The San Luis Valley

© 1999 by the University Press ofColorado

Publishedby the University Press of Colorado P.O. Box 849 Niwot, Colorado 80544

All rights reserved. First edition 1979 Second edition 1999

Printed in the United States ofAmerica.

The University Press ofColorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, inpart, byAdamsState College, Colorado State University, FortLewisColiege, Mesa StateCollege, MetropolitanStateCollege ofDenver, University ofColorado, UniversityofNorthem Colo­ rado, University ofSouthemColorado, and WestemState College ofColorado.

The paper usedin this publication meets the minimum requirements ofthe American Na­ tional Standardfor Information Sciences-PermanenceofPaper for Printed Library Mate­ rials. ANSI Z39.48-1984

Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Simmons, Virginia McConnell, 1928- TheSan Luis Valley: land of the six-armed cross / Virginia McConnell Simmons. -2nd ed. p. em. Includesbibliographical references and index. ISBN 0--87081-S30-X (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. San Luis Valley (Colo. and N.M.}--History. 2. San Luis Valley (Colo. and N.M.}-Geography. I. Title. F782.S2S56 1999 978.8'33--dc21 99-11379 CIr

Credits

Front cover; Fred F. Haberlein Archival photographs are from the collections of the Colorado Historical Society unless otherwise noted. Prints ofsketches are from Heap,Central Route to the Pacific; United States Pacific Rnilway Explorations and Surveys, 38th and 39th Parallels; Darley, Passionists ofthe Southwest;and the Denver Journal ofCommerce. The map of the Sangre de Cristo Grant is from the collections of the Colorado Historical Society. The two original maps showinggeographyofthe San Luis Valley are by George C. Simmons.

0807060504 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 Contents

Foreword by David Frid~of Halaas vii Acknowledgments ix

Chapter I A Most Beautiful Inland Prospect 3 Chapter II When the Sun Stands Still 13 Chapter III Those Who Are Considered Subjects of the King 21 Chapter IV Refreshing My French Grarrunar and Overseeing the Works 33 Chapter V In the Nibor Hood of Tause 43 Chapter VI Mule Tail Soup, Baked White Mule, and Boiled Gray Mule 55 Chapter VII More Mule Meat 65 Chapter VIII In Voices of Gladness 77 Chapter IX A Matter of Grace 111 Chapter X Do You Want to Work for Wages or the First Day's Brandings? 125 Chapter XI Bring Their Heads 141 Chapter XII I Had a Dream 153 Chapter XIII Thirty-Six Saloons and Seven Dance-Halls 175 Chapter XN Significant Little Evidences of Refinement 193 Chapter XV Manassa Was Strong on Religion 215 Chapter XVI They Do it In Good Faith 247

Epilogue The Six-Armed Cross 269 Appendix Hispanic Place Names of the San Luis Valley 271 Endnotes 309 Bibliography 329 Additional Suggested Reading 343 Index 347 )

© George C. Simmons Foreword

Human habitation in Colorado and New Mexico's San Luis Val­ ley stretches back to distant time. Ancient peoples lived here thou­ sands of years ago, as did the Utes, who claim the valley has been theirs forever. Other native peoples-Comanches, Kiowas, Navajos, Pueblos, Apaches, Arapahos, Cheyennes-knew the valley, too. So did Europeans. DonJuan de onateclaimed the valley for King Phillip II of Spain in 1598, although neither he nor any other of the king's men had yet seen it. Not to be outdone by their European rivals, French traders indicated an abiding interest in the region by spread­ ing their goods among the peoples of the upper reaches of the Rio Grande. In the nineteenth century American trappers and explor­ ers-men such as Zebulon Pike, Kit Carson, Bill Williams, John Charles Fremont, and John Gunnison-also penetrated the valley. When Mexico gained independence from Spain, the republic encouraged permanent settlement here by issuing generous land grants to enterprising colonists. And when the United States conquered the present American Southwest via the Mexican War, the valley quickly saw the founding of many settlements, from the Plaza de los Manzanares to San Luis and Guadalupe. The land filled so much, in fact, that in 1852 Fort Massachusetts was built to protect the mostly Spanish-speaking settlers. A year before, in 1851, a group of Hispanos filed Colorado's first recorded water right, the San Luis People's Ditch. Other irrigation ditches came in quick succession: the San Pedro, followed by the Acequia Madre, the Montex, Vallejos, Manzanares, and Acequiacita. All reflected the importance, indeed the imperative, of water to this high, dry expanse. Water in the San Luis Valley is a story unto itself. viii Foreword

But the San Luis Valley has many stories, told in many voices. The place names of the land speak for the stories of the Utes and Hispanos. Other people who crisscrossed the valley recorded their stories in a bewildering array and mixture of languages-Spanish, English, French, as well as Navajo, Kiowa, Apache, and Pueblo. Soldiers stationed at Forts Massachusetts and Garland-including the famed African-American Buffalo Soldiers-told their stories as well. Suddenchange enveloped the San Luis Valley following the 1859 discovery of gold in Colorado's high country. The towering San Juan Mountains proved irresistible to onrushing fortune seekers. The world seemedto rushin-orthrough-the valley. Quicklycameboom towns, farms and cattle ranches, railroads, a cash economy, ar,d sometimes disorder. Prior Hispanoresidents resisted the change as bestthey could, retaining their language, customs, and towns, andlife wenton, different to be sure, butstill familiar. Perhaps this is the larger story of the San Luis Valley resistance to the influences ofnewcomers and explosive growth. Today the valley remains an island unto itself or, rather, as author Virginia McConnell Sinunons explains, it is an archipelago of islands, for several localities within the basin are home to clusters of distinctive traditions and lifeways. 1n this sparkling new edition of The San Luis Valley: Land of the Six-Armed Cross,Sinunons lays before the reader the stories and voices of this multi-cultural land. Like the six-armed cross atop the church at La Garita, the valley reaches out in all directions, yet remains uniquely remote and locked in its own independent course.

