Kansas

[W. Gray]

"It now remains to be seen whether this policy of excluding Kansas from the Union, because her people have prohibited Slavery, and embraced Republican principles, is to be persisted in at the coming session of Congress. The immediate and most potent reason which impelled the party in power to keep her out at the last session, having ceased to exist—we allude to the certainty of her voting for LINCOLN—it is to be hoped that the other grounds of objection to her admission will give way before the obvious dictates of justice, and the indignant demands of public opinion."

New York Times, November 28, 1860

Kansas was the 5th largest state in the Union in land area when admitted to the Union the following January 29.

Even after dropping the area of present day Colorado, there was a failed effort to have the northern state boundary follow the Platte River in present day Nebraska.

[patyrn]

Kansas would have been a REALLY large state if that section of Colorado would have remained.  I didn't know that we might have also stretched so far north to the Platte River.  Government would have been very interesting.....................western Kansas oftentimes feels so aloof from much of the goings on in Topeka, I've read, because of the distance and different modes of existence out there.   

[W. Gray]

Only Texas and California would have been larger had the area now in Colorado remained.

Not to mention a different time zone for many in western Kansas.

The folks on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado have the same view about their government in Denver.

And, since the current Democrat governor is going to call it quits after only one term, some Democrats, among others, on the western slope are stirring because his heir apparent in the party is again from Denver.

From the "I have always wondered" department:
Coloradans, like myself, living east of the Continental Divide are said to live on the "front range." Those living west of the Continental Divide are said to live on the "western slope." Why I do not live on the "eastern slope," I do not know. And, why those folks in the west do not live on the "back range," I do not know.  

[larryJ]

Having lived in Colorado a few years myself, I always heard the western slope was called that because the mountains extended, for the most part, all the way to Utah.  The Eastern Slope ended at the base of the mountains on the east side where the plains began.  Therefore, living on the plains east of the mountains was known as living on the front range.  But, that is just what I had heard when I was living there. I might add that while living there, I was able to visit all parts of the state and I think it is probably one of the most beautiful states in the country. 

Larryj

[W. Gray]

When I came to Colorado thirty years ago, I was part of the great influx of newcomers that hit the state in the early 1980s.

Folks born here, or said they were born here, became so "upset" with the horde of newcomers that it was a popular thing for them to go around with a green sticker on their car that said "Native."  Being of a military background and working for a military organization, I always thought "native" was not the proper word. I would have used "indigenous personnel." 

I recall asking several of these home grown folks of the significance of the "front range" and "western slope" but none of them knew.

Earlier this evening I decided to look it up. Here is what Wikipedia says:

Front Range:
A mountain range of the Rocky Mountains of North America that is located in the north-central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado. The Front Range is so named because, moving west along the 40th parallel north [which every Elk County Forum member knows is the north boundary of the state of Kansas] across the Great Plains of North America, it is the first mountain range encountered.

The name Front Range is also applied to the Front Range Urban Corridor, the populated region of Colorado and Wyoming just north of the mountain range and extending from Pueblo, Colorado, north to Cheyenne, Wyoming. This urban corridor is made possible by the weather-moderating effect of the Front Range mountains, which help block prevailing storms.

Western Slope:
Refers to a region of the U.S. state of Colorado incorporating everything in the state west of the Continental Divide. The Colorado River and its tributaries divide the region into north and south at Grand Junction, Colorado.

The area has a climate similar to that of the Great Basin.

The Western Slope is sparsely populated compared to the Front Range, with few towns having a population over 5,000; however, the regional population is growing rapidly, contributing to the state's ranking as one of the fastest growing in the nation. The primary economic activities are ranching, mining, and tourism. Fruit farming is also prevalent in areas along the Colorado and Gunnison rivers, including the Grand Valley. The unofficial capital of the Western Slope is considered to be Grand Junction, located in the Grand Valley.