In Breckenridge, spelling matters.
Thomas Breckenridge – with an E in the middle – came through in the 1840s with the Fremont expedition. They put his name on the map near the place he lost a mule. An embarrassment, for Mr. Breckenridge, but not for long. By 1859, the gold rush was on, especially in the boomtown near that spot of wilderness. John C. Breckinridge – with an I in the middle – was vice president then, and just the sort of politician to flatter if you were angling for a federal post office. The folks in Breckenridge changed the spelling to Breck-in-ridge and got the post office. But then the Civil War broke out. Breck-in-ridge joined the Confederacy, and Breck-en-ridge quietly went back to its original spelling. 100 years later, ski trails were cut through the woods where a man once lost a mule. And today, Breck, as some locals call it, is one of the hottest zip codes in the High Country.
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Colorado Postcards are snapshots of our colorful state in sound. They give brief insights into our people and places, our flora and fauna, and our past and present, from every corner of Colorado.
