Oro County, Kansas Territory

The Oro County was a county in the Kansas Territory, which consisted of 7 February 1859 to 29 January 1861.

History

In July 1858 gold along the South Platte River was discovered in Arapahoe County. This discovery triggered the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. In order to assist the local government in the gold mining region, said the Kansas Territorial Legislature the Arapahoe County on February 7, 1859 in six counties: a small Arapahoe County, Broderick County, El Paso County, Fremont County, Montana County and Oro County. The Oro County was named after the Spanish word gold, although the County east of the gold mining region was. None of these six counties was ever organized. Many residents of the mining region felt disconnected from the territorial government, so that on October 24, 1859 it voted to form their own Jefferson Territory.

After the Republican Party had won the U.S. presidential election in 1860, the U.S. Congress passed a law which Kansas was admitted to the Union. The Kansas Act of Admission closed the portion of the Kansas Territory west of the 25th degree of longitude from the new state, so that the Oro County and the rest of the region again unorganized territory were.

On February 28, 1861, U.S. President James Buchanan signed a law with which the Colorado Territory was organized. Then the new Colorado General Assembly organized on November 1, 1861 17 counties for the new Colorado Territory.