-DAVID FRIDljoF HALAAS, Chief Historian, Colorado Historical Society, Denver Acknowledgments

This book offers not a first look but a fresh look, it is hoped, at the history of the San Luis Valley of Colorado. It is a synthesis of a mass of material about the region. The bibliography and footnotes in this volume indicate many of the books, articles, and other records which the author consulted. In addition, the names of several indi­ viduals and repositories deserve special mention because of their as­ sistance. For this Second Edition"Additional Suggested Reading" has beenprovided following the Bibliographyinorderto recommend mate­ rials that have been published since 1979 and to indicate some oppor­ tunities for future research and writingby others. During the past decade members of the San Luis Valley Histori­ cal Society have given generously of their time and energy to the collecting of documents and interviews. Much of this work appears in The San Luis Valley Historian, their quarterly which has been used extensively in the writing of this book. One individual whose name, by chance, does not appear in my bibliography, but who should be recognized for her devoted work in the society, is RuthMarie Colville. At Adams State College the library contains files on regional his­ tory which were made available through the helpfulness of Christine Moeny, special collections librarian. The faculty and graduate stu­ dents of the history department at Adams State College, also, are commended for the many excellent theses, which are available to subsequent researchers. The State Historical Society of Colorado possesses extensive files and documents, and Enid Thompson, librarian there at the time of my research, was most helpful in locating papers which were related to this study. Ofspecial value at the same society was The Colorado Maga­ zine, the quarterly in which have appeared many useful manu­ scripts about the San Luis Valley. Also, Dr. LeRoy R. Hafen, who for x Acknowledgments

many years was historian of the society, is saluted for the remarkable service he performed in collecting, compiling, editing, and publish­ ing an enormous amount ofmaterial on state and local history and for his encouragement of contributions by those who were part of that history. The Denver Public Library's Western History Department offered much assistance through its efficient and friendly staff. Alys Freeze, formerly head of the department, and her successor, Eleanor Gehres, especially are thanked. Robert Svenningsen, chief ofthearchives branch of the FederalArchives and Records Center in Denver, was veryhelpful in guiding me to material atthe center. Other repositories in Colorado which were useful for research in regional history were located at the U.s. GeologicalSurvey, at Colorado College's Tutt Library inColorado Springs, and in the Colorado history collections at the University of Colorado Libraries in Boulder. Both the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives and the New Mexico State Library contain much material related to Colorado's San Luis Valley. Dr. Myra Ellen Jenkins, chief of the his­ torical services division, provided excellent guidance to the docu­ ments in the Records Center and Archives, while Virginia Jennings helped me with materials at the State Library. For their reading the manuscript and offering many suggestions, my deep appreciation is extended to Dorothy D. Wilson, former cu­ rator of the museum of Adams State College and a director of the San Luis Valley Historical Society; to Dr. Duane A. Smith, Depart­ ment of History, Fort Lewis College; and to Thomas C. McConnell, my son. Fred A. Pruett and his editor Gerald Keenan of Pruett Publishing Companybrought the First Edition into print, and I remaingrateful for that edition and two subsequent printings. For this Second Edition, publishedbythe University Press ofColorado, mydeep appreciationis extended to the director of the press, Luther Wilson, and to its editor Laura Furney. The foreword has been written by a greatly admired friend and colleague, David F. Halaas, ChiefHistorian of the Colorado HistoricalSociety, whom I thank. The new cover artis the work of Fred Haberlein, who grew up in the San Luis Valley and whobrings an extra measure of affection to this painting and to his murals that grace the valley. The San Luis Valley Following the course of the Rio Grande, thousands of birds, including these sandhill cranes, migrate through the San Luis Valley each spring and autumn. Chapter I

"A Most Beautiful Inland Prospect"

After a bad day's march, through snow some places three feet deep, we struck on a brook which led west, which I followed down and shortly came to a small run, running west. .. . Followed down the ravine and discovered after some time that there had been a road cut out, and on many trees were various hieroglyphics painted. After marching some miles we discovered through the lengthy vista at a distance another chain ofmountains and nearer by at the foot of the White Mountains, which we were descending, sandy hills. We marched on Itol the outlet of the mountains and left the sandy desert to our right. ... When we encamped I ascended one ofthe highest hills ofsand and with my glass could discover a large river flowing nearly north by west and south by east through the plain which came out ofthe third chain ofmoun­ tains. ... The prairie between . .. bore nearly north and south. The sand hills extended up and down at the foot of the White Mountains . . . and appeared to be about five miles in width. Their appearance was exactly that of the sea in a storm, except as to color, not the least sign of vegetation existing thereon. ... We marched obliquely to a copse of woods which made down a con­ siderable distance from the mountains. ... We marched hard and arrived in the evening on the banks of the Rio del Norte. ... 4 The San Luis Valley

As there was no timber here we determined on descending until we found timber. We descended thirteen miles when we met a large west branch into the main stream, up which about five miles we took up our station . ... We ascended a high hill which lay south of our camp, from whence we had a view ofall the prairie and rivers to the north ofus. It was at the same time one of the most beautiful and sublime inland prospects ever presented to the eyes of man. ... The main river, bursting out of the western mountains and meeting from the northeast a large branch which divides the chain of mountains, proceeds down the prairie, making many large and beautiful islands, one of which I judged contains 100,000 acres of land, all meadow ground, covered with innumerable herds of deer. . .. The great and lofty mountains, covered with eternal snows, seemed to surround the luxuriant vale, crowned with perennial flowers, like a terrestrial paradise, shut out from the view of man.!

Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike wrote this first English description of the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado in 1807. Despite the intrusions of man's handiworks since then, this inter­ montane basin remains a "terrestrial paradise." The great sweep of the valley shimmers beneath its soaring rim of peaks, the over-all magnitude of the scene bestowing a sense of solidity to its mystic beauty. Pike's first view was from Medano Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Range. His midwinter crossing followed a well-worn trail used by Indians and Spaniards of Nuevo Mexico to enter and to leave the valley. The San Luis Valley is larger than Colorado's three other great intermontane basins-North Park, Middle Park, and South Park, all lying west of the Front Range. The elliptically shaped San Luis Val­ ley, at an elevation of 7,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, stretches its ample girth approximately one hundred miles from north to south and sixty-five miles from east to west.' The three other valleys are surrounded entirely by mountains, but this southernmost one is not. Its distinct northern limit is the meeting of the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan mountain ranges; the Sangre de Cristos form the eastern border, and the San Juans form the western; but the San Luis Valley has no definite southern limit. The most convenient demarcations on the south are Ute Peak and San Antonio Mountain, both rising just below the Colorado-New Mexico state line and serving as large, A Most Beautiful Inland Prospect 5 round gateposts for the valley. Beyond them lie New Mexico's Sun­ shine Valley and the Taos Plateau. The outline of the San Luis Valley resembles an irregular, inverted horseshoe or Indian najahe design. The rim of the mountains is stud­ ded with several 13,000- and 14,000-foot summits, of which Blanca Peak is the highest at14,343 feet. These mountains forming the rim are dividedbypasses that provide routes in and outof the valley. The main SangredeCristo Range is separatedfrom a southernbranch, the Culebra Mountains, by Sangre de Cristo Creek and La Veta Pass. Through this route the prairies of eastern Colorado can be reached. In the Culebra Mountains is San Francisco Pass, a high route to New Mexico's Cimarron country. In the northern Sangre de Cristos are Mosca Pass, leading to the Huerfano River; Medano and Music Passes to the Wet Mountain Valley; and Hayden Pass to the Arkansas River. This north­ ern group of the Sangre de Cristos, only ten to twenty miles wide in placesbutrising a mile or more above the valley floor, wasPike's "White Mountains." The Sangre de Cristos and the San Juans meet at Poncha Pass, the main gateway to the upper Arkansas Valley. Although the latter mountains form the divide between the Pacific and Atlantic water­ sheds, the portions of the range that abut the valley are only 8,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level and are much less rugged in appearance than the peaks on the east side of the valley. Subgroups of the San Juan Range, which extends west and southwest tier on tier, are di­ vided along the valley by three principal passages. Between the Cochetopa Hills to the north and La Garita Mountains lie Saguache Creek and Cochetopa Pass to the Gunnison country.' Midway down the west side is the Rio Grande, the major river of the San Luis Val­ ley, with three forks forming its headwaters high in the Continental Divide; via these headwaters is reached southwestern Colorado. Far­ ther south along the mountains is Cumbres Pass, which leads to the regions of the Chama and San Juan rivers. And through the great gateway on the south, the Rio Grande leaves the valley, tracing an ancient route to New Mexico and Old Mexico, and ending its career finally in the Gulf of Mexico. The valley that lies within this mountainous frame is not a fea­ tureless monotone. In fact, the valley consists of four geologic and geographic divisions-the Alamosa Basin, the San Luis Hills, the 6 The San Luis Valley

