek counties that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Gilpin County, Colorado, United States.〔(【引用サイトリンク】accessdate=2011-06-07 )〕 The city population was 663 at the 2010 United States Census.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Central City city, Colorado )〕 The city is a historic mining settlement founded in 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush and came to be known as the "Richest Square Mile on Earth". Central City and the adjacent city of Black Hawk form the federally designated Central City/Black Hawk Historic District. The city is now a part of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. ==History== On May 6, 1859, during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, John H. Gregory found a gold-bearing vein (the Gregory Lode) in Gregory Gulch between Black Hawk and Central City. Within two months many other veins were discovered, including the Bates, Gunnell, Kansas, and Burroughs.〔 By 1860, as many as 10,000 prospectors had flocked to the town, then known as Mountain City,〔The name of the post office until 1869, see page 101, Bauer, William H.; Ozment, James L.; and Willard, John H., ''Colorado Post Offices, 1859-1989: A Comprehensive Listing of Post Offices, Stations, and Branches'', Colorado Railroad Museum (May 1990), hardcover, 280 pages, ISBN 978-0-918654-42-7〕 and surrounding prospects, but most soon left, many returning east.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.westernmininghistory.com/towns/colorado/central-city/ )〕 The 1900 census showed 3,114 people. The year 1863 brought the first attempt by hard rock miners to form a hard rock miners' union. Of 125 miners signing a union resolution in Central City, about fifty broke windows and doors at the Bob Tail mine, forcing other workers out. After a night of shooting and fighting, the union effort among Central City miners failed.〔Mark Wyman, ''Hard Rock Epic, Western Miners and the Industrial Revolution, 1860-1910'', 1979, pages 151-152.〕 Many Chinese lived in Central City during the early days working the placer deposits of Gregory Gulch. They were forbidden work in the underground mines. Most of them are believed to have returned to China after making their stake. The frontier gambler Poker Alice lived for a time in Central City and several other Colorado mining communities.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Kathy Weiser, "Poker Alice - Famous Frontier Gambler" )〕 Gold mining in the Central City district decreased rapidly between 1900 to 1920, as the veins were exhausted. Mining revived in the early 1930s in response to the increase in the price of gold from $20 to $35 per ounce, but then virtually shut down during World War II when gold mining was declared nonessential to the war effort. The district was enlivened in the 1950s by efforts to locate uranium deposits, but these proved unsuccessful.〔Paul K. Sims and others (1963) ''Economic Geology of the Central City District, Gilpin County, Colorado'', US Geological Survey, Professional Paper 359, pp.7–8.〕 The population of Central City and its sister city Black Hawk fell to a few hundred by the 1950s. Casino gambling was introduced in both towns in the early 1990s, but had more success in Black Hawk (which has 18 casinos) than in Central City (which has 6 casinos), partly because the main road to Central City passed through Black Hawk, tempting gamblers to stop in Black Hawk instead. In an effort to compete, Central City completed a four-lane, parkway from Interstate 70 to Central City, without going through Black Hawk.〔http://www.centralcityhighway.com/pdfs/onepagebrochure.pdf〕 The highway was completed in 2004, but Black Hawk, which prior to the introduction of gambling was much smaller than Central City, continues to generate more than seven times the gambling revenue that Central City does. To compete, Central City has recently eliminated height restrictions for building on undeveloped land. Buildings were previously limited to heights of , so as not to overshadow the town's historic buildings.〔Andy Vuong, "Eased gambling, building rules give Central City a second chance," ''Denver Post'', 1 July 2009, p.1.〕 Tax from the gambling revenue provides funding for the State Historical Fund, administered by the Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.〔(State Historical Fund ), Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Colorado Historical Society, USA.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Central City, Colorado」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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