WI Colorado before Cali?

The California Gold Rush (1848-1855) led to an extremely large population movement, leading to California becoming a state in only two years, and possibly accelerated the factors that would lead to the American Civil War in 1861. But what if gold wasn't discovered in California for ten more years? And what if the Pike's Peak Gold Rush (1858-1861) happened ten years earlier? How would this affect the development of the nation as a whole?
 

mowque

Banned
We might see a more 'natural' growth of CA. I mean, in OTL, when CA became a state 90% of the population was male and very new to the area. Also, for many years the USA jurisdiction over CA was more like a colony (due to distance) then a normal part of the USA. Without gold, we'd see these pressures reduced.
 
Colorado will see an early boom with the gold rush and an earlier bust when the Cali gold is found. But earlier mining in the Rockies could have an interesting effect by leading to earlier bimetalism in the US, if the Colorado Silver Boom happens soon after the Pikes Peak Gold Rush.
 
Colorado as a state is possibly larger, including more of the Rockies range.

If the Civil War happens as per OTL we might see an enlarged western theater.

By the time the western coasts gets to a point of becoming states OTL's California is probably split into at least two or more states ITL.
 
So what kind of states would we see develop? How would this affect the development of the western coast, and the plains? Would they switch places from OTL (one being sparsely populated and the other being heavily populated)?
 
Thousands of people would still flock to California, they'd just have already established towns in Colorado territory. Actually, this might be very good for both groups. Migrants wanting to move into California: either for land or opportunity, will likely be able to pass safer than they would've iotl thanks to settlements already dotting Colorado et. al.
 
What about Indian relations? There were quite a few tribes around the Colorado area IIRC, and I think there was even a few battles with them during the Civil War due to the Pike's Peak Rush.
 

archaeogeek

Banned
If the Colorado Gold Rush happens in the 40s, Colorado as a state may well not exist as the area was then split between a strip in Texas (which Texas sold to the federal government in exchange for sponging off their debt IIRC), the Mexican Cession (territory which would later be part of Utah Territory) and the unorganized parts of the Louisiana Cession (the future Kansas and Nebraska Territories) - They might try to do more to keep those borders ITTL; maybe the gold rush could lead to their statehood earlier even, maybe early enough for Colorado territory not to be split off (in 1861). It really depends on how things happen (IOTL, a group of gold miners tried to set up a state of Jefferson in what became CO).

If the gold rush is early enough it could also affect the willingness/extent of a war against Mexico, since Pike's Peak country was already part of the US before the war.
 
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