By Laura Van Dusen In 1913, Fremont County nearly split in half. A group of civic leaders from Florence almost pulled it off. They proposed a bill to the Colorado legislature in January 1913 to split Fremont County in two and develop a new county naming Florence as the seat of government. It might have passed except for some tricky political maneuvering by the Cañon City contingent, who were against the bill. With Florence as the center of commerce, the new county, which they would call Sunshine, was slated to include surrounding coal towns of Rockvale, Williamsburg and Coal Creek,…
