Brief by Central Staff
Elevations – April 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
Of all publications, you’d think that one called Mountain Gazette would know better. But there it was on page 8 of a recent edition (No. 101) in a piece by the editor, M. John Fayhee:
“Fairplay is the county seat of Park County (at just under 10,000 feet it’s the highest county seat in the nation), and it is located …”
But Fairplay isn’t even the highest county seat in Colorado. That distinction belongs to Leadville, seat of Lake County. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Leadville is at 10,152 feet, and Fairplay is a mere 9,950.
Other high county seats in Colorado include Breckenridge (Summit County) at 9,602, and Silverton (San Juan County) at 9,305.
Fairplay and Leadville are connected by Mosquito Pass, which can be fairly described as the highest driveable pass in North America at 13,182 feet. One higher pass, Elkhead (between Clear and Pine creeks in Chaffee County at about 13,200 feet) sometimes appears on lists, but it’s only a foot trail.
There’s also Argentine Pass, in the general neighborhood of Loveland Pass and the Eisenhower Tunnel. Its top is at 13,207, and it is sometimes possible to drive there from the east side. But it’s not a through route because the roadbed on the west side has succumbed to rockslides. So like Elkhead, it’s not a driveable crossing.
Back to towns and cities. Leadville is the highest city in the United States. But in Colorado, municipalities with fewer than 2,000 residents are towns; so Alma, a neighbor of Fairplay, is the highest municipality and highest town, but not the highest city, at 10,353 feet.
The U.S. Postal Service still lists Climax (Zip Code 80429 and 11,360 feet) as an active post office, so it’s likely the highest one in the United States. As nearly as we could determine, the only higher “populated place” is Summitville, 11,480 in Rio Grande County, but it doesn’t have a post office.
One way you can sometimes win a bar bet is to know that Denver, the Mile High City at 5,280 feet, is not the highest state capital in the country. That distinction belongs to Santa Fé at 6,989. Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming, is at 6,067, so it’s also higher than Denver. Carson City, Nev., comes right behind our state capital at 4,730.
As for the highest national capital, most authorities give the honor to La Paz, Bolivia, at about 12,000 feet. Lhasa, Tibet, is listed from 3,350 meters to 3,700 (10,990 to 12,139 feet) in different sources, but not only is its elevation a matter of dispute, so is Lhasa’s political status as a capital, since China claims Tibet as a province.
The foreign elevations aren’t nearly as precise as American ones, which presumably demonstrates that America leads the world in hypsometry — a useful word which means “The measurement of elevation relative to sea level.”
That’s something we care about in Colorado. But in most states they list the population on City Limits signs, rather than the elevation.