Costilla Plains, and the Culebra Re-entrant.4 The Alamosa Basin, occu­ pying the northern and west-central parts of the valley, is the "prairie" that Pike described. Itslopes gently inward toward the east side from the Rio Grande's alluvial fan, a build-up of deposits left by the stream. Sands, gravels, and volcanic debris from stream and mountainerosion have filled some parts of the Alamosa Basin to depths of4,000 to 7,000 feet through millions of years to create the nearly level surface seenin this portion ofthe valley today. The "sandy desert" that Pike's party passed is at a point in the Alamosa Basin where Medano Creek flows from the Sangre de Cristos just north of Blanca Peak. This giant sandpile runs about ten miles along the mountains and rises to nearly seven hundred feet above the valley's floor. These are the highest inland dunes in the United States.5

The San Luis Valley's dunes are the highest inland sand accumulations in the United States.

About such a setting legends cluster. Entire flocks of sheep, to­ gether with their shepherds, are said to have been swallowed up in the dunes. Wagons with their mule teams have suffered the same A Most Beautiful Inland Prospect 7

A national monument was established in 1932 to protect the dunes. Colorado Depart­ ment of Highways photo. mysterious fate. And horses with webbed feet have been seen racing over the sculptured slopes when the moon is full. But dunes are made of more earthly stuff, too-grains of sand eroded from igneous and metamorphic rock of the Sangre de Cristos and from volcanic rock of the San Juans. When strong, southwesterly winds blow across the dry valley-and they frequently do-dust storms gather in the basin and hurl their burden against the Sangre de Cristos, piling up loose sand in the trap created by Medano Pass.6 Near the town of Blanca, only a short distance south of the sand dunes, barren hills and mesas, capped with lava, appear and extend southwest nearly to Antonito. These are the San Luis Hills. Volcanic in origin, they are 500 to 1,000 feet higher than the valley floor. 7 The largest of the mesas is called Flat Top while the highest of the hills are called the Pinyon Hills, though most of the trees were cut long ago. Between the hills and the San Juan Mountains on the west, the Alamosa Basin reaches south to the Taos Plateau. 8 The San Luis Valley

East of the San Luis Hills are the Costilla Plains. Bound on the east by the foothills of the Culebra Mountains, the Costilla Plains consist of a deposit-filled strip running south from Blanca Peak into New Mexico. The fourth division of the valley, the Culebra Re-entrant, lies be­ tween the Costilla Plains and the Culebra Mountains in a curve where the mountains swing back to the east. Because this area was formed earlier, it has eroded into a more diversified topography than the Alamosa Basin or the Costilla Plains. In the Culebra Re-entrant are foothills forested with pinyon and juniper. In the southern part San Pedro Mesa rises 5,000 feet, and two smaller but prominent mesas occur southeast of Fort Garland. All three are capped with basalt from a lava flow.' The valley itself was created by faulting, or fracturing, of the earth's crust, which took place in a zone running from southern New Mexico into central Colorado. Although sediment has buried the evidence deeply, the valley was caused by a down-dropped block between uplifted mountain ranges. The slight slope of the valley floor to the east results from an eastward tilt of the faulted block. More recent than the faulting was volcanic action in and adjacent to the valley.' La Garita Mountains, San Antonio Mountain, Ute Peak, and the San Luis Hills are conspicuous examples of volcanic formation. to Water in the form of streams, wells, and springs is of great impor­ tance to the San Luis Valley. In its southern half a few year-round streams join the Rio Grande. Among these are Rock Creek, Alamosa River, La Jara Creek, the Conejos River, and SanAntonio River from the west; and Trinchera, Culebra, and Costilla on the east. The Rio Grande and all of these tributaries have been used extensively for irrigation. From the north no tributary reaches the Rio Grande, because the entire upper portion of the valley is a closed basin from which no water drains except by seepage. The streams which do flow down from the surrounding mountains disappear into the gravels and sands of the valley floor. Even Saguache Creek, draining an extensive area of La Garita Mountains, becomes lost in the sands of the north end of the valley. San Luis Creek, with numerous intermittent tributaries from the Sangre de Cristos and Poncha Pass, occupies a seemingly predictable course as it flows south toward the San Luis Lakes, but the water frequently disappearsbefore reaching this goal. A Most Beautiful Inland Prospect 9

Surprisingly, the San Luis Lakes, just west of the dunes, remain full, even when often feeder streams and other nearby ponds dry up after their occasional appearances. This puzzling phenomenon is due to the location of the San Luis Lakes at the lowest point in the closed basin, in what is called a sump, fed by seepage and underground reservoirs of water. Other areas of the north end of the valley appear to be equally out of place, being wet and marshy. This condition is caused by the water table's closeness to the surface of the land. When the valley's streams sink into the porous floor, seepage does not continue down­ ward unobstructed but is impounded by relatively impermeable lay­ ers of sediment. This water table seeps up in many areas and causes serious problems for agriculture, since large portions ofland are dam­ aged by alkali and hardpan as a result. In addition to these naturally wet spots, hundreds of ponds mark the locations of artesian wells, primarily in the north end of the val­ ley but in the south end also. Beneath the upper water table and sedimentary beds is a much deeper and larger reservoir, contained by harder, less porous rock than in the case of the upper water table. During the late 1800s and early 1900s scores of artesian wells were drilled into this deep aquifer for irrigation and domestic purposes. Unfortunately, this addedsurface watercompounded soil problems ina numberoflocalities where the watertable normally was too high11 A third source of surface water other than from streams is from natural springs, which abound in the valley, most seeming to occur where the water table abuts hard, volcanic formations. Among these are Los Ojos, or McIntire's Springs, near which Pike built his stock­ ade because the warm spring kept the Conejos River thawed even in February; Russell Springs near La Garita Mountains and south of the town of Saguache; Hunt Springs northeast of the same town; and Medano Springs near the sand dunes. Some were the favored camp­ sites of Indians and, later, ofpioneers; some have provided year-round lakes for cattle ranches; and some were developed into health and recreational resorts, a few of which still operate from time to time. One of these, Valley View Hot Springs east of Villa Grove, was a popular attraction a century ago. Ina region withlow quantities ofprecipitation-lessthanten inches annually-these underground waters and the mountain streams are 10 The San Luis Valley

essential to give life to the valley. Pike's description of a "luxuriant vale" borders onliteraryhyperbole, for the "perennial flowers" which "crowned the valley," according to his pen, were merely the driedflower heads of rabbitbrush. The potential was there, though, to bring forth abundant crops when the land was irrigated. And the mountainsides were cloaked with evergreens thenasnow, while water-bearing clouds veiled snowpacked summits. Earth, sky, water, and Iif~verbecoming, ever changing in time and in space, without beginning and without end.

