Q 01/05

Which range rises just west of Denver?

A) Sierra Nevada

B) Cascade Range

C) Rocky Mountains

D) Wasatch Range

Answer · why

C) Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains' Mount Evans was renamed Mount Blue Sky in 2023 over its namesake governor's role in the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre.

Q 02/05

Which disaster did Denver philanthropist Margaret 'Molly' Brown survive?

A) The Lusitania sinking

B) The Titanic sinking

C) The Johnstown Flood

D) The Hindenburg crash

Answer · why

B) The Titanic sinking

The Titanic sinking left her in Lifeboat 6, and aboard the rescue ship she organised a committee to help poorer survivors.

Q 03/05

Where is the benchmark that fixes Denver's official one-mile elevation?

A) Union Station's clock

B) City Park's lake

C) The Brown Palace lobby

D) The State Capitol steps

Answer · why

D) The State Capitol steps

The State Capitol steps hold three mile-high markers, because later surveys placed the mile three steps higher in 1969, then on the 13th step in 2003.

Q 04/05

Denver was founded where the South Platte River meets which waterway?

A) Cherry Creek

B) Clear Creek

C) Bear Creek

D) Boulder Creek

Answer · why

A) Cherry Creek

Cherry Creek's gold diggings drew prospectors in 1858, and the rival towns of Auraria and Denver City rose on its opposite banks.

Q 05/05

Which peak named Denver's gold rush?

A) Longs Peak

B) Mount Elbert

C) Pikes Peak

D) Mount Princeton

Answer · why

C) Pikes Peak

Pikes Peak had no major gold strike until the 1890s, but gold seekers heading west could see it from afar, so its name became their slogan.