Happy birthday, Denver!

Tomorrow.

Generally, I'm not one to assume anything. But looking back over the past 149 years, the odds seem good the city of Denver will have no problem turning 150 years old Saturday.

After all, Denverites have always seemed to find a way.

Just read Bill Gallo's city history in this special section. You'll learn that developer William Larimer, unable to stake a claim to the best site in the area, simply put the squeeze on another landholder to get what he wanted when he founded Denver in 1858.

At a time when the city looked doomed to mediocrity because the major train lines were all going to Cheyenne instead, city fathers went on the offensive, convincing the rail barons to come to Denver as well. We all know who came out ahead after that effort, don't we?

The city needed water? It, umm, borrowed water from the Western Slope. The city lost its miserable, losing NHL team? It got another one, the Quebec Nordiques, to move here — and win two Stanley Cups, to boot.

When it comes to all American cities, Denver is on the young side. The oldest continuously inhabited American settlement, St. Augustine, Fla., was founded way back in 1565. Heck, we're not even the oldest city in the region; Santa Fe was established in 1598.

The playing field starts to level more when we compare birthdays with the big boys. New York City, pressing its East Coast primacy, was founded in 1624. Los Angeles started rising in 1781.

But when it comes to the heartland, we're right in the ballgame. Chicago was 51 years ahead of us; Kansas City only five years.

It hasn't been all wine and roses. Thanks to its reliance on natural resources — first gold and silver, then oil and gas — Denver has richly earned its reputation as a boom and bust town.

That's a good thing to remember now, as the city faces yet another economic downturn: We've been here before.

And like I said: I'm not one to assume. But would you bet against Denver?