Numerous cliffs and outcrops around the San Luis Valley bear pictographs and petroglyphs recorded by prehistoric and historic Indians. The presence of mounted warriors in this scene indicates events related to a historic tribe, perhaps Comanche. Chapter II

"When the Sun Stands Still"

During the winter solstice, at "the time when the sunstands still," Indian priests chant songs which teH of the origin of the earth, the ordaining of the seasons, the coming of animals, and the birth of human beings-the genesis when aH was set in order.l From tribe to tribe many of these myths describe the emergence of the first crea­ tures from the underworld through a smallhole, known as theSipapu. A Tewa Pueblo legend says that the first humans, after their birth in the underworld, climbed a tree to a lake called Sip'ophe, the Sipapu, and from the lake into this world. The spirits of the dead also re-enter the underworld through this lake, which thus contains many spirits. According to the Tewa legend, Sip'ophe is a definite place-a smaH, brackish lake near the Sand Dunes in the San Luis VaHey.' When anthropologist Edgar L. Hewett visited the vaHey in 1892, he found a blacklake, one hundred yards in diameter, its shores ringed with dead cattle. He was told by an old resident of the area that every year cattle who drank this water, which never dried up, died in great numbers. Hewett was satisfied that he had found the Tewas' Sip'ophe. 14 The San Luis Valley

The San Luis Lakes near the dunes are logical candidates to be this sacred spot. San Luis Lake and Head Lake, which together are called the San Luis Lakes, are larger than the lake which Hewett found, however. Dollar Lake, just north of these two, is nearly the size de­ scribed by Hewett. Like the others, it does not dry up, and its perfect symmetry seems to recommend it for supernatural events. In the pursuit of anthropological lore, Blanca Peak itself should notbe over­ looked as another possible location of Sip'ophe, though. The moun­ tain is near the sand dunes, and on its summit are a number of small lakes which might have been suited to mythology. Blanca Peak figures in other Indian legends. The Navajos of the Southwest describe their traditional home as being confined within boundaries defined by four mountains at the points of the magnetic compass. On the north is Big Sheep Mountain in Colorado's La Plata Mountains, and on the south is Mount Taylor near Grants, New Mexico. On the west are the San Francisco Peaks of Arizona. The mountain on the east is said to bebanded withblackrock and crowned with white shell, but the location is not precise enough, in fact, to be pinpointed. Blanca Peak often hasbeen suggested as the easternland­ mark.' Pioneer settlers near Blanca Peak understood that this moun­ tain had religious significance for Indians who still visited it in the late 1800s. A ring of stones on its summit, 7,000 feet above the valley floor, is thought to have been used in their ceremonials. These tales, handed down through the generations of prehistoric and recent peoples, are young in the total spectrum of occupation of the valley. Toward the end of the last Ice Age, while large portions of the continent still were covered by ice, a corridor of land along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains enabled nomadic hunters from the north to enter the plains of what is now Colorado, northeastern New Mexico, and western Texas. Known as Folsom Man, this an­ cient race survived by huntingbison, camels, and mammoths, as well as a few smaller animals which still exist today. Bones of many extinct bison have been excavated in recent years, and stone tools belonging to Folsom Man have been found in the San Luis Valley, where game was pursued from the plains about 8000 s.c.' The first discovery of Folsom artifacts in the valley occurred in the vicinity of the sand dunes and was made by Clarence T. Hurst. A sec­ ond location, on the west side of Blanca Peak, was called the Zapata Site. In pockets between low dunes, around the San Luis Lakes, the When the Sun Stands Still 15

Dry Lakes and elsewhere, archaeologists have found large bones and beautiful, fluted points typical of those used by Folsom Man. Most of these discoveries were made in the 1930s and 1940s. Other projectile points belonging to the Yuma Culture also have been found in the valley, but visitation seems to have died out after 5000 B.C., probably because of unfavorable weather conditions, such as prolonged drought or excessive heatS Varieties of game, which had attracted hunters for hundreds of years, then may have moved to moister and cooler land, and the valley was left with only a handful of artifacts and a few bones to mark the passing of 3,000 years of sporadic wan­ derers. It once was believed that the next visitors to the valley were Pueblo Indians from New Mexico, after a gap of 6,000 years while the valley remained unoccupied; butbeneath an excavation of Pueblo artifacts another type of projectile point was unearthed, definitely establishing a previous occupation.' This group was given the name "Upper Rio Grande Culture." In addition to the artifacts found at the original site in the southeastern part of the valley, other locations were found on the east side of the valley in the large area extending between the sand dunes and Arroyo Hondo in New Mexico. Other sites were located on the west side of the valley from south of Monte Vista to Tres Piedras in New Mexico. Since the northern end of the valley yielded no evidence of artifacts from this culture, it is assumed that these people came from the south? The Upper Rio Grande Culture, today described as belonging to the Archaic Cultural Tradition, was made up of migratory hunters and gatherers who had no pottery and appear to have raised no crops during their visits to the valley. They hunted rabbit, deer, antelope, and buffalo with points that were rather crudely fashioned from black and grey volcanic stone. Dwellings were merely temporary camps and shelters made of rock, the locations of which have been found on knolls and canyon rims affording good views of game, aggressors, or both.' Although no definite date has been given for the valley's occupation by these people, they are supposed to have predated the birth of Christ.' Evidences of other long-vanished cultures are now believed to have been left by peoples from the north, similar to LoDaisKa or Magic Mountain people, by Late Archaic or even Early Ute people. Some sites once were erroneously said to have belonged to OHagan 16 The San Luis Valley

