Why Do We Call It The Front Range?

Near St. Mary's Glacier in the Front Range Corridor Area - July 2020

“Heading to the Front Range this weekend.” “Oh, I used to live in the Front Range.”

What the heck do people mean by “The Front Range?”

I used to think the term referred to the range (Home on the Range style) that occurred on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. I currently live in Steamboat Springs, on the Western Slope. I lived for 17 years in the Front Range, and I figured the Front Range was where all the cool mountain stuff came to an end. 

In the midst of writing on another topic, I looked up the term, and I’m glad I did. Here are a few things I learned:

• The Front Range, first used in 1873, refers to the steep mountain range that is also the “Gateway” to the Rocky Mountains. The term “front” came about because it was the first mountain range pioneers traveling from the east came to. 
• The Front Range is a corridor. It extends from its northern border in Wyoming to the Arkansas River in the south. The eastern border runs just west of cities like Boulder and Denver, and the western border extends to Georgetown and Silver Plume on the I-70 Corridor. Check out the U.S. Geological Map of the Front Range in this Colorado Public Radio (CPR) article: Guess What Colorado, The Front Range Isn’t Where You Think It Is.
• Further south, the Sangre de Cristo mountains, together with the Front Range, form the Eastern Slope - the eastern side of the Continental, or Great, Divide. Water on the eastern side flows to the Atlantic. Water on the western side of the Divide, the Western Slope which I mentioned earlier, drains to the Pacific.

Sources/Learn More
Uncover Colorado article: Colorado’s Front Range

Colorado Public Radio (CPR) article: Guess What Colorado, The Front Range Isn’t Where You Think It Is