About Palmer Divide Research
Palmer Divide Research is a shared, working record of the places that made the Palmer Divide: the ridge of high ground between the South Platte and the Arkansas, running east from the Rampart Range between Denver and Colorado Springs. It is compiled by Michael Christensen and opened up so that families and local historians can correct it and add to it.
What's here
- The map: 200 places, with today's roads, railroads and creeks; the U.S. Geological Survey's maps of 1889–1894; and Glenn R. Scott's USGS historic trail maps, with the old trails and stage roads traced.
- A page for every place, with notes, how it was located, and sources.
- 39 places we know of but can't yet locate.
- 112 numbered sources.
- The place data, free to download and reuse.
How places are located
A place goes on the main map when its location is reasonably sure, usually because two independent sources agree. Each point is labeled with how it was found:
| USGS GNIS point | The U.S. Geological Survey's official point for this place name. |
|---|---|
| stand-in point | The official point of a school, cemetery or store of the same name, standing in for the place itself. |
| approximate (Wikipedia) | Wikipedia's coordinates; approximate, and still to be confirmed. |
| street address | A street address, located with the county's address points. |
| mapped feature (OpenStreetMap) | A feature drawn in OpenStreetMap, such as a park or a lake. |
| National Register coordinates | The coordinates published with the National Register of Historic Places listing. |
| shown to about a mile | A sensitive site: shown at the nearest named place, within about a mile. |
| from Scott's 1999 trail map, with a second source | Read from Glenn R. Scott's USGS historic trail map of 1999 and confirmed by an independent source; good to a few hundred feet. |
| from a cited description | Placed from a written description: a land section, a distance from a landmark, an old survey note. The label says how close it is likely to be. |
Places known from a single source stay in their own map layers, off by default: the section references in Place Names of Colorado, the symbols on Scott's 1999 map, and other USGS place names not yet sorted.
Sources and quotations
Notes cite their sources in the text; numbered sources are on the sources page. Quotations from old newspapers and government records are usually given in full. Quotations from recent books are kept short, and long ones are trimmed. If you hold the rights to something quoted here and want it changed, write to us.
Privacy
Native American graves and artifact sites are shown only at the nearest named place, to protect them. The site names people of the past, not the present owners of private property. Many places on the map are on private land today; please ask before visiting. See also the privacy page.
Updates
The research goes on every day; the site is refreshed every few weeks. This version was built from the research files on 2026-10-06.
Reuse
The text and place data are offered under CC BY 4.0: use them with credit to Palmer Divide Research and a link. Map roads, railroads and creeks are from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); place names from the USGS Geographic Names Information System; county lines from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Contact
[email protected], or use the contribution form.