Builders" because ofnumerous circular- and horseshoe-shaped struc­ tures that they built by laying up slabs of lava rock. Pottery found at these sites is like some found in northern New Mexico, but it is not believed to be of Pueblo origin10 The activity of this culture centered on the west side of the val­ ley, where at least fifty enclosures have been found on high ground south of Saguache, and a few were south of Monte Vista. The area of occupation also includes several sites north and east of Alamosa.n Near some of the "hogan" sites in Rock Creek Canyon, petroglyphs were pecked out of the volcanic cliffs along the stream. Because some of the chipped designs were embellished with pigment, the area be­ came known as Piedra Pintada. The Utes claimed that thepetroglyphs were old when their fathers came into the region." However, more recent art is intermingled with the ancient. For example, pictures of horses, firearms, headdresses, and a large spear belong to the work of historic Indians, such as the Utes themselves; but some of the petroglyphs are thought to belong to the Hogan Builders. Other petroglyphs can be seen along Camero Creek. The Tewa Indians, whonow live inpueblosnorth ofSanta Fe, New Mexico, tell legends about Sip'ophe and even about living in the San Luis Valley, but no firm evidence exists of Pueblo Indians having had permanent dwellings there. However, Taos Pueblo Indians describe bird-hunting expeditions into the valley. So many Pueblo-type bird points have been found near the sand dunes, San Luis Lakes, and the area around Alamosa that Pueblos probably procured feathers for gar­ ments there. These hunting expeditions by the Pueblo people began, most likely, about A.D. 1300, after the migration of the cliff dwellers from Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, and Canyon de Chelly, whensome of these people moved into north-central New Mexico and built the pueblo-type villages of the Rio Grande Valley and neighboring areas." These Pueblo Indianswere attracted to visit the SanLuis Valley not only by game and fowl but also by turquoise, a material which they especially prized. Spaniards arriving in New Mexico in the late 1500s found Indians adorned withblue and green turquoise in their nostrils as well as ontheirears. The Pueblo peoplealso used the stone as a trade item and offered gifts of it to their gods.14 This turquoise came from mines scattered throughout the Southwest and the San Luis Valley. The San Luis Valley has at least two turquoise mines, one of which maybe theoldestworkedbyprehistoric people of NorthAmerica. Now When the Sun Stands Still 17 called the King Mine, this deposit is nine miles east of Manassa. In a refuse heap at the mine prehistoric tools ofbone and stone have been found." Further indication of this mine's use by ancient people has been the discovery of turquoise of the same type in archaeological digs west ofthe SanJuan Mountains. The people there either obtained itby trade or traveled to the mine16 Apparently the Zunis also knew this turquoise veryearly, for one of their legends tells ofTurquoise Man and Salt-Old-Woman bringing stones from the north to start the Cerillos Mines southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ethnologists believe that l this legend refers to the King Mine. ? Although the minebecame at one time the largest turquoise producerin the world, itis worked only spo­ radically now, and the material mined is not of the remarkable quality offormer times.IS The Hall Mine and other nearby deposits of turquoise are about five miles northwest of Villa Grove. This area also appears to have been worked by Indians. The bright, robin's-egg blue stone of Villa Grove was once very popular, but it no longer is being mined.19 By A.D. 1300 Indian tribes in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico were becoming distributed and aligned much as the Spaniards found them in the late 1500s. Drought and possibly en­ croachment by Athabaskan or Ute Indians had forced the Pueblos from their cliff dwellings. By A.D. 1000 or 1200 the Utes had en­ tered western Colorado in search of better hunting and more easily defended territory than theyhadoccupied in the Great Basin of Utah.20 When they moved eastward into Colorado, they took over most of the mountain areas and remained there. Although Utes traveled in small family groups to hunt or to fight, they belonged to larger bands. While various members of the south­ ern bands visited the San Luis Valley from time to time, the Capotes most often frequented the southwestern part of the Valley and the Muaches frequented the eastern portion, with the Tabeguache band entering the western side by the 1800s. Ute claim to the valley was not unchallenged, however, as Navajos, who revered Blanca Peak as their sacred mountin of the east, pressed from the southwest, and Apaches entered from the south. Later Comanches, Arapahos, Chey­ ennes, and Kiowas came from the plains to contest use of the valley. The Utes differed from their neighbors in language, physical ap­ pearance, and way of life. In language they were related to Shoshoni­ tongued people to the northwest. In appearance they wereshort, stocky, 18 The San Luis Valley

and dark-skllmed. In customs they differed morefrom the Pueblos than from the Plains Indians or even the Navajos, who also depended on nomadic hunting for their sustenance. The Pueblos, on the otherhand, had permanent homes with utilitarian crafts and agriculture. As a re­ sult, the Utes and the Pueblos found mutual benefit in getting along with each other and trading occasionally. From time to time the Utes broughtmeat and hides to the Pueblos inexchange for com, beans, and squash.21 Usually, though, whenthe Utes supplemented their diet of fresh or dried meat, they ate berries, roots, seeds, piftonnuts, fish, and insects. Because of their dependence on foot travel whenthey first entered the area, the Utes were limited in their ability to gather food. When winter approached and gamebecame scarce, the Utes were forced to moveen masse to warmer areas such as Pagosa Springs or along the Gunnison and Uncompahgre rivers between Montrose and Grand Junction. In the spring the buffalo, elk, deer, and antelope returned to the San Luis Valley. Ducks, geese, cranes, herons, and dozens ofotherbirds flew up the Rio Grande to nest among the ponds and marshes of the valley." Then the Utes returned, but so too did their enemies. It was a life of seemingly immense freedom on the one hand butofcontinualmenace, natural or human, on the other. Several routes were used regularly by these migrants. The Arkan­ sas Valley and South Park, another hunting ground enjoyed by the Utes, were reached byPoncha Pass and trails to the northeast. Journeys to and from Gunnison and Uncompahgre River countrywere madeby way ofCochetopa Pass, or Buffalo Pass as the Utes called it. WolfCreek and Cumbres Pass led in and out of the Southwest country. Pagosa Springs, one of the tribe's favorite "resorts," was oftenreached by these routes; butanother trail, little knowntoday, led almost directly from the San Luis Valley to Pagosa Springs byway of Rock Creek. Encampments along this route account for the numerous pieces ofart workadded by the Utes to the ancient cliff drawings at Piedra Pintada. Their trail de­ scended the west side of the mountains along the Navajo River. 23 Simi­ larly, evidence of much-used campsites and rock art at the mouth of CameroCanyon reveal that the Utes frequently used CameroCreek as a route into the mountains. Behind them these people left their dead,but only a few have been found. Skeletons of ancient miners were found at the King Mine. An­ otherburialwas unearthed by a plow at the foot of Blanca Peak, where When the Sun Stands Still 19 the corpse had been placed in a seated position facing the west. Over his face was an abalone shell, secured with leather thongs. 24 Whobur­ ied him in this manner? Was he perhaps fearful that the dead man's spirit would return from the underworld to gather companions to re­ lieve his loneliness? The people who once lived in the valley did not believe that they came from dust and returned to dust but that their spirits re-entered the Sipapu from which they had come originally. The dead were like rain returning water to a river. The circle continued without end. So said the legends, when the sun stood still. High in the La Garita Mountains above Creede, erosion has carved volcanic tuff into weird shapes at Wheeler Geologic Area. Chapter III

