Denver is the largest city and the capital of the western state of Colorado. There’s a marker on the step in the State Capitol Building. Standing there, you are exactly 1.6 kilometers above sea level, one mile high. Denver is known as“the-mile-high city”, but it does not appear to be that high. This is because it is built almost completely on smooth flat land. Denver is the largest city of the Rocky Mountains. Many people believe it is actually in the Rocky Mountains. However, it is about 50 kilometers east of them.
The city of Denver has a population of about 470 000 people. This makes it the 26th largest city in the United States. The area around Denver has more than 1 600 000 people. City officials are proud of the fact that Denver receives more than 300 days of sunshine a year. Storms moving east across the country lose much of their strength in the Rockies. So Denver gets only about 35 centimeters of rain and snow a year. The nearby mountains, however, get a lot more than that.
Denver is the business and marketing center for all the Rocky Mountain area. It has more than 1 500 manufacturing companies. Food processing is the main manufacturing activity. Other factories make equipment for the defense, space, high technology and transportation industries. Gold production is also important. Denver is home to companies that control half the gold produced in the United States.
The computer and communications industries have become increasingly important in recent years. Denver has the third highest number of high technology jobs in relation to the population. The area also has become a center for companies that do business in other countries. This is true throughout the western states. In fact, more jobs in the American west are linked to foreign trade than in any other part of the country.
Tourism is also an important industry in Denver. For example, the Colorado History Museum shows the history of the native American Indians, gold miners and other people who moved to Colorado. The Denver Museum of Natural History shows Indian objects and examples of local wildlife. Many visitors to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains use Denver’s new international airport, which opened in 1995. It was the first major new airport built in the United States in 21 years. It cost almost 5 000 million dollars. It is the largest airport in North America, almost 90 000 passengers land at Denver International Airport each day.
There is a lot to see and do in Denver. The State Capitol Building is in the center of the city. The top is covered with more than 500 g of gold. On a clear day, a visitor to the Capitol can see for a distance of almost 250 kilometers. 87 years ago, city officials began to purchase land to make sure it would be protected from development. Today, the city owns 8 000 hectares. On this land, Denver has built the largest city park system in the nation. Finally, there’s Larama Square. It is a business area that is said to look like Denver of the early 1900s. Larama Square is filled with old buildings, gas lights and vehicles pulled by horses. It is a part of the new Denver that lives in the past.
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