Cotopaxi, Colorado

United States Census 2020, the population of the Cotopaxi CDP was 44.^[3]

Homestead Act, which would grant each head male of a family 160 acres (65 ha) of land.^[8] When the colonists arrived in Cotopaxi, they discovered that only half of the houses that were promised to be built upon their arrival had actually been erected; this forced many of the families to live out of small makeshift canvas houses during the first winter.^[9] In addition to the housing problems, the colonists faced an extreme shortage of supplies that were needed to support them through the first winter and to plant their crops.^[8] Desperate to plant their crops, the colonists soon opened large lines of credit with the local store to buy the seeds and equipment they needed to get their crops planted. The variety of crops that the colonists chose to plant mostly consisted of potatoes and corn. The immigrants soon discovered, however, that the climate in the Colorado mountains was only suitable for growing crops for less than four months out of the year, and the first frost of winter killed most of what was still planted in the fields. This failed season of crops forced the immigrants to look for jobs elsewhere to help pay off their fast-growing debt to the local store.^[9] They soon found work with the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad which had decided to lay down more tracks to the west over Marshall Pass.^[9] The men of the colony were paid three dollars a day, which helped the struggling settlement get through its first winter. The colonists made it to spring, but the second crop was also a failure, and entire families soon started leaving. Only about six families remained in Cotopaxi to plant a third crop, which was wiped out by a large blizzard, and this officially ended the attempted farming colony in early June 1884.^[8]

whitewater rafting business that attracts thousands of tourists each year to ride on the Arkansas River.^[5]

United States Census 2010