"Those Who Are Considered Subjects ofthe King"

On April 30, 1598, Don Juan de onate took possession of New Mexico in Tierra Nueva, the Spanish New World, claiming the land "from the leaves of the trees in the forest to the stones and sands of the river," the Rio del Norte.! Thereby, all territory drained by the Rio Grande, including the San Luis Valley, became the possession of King Phillip II of Spain, and the people in it were considered his subjects. That spring day in 1598 was only a century after Columbus's discovery of America. It was about eighty years since Cortez had entered Mexico City. Only about sixty years had passed since Coronado's penetration of the American Southwest and since Hernando de Soto, discoverer of both the Rio Grande and the Mis­ sissippi, had died on the shores of the latter. Before he died de Soto appointed Luis Moscoso de Alvarado as the leader of their expedition. Moscoso and his men attempted to find an overland route from the Mississippi to Mexico City through what is now Texas. Failing this, they arrived at their destination by way of the Gulf of Mexico and a route across Mexico's mountains 22 The San Luis Valley

and central plateau.' Theyneverwere Inor near Colorado, as is some­ times said. They did not cross the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. They did not discover the San Luis Valley. They did not mlne gold from a cave on Marble Mountain. And the name for Mosca Pass did not derive from Moscoso but from the Spanish word for flies or mosqui­ toes. In fact, almost nothing was known about the vast territory called tierra incognita by the Spaniards when they set out to claim it. Al­ though Cabeza de Vaca, Fray Marcos de Niza, and Coronado had given a few names to rivers, mountains, and Indian villages, none of these men had entered Colorado unless Coronado possibly crossed the extreme southeastern comer of the state. Instead of useful geo­ graphical information, fables about rich mines and pc.tential converts to the Church were the lore which drew the Spaniards north In the 1580s to occupy New Mexico and to find the Seven Cities of Cibola and the land of Grand Quivira. Early In that decade two missionary parties set forth, one reach­ ing as far as Taos. Hostility among the natives and the murder of two of the holy men halted these enterprises for a few years. Meanwhile, two unauthorized expeditions left Mexico in search of Cibola and Quivira, but these also failed. Ofiate, the son of a wealthy citizen of Mexico, next was awarded an official contract to conquer and oc­ cupy the lands to the north. As part of this contract he agreed to outfit about four hundred soldiers, settlers, and priests and to pro­ vide about one thousand head each of cattle, sheep for wool and for mutton, and goats. In exchange the crown would give him artillery, a six-year loan of funds, titles of civil and military command, and the right to assign Indians to serve him, his heirs for two generations, and companions who merited reward. Within a few years the con­ quistadores, who had set forth for New Mexico with high expecta­ tions, learned that their rewards, compared to the hardships, would be disappointing. When he arrived at the junction of the Rio Grande and the Rio Chama In northern New Mexico, Ofiate established two villages, San Juan de los Caballeros and San Gabriel del Yungue, the first Euro­ pean settlements In North America after St. Augustine. Nearby San Juan Pueblo extended a hospitable reception to their new neighbors, thinking that the Spaniards might herald the return of one of the Those Who Are Considered Subjects of the King 23

Pueblo savior gods.' While the padres dealt with this spiritual mis­ conception, an exploring party left almost immediately in search of gold on the eastern plains. Another group, learning of buffalo to the north, set out to capture some for domestication. Although both of these improbable pursuits failed, the buffalo hunt offered the first recorded description of the San Luis Valley and the Indians who were found there.' The buffalo hunters discovered aboutfifty lodges, apparently Ute, toward the east side of the valley. Each tepee was made of buffalo hide, weighing about fifty pounds. Bundled up, these could be pulled on the lodge poles by large dogs. On these travois the Spaniards also saw meat and com, the latter probably having come from the Pueb­ los. The Indians' hunting weapons were described as being excep­ tionally large bows with arrows tipped by comparably large, thick points-a type that we know was used by Colorado's Utes for hunt­ ing buffalo. The Spaniards enjoyed a demonstration of buffalo hunt­ ing by the Indians. However, the newcomers found it easier to make friends with the Indians than to corral buffalo. With a herd of about five hundred in sight, the would-be vaqueros stampeded the buf­ falo. Some Spanish horses were killed in the melee, and the expedi­ tion returned to Oilate in failure. The original friendliness between the Pueblos and the Spaniards deteriorated almost at once. The conquerors needed food and shel­ ter, so, with winter descending, the Spaniards commandeered the com supply of the natives and impressed them into service. Such policies wouldbe rationalized inNew Mexico, as inOld Mexico, bythe rights of possession by a superior civilization. After New Mexico be­ came a colony and headquarters were moved to Santa Fe in 1609, the original Spanishpolicies remained the rule indealing with the Pueblos. Contact withUtes to the northremained friendly until thelate 1630s when Spanish soldiers attacked a band and led off abouteighty mem­ bers to augmentthe conquerors' slave force. Thereafter the Utes began to raid Spanish livestock and goods, adding to the herds of horses that had first beenacquired through theft. Ute trade commodities consisted not only ofgamebut also of Ute childrenwho were impressed into the service of the Spaniards. Until 1680 this harsh but relatively undramatic balance contin­ ued. The Spaniards themselves regimented their lives under the abso- 24 The San Luis Valley

lute rule of their goverrunent and religion and were not the stuff of colorful frontiersmen.' Nor did it appear that the Pueblos were any more adventurous and cunning than the Spaniards until 1680, when nearly every Indian pueblo rose up simultaneously and drove their conquerors from New Mexico in one desperate blow. Following this unusual venture in cooperation, the Pueblo villages settled into their own separate lives, with little further interest in united action. Conse­ quently, with theSpaniards out of the way, the Utes and othernomadic tribes were able to plunder the helpless Pueblos almost at will. When the Spaniards returned in1692, they found the Pueblos submissive for the mostpart, but the nomadic Indians to the north had become more powerful through the horses and other loot that they had seized.' In 1694 General Don Diego de Vargas, having restored Spanish possession of Santa Fe, set forth to the few northern pueblos that had not yet capitulated to the reconquest. At Taos the pueblo was found deserted with the Indians in hiding. The general took as much grain as could be loaded on his animals and burned the rest. He then de­ cided to return to Santa Fe by way of a long detour to the north to avoid meeting Pueblos who might seek reprisal for his looting. The chosen route lay through the San Luis Valley, the land of the Utes who were believed to be friendly to the Spaniards. The army moved north to Culebra Creek, then turned west to cross the Rio Grande, and camped on the San Antonio River, where de Vargas was able to catch up with making entries in his diary. This diary not only described events and routes of the expedition but also indicated Spanish place names which already were in use in the San Luis Valley. While encamped on the San Antonio River, the Span­ iards hunted elk and buffalo. De Vargas reported one herd of about five hundred of the latter seen near San Antonio Mountain. A sur­ prise attack by about three hundred Utes shattered the peace of the Spanish camp, and six Spaniards were wounded before the tide was turned. Immediately after eight Utes were killed, the Indians waved a buckskin flag of truce and reentered the camp to trade. The Span­ iards gave them some of the maize from Taos, a horse, some dried meat, and a few odds and ends, which seemed to satisfy everyone.' On the whole, perpetuation of friendship with both the Utes and theJicarilla Apaches was useful to the Spaniards in their dealings with the Pueblos and also withthe Comanches. To assure a balance ofpower, Those Who Are Considered Subjects of the King 25

the Spaniards fought some of the tribes and made allies of others who werefriendly. In1720, for example, the governor ordered his soldiers to destroy the Picuris Pueblo, "which lies between the settlements of Xicarilla and Sierra blanca, where they received me with the Image of Our Blessed Lady.'" Four years lateranother governor wascontemplat­ ing war against the Comanches because they have "wasted and pil­ laged those of the Xicarilla nation who are considered Subjects of the King."9 No small part of such considerations was related to the search for mineral wealth. Spanish policy was to convert the Indians and to de­ velop mines wherever possible.lO Personnel to carryoutbothpurposes were sent hand in hand, as is seen in a legend about the naming ofthe San Luis Valley and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Francisco Torres, a missionary to the Pueblo Indians, accompanied a party searching for gold in and around the valley. He is said to have climbed a hill near the place where the Rio Grande leaves the mountains, and, moved by the view of the valley athis feet, he named it inhonor of the patron saintof his native city, San Luis in Seville. Moving across the valley, the party entered the mountains to reach a mine located in one of the passes. Indians, who had been brought with the party for this purpose, were compelled to perform the labor of working it. These slaves, reinforced by other Indians, rebelled and drove the Spaniards down to the sand dunes and then to San Luis Lake. There a makeshift raft was built for escape onto the lake. Torres, who had been wounded in one of the skirmishes, was among those on the raft, buthewas dying. Looking up at the snow-capped mountains, aglow in the flush of sunset, he ex­ claimed, "Sangre de Cristo, Sangre de Cristo," meaning "blood of ChriSt."ll Perhaps this legend refers to a Spanish mine that is involved in countless tales aboutMarble Mountain's caves. This mine is purported to have been found in a big cave, the entrance marked with a Maltese cross. Stories of the Spanish Cave of Marble Mountain tell of the dis­ covery of an ancient ladder, a windlass, a skeleton in chains, and bottomless pits that conceal what may be a mineY Since the Spanish Cave is reached from the Wet Mountain Valley, not the San Luis, it seems more likely that the mining which took place during Torres' last journey was at some other location. Early American traders and trappers referred to the "Sangry de Christy" gold mine; a mine worked 26 The San Luis Valley

in the nineteenth century in Sangre de Cristo Pass is said to have been openedbySpaniards; another mine in the Culebra Mountains showed evidence of earlier Spanish working; Spanish arrastras for milling ore were found by early settlers directly south of the sand dunes at North Arrastra Creek and high in the SanJuan Mountains nearSummitville. Itseems apparent that the Spaniards did find minerals around the San Luis Valley, but precisely when they were mined is unknown. The interest in finding gold may have blinded the Spaniards to another resource which was drawing French explorers deeper and deeper into the North American wilderness-fur. After the French began to settle in the Mississippi Valley in the early 1700s, they made efforts to investigate the rivers which flowed from the west. The French, in fact, had claimed all of the Mississippi drainage basin, which included everything east of the Continental Divide and north of the Rio Grande's drainage. Although the Plains Indians blocked French incursions for a while, Uribarri reported as early as 1706 that French trade goods had made their way into eastern Colorado. By 1720 the Comanches had obtained firearms through this French trade, and, in possession of the Europeans' weapons as well as their horses, the Comanches went on a raiding binge that grew into the scourge of the entire southern plains, Texas, and Mexico as far south as Durango. Moreover, negotiations between the French and the Comanches in 1746 opened new trade routes closer to New Mexico than those previously developed. Because of this economic and po­ litical threat, the Spaniards now for the first time attempted to estab­ lish some evidence of occupation north of New Mexico on the plains. They set up a handful of small posts on the Arkansas and Huerfano rivers for this purpose. Because of these outposts, routes that crossed the mountains on the east side of the San Luis Valley saw increased use for a few years. The French challenge did not last long, though. When France seemed about to lose its North American claims to England in 1762, France preferred to make an outright gift to Spain of all its territory west of the Mississippi. This event spurred the Spaniards of New Mexico at last to take an interest in exploring the lands to the north. One of these expeditions, led by Don Juan Maria de Rivera, set out in 1765 to search the mountains of southwest Colorado for minerals. The partyentered the areabywayofthe Rio Chama, the route thatbecame Those Who Are Considered Subjects of the King 27 known as the Spanish Trail. They returned along the Gunnison, across Cochetopa Pass, and down through the San Luis Valley. Increasingly, however, Indian hostilities commanded Spanish at­ tention. In 1768, to protect Pueblo and Spanish settlements at Ojo Caliente from raids, Governor Mendinueta ordered a fort built on top of San Antonio Mountain, where a wide expanse to the north and east could be watchedl3 For the next few years depredations still continued. More than one hundred New Mexicans were killed in 1771, and thousands of horses, mules, cattle, and sheep were sto­ len or destroyed.l4 Such was the state of affairs in 1778 when Don Juan Bautista de Anza was sent to Santa Fe as the new governor, charged particularly with a campaign to quell the Comanche trouble. A native of Sonora, Anza had apprenticed as a volunteer Indian fighter in campaigns against the Apaches, and he had achieved special recognition as a leader in opening an overland route from Sonora to CaliforniaIS Ar­ riving in New Mexico as governor, Anza wasted no time in setting up a multifaceted program of defense against the Indians. Whenever possible he attempted to establish friendship with them through trade negotiations, but at the same time he was quick to send military units to punish any bands who proved troublesome. The Comanches un­ der Chief Cuerno Verde were the most unruly of all. OnAugust 15, 1779, the governor himself, being the captain gen­ eral of New Mexico, headed north with an army of about six hun­ dred recruits in pursuit of Cuerno Verde. Being poorly equipped, Anza's army moved up the west side of the Rio Grande, instead of taking the usual route through Taos, in hopes of surprising the Comanches. Anza's journal, which uses many Spanish place names, describes this expedition, which passed through the San Luis Valley. After an encampment on the "Rio de San Antonio" they came to the "Rio de los Conejos" (Rabbit River, if translated into English). Here the Spaniards found two hundred Utes and Jicarillas who were ea­ ger to ride with them. Traveling at night to conceal their movements, the entire force moved north, crossing the "Rio del Pino," "Las Jaras" (named for eitherthe wild roses or the reeds thatgrew along that river), "Tunbres" (later called theAlamosa River, referring to its cottonwoods), and "San Lorenzo" (later called Rock Creek and Piedra Pintada). They crossed the Rio Grande at "EI Paso de San Bartolome'." This crossing Mule deer still abound in the foothills surrounding the valley. Those Who Are Considered Subjects of the King 29

most likely was the ford east of Del Norte usedby early settlers as part of a toll road." At this point Anza entered in his journal that his Indi­ ans told him the river originated in a large marsh fed by springs, which in tumwere filled by "the melting of snow from somevolcanos which are very close." Instead of investigating this phenomenon, the army with its In­ dian recruits proceeded toward the east to a "pleasant pond" called "la Cienga de San Luis." The Utes, who now were accompanying Anza, had been camped at San Luis Lake prior to their meeting on the Conejos River. The Comanches had raided the Ute camp at the lake and had made off with the Utes' horses. The Utes had recovered their stock and had killed about a dozen Comanches, whose remains Anza saw when he arrived at the lake. But the Utes were eager to exact further toll, and, thus, they had joined with Anza's force. Moving north from the lake, the army next camped at a spring called"Aguage de los Yutas," or "watering place of the Utes," near the top of Poncha Pass. The crossing to the Arkansas River Valley was made onAugust 28. After pursuing the enemy across South Park, Anza marched around the south slopes of Pikes Peak and finally caught up with his quarry near the later site of Pueblo, Colorado. Although most of the Utes deserted Anza when the showdown was at hand, the Spaniards engaged the Comanches and killed eight of them. The next encounter with the Comanches, who fled southward, was east of the peak now called "Greenhorn," the English translation of Cuerno Verde. Although the Comanches had been reinforced, they were defeated again, this time decisively. Chief Cuerno Verde, his son, and four renowned captains were among those killed. When Anza returned to Santa Fe after this victory, the Comanche threat to New Mexico had been broken. His return route crossed La Veta Pass and the "Rio de la Culebra," where some of the Ute deserters were found. But these seemingly timorous campaigners,Anza learned, had encountered another party of Comanches, had killed sixteen of them, and had captured forty horses for their trouble.17 Henceforth the Comanches gave the Spaniards so little trouble that theywere accorded a treaty of peace in 1786, a treatyinwhich the Utes shared lest the Santa Fe governmentbe accused offavoritism. Unfortu- 30 The San Luis Valley

nately, peace with the Spaniards did not mean peace among Indians, and as late as 1809 these tribes again metina majorbattle. Some Jicarillas and Utes, including those of the San Luis Valley, had decided to hunt buffalo together in the "Sierra de Almagre," which is the Front Range around Pikes Peak. During this hunt a large party of Comanches, Kiowas, and other Plains Indians attacked the hunters. Mana Mocha, chief of the Utes, was one of those killed. Upon hearing this news in Santa Fe, the governor commented that"great loss and disadvantage regarding peace" would result from the death of "General Mana Mo­ cha."" The old quarrels between the tribes did, in fact, revive. Though more than two hundred years had passed since Spanish acquisition of New Mexico, little had changed in the San Luis Valley. Indians still occupied it, hunting, fighting, and raiding. Only the pres­ ence of horses and firearms was different, but this was an important difference to future settlers. The Spanish descendants had left only a few mines and some of their dead-the bones of a soldier found near Deadman Creek and, on Ute Creek, the headstone of a padre who died in 1660. 19 Despite the fact that Spaniards had lived on the threshold of the valley for two centuries, they never assumed the strength or initiative to oc­ cupy this northern stronghold of the indios barbaros. When Pike entered the San Luis Valley in 1807, he found an un­ inhabited place as large as the state of Connecticut. "Those who were considered subjects of the King" were, as usual, wintering elsewhere in their traditional haunts.

Poorly equipped for a long journey through deserts and mountains, Pike's men suffered severely from cold, hunger, and nuisances such as strange vegetation bearing spines but no food. Chapter IV

"Refreshing My French Grammar and Overseeing the Works"

After 1800 the San Luis Valley was to emerge from its long seclu­ sion, and the early years of the nineteenth century would witness the first official expedition of Americans into the valley. After Spain had acquired French claims to Louisiana in 1762, the Spanish government had awakened to the possibilities of territorial exploitation.A Spanish fur trade developed withits center in St. Louis and with field personnel consisting largely of French and American trappers. Hoping to locate a route by which they could compete with other fur enterprises, the Spaniards even offered rewards for locat­ ing a northwest passage to the Pacific. But this interest in a northern empire had corne too late. English fur companies, French traders, and evenAmerican frontiersmen were pressing their interests in Loui­ siana.Although they repeatedly penetrated Spanish territory illegally, cultivating the friendship and aid of Indians, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains remained the limitbeyond which these intruders had been able to travel without the certainty of arrest.' In 1800 France traded the state of Tuscany to Spain in exchange for the return ofLouisiana, butFrench enterpriseshad little opportunity to 34 The San Luis Valley

develop before Napoleonsold the entire territory to the United States in 1803. The young republic, scarcely a quarter of a century old, eagerly set about exploring this bonanza, which tookin all the land west of the Mississippi as far south as theArkansas River's drainage and north to British territory. During the first year or two after the Louisiana Purchase, a few French traders and trappers continued to roam the plains and found their way into New Mexico, which still belonged to Spain. New Mexi­ can authorities detained such interlopers and sometimes pressed them into the service ofthe government as scouts, interpreters, or spies. Onesuchexample ofSpanishvigilance during this period stemmed from an incident in the San Luis Valley in 1805. In October a Spanish soldier and a Frenchmannamed Tarvet were senton a scouting party to the valley. At the Rio de Una del Gato (the Rio Gato, or ''Cat's Claw River") they found four Frenchmen, who were escorted to Santa Fe for questioning. They testified that during their travels theyhad been fired uponby Pawnee Indians dressed in leatherjackets. These garments, it was supposed, had been supplied by either American or French trad­ ers. Further evidence of illegal activity by traders had been reported from theArkansas River, where the tracks of horses and mules crossed and recrossed the stream.2 When he first arrived in New Mexico a year earlier, Tarvet had revealed that Americans were encouraging the loyalty of Indians, and traders to the tribes on the plains, he said, were being licensed to treat with any Indians whose friendship might be important to the Spanish. Tarvet's reports were reinforced by two other Frenchmen, Baptiste La Lande and one Durocher, who wandered into New Mexico at about the same time.' A month or two later Governor RealAlencaster attempted to counteract such threats by urging that a fort and settle­ ment be established on the Arkansas for trade with the Indians not only in that area but also as far away as the Missouri River.' During this period Americans entering the Louisiana Territory did so without benefit of adequate maps. Whatever Spanish maps existed were carefully kept out of the hands of rivals, while the first American maps printed after the Louisiana Purchase provided al­ most no geographical details of practical use. The names of the Platte River, the Arkansas River, and the Red River were known to cartog­ raphers, but the origins of these streams were obscure. The Red River Refreshing My French Grammar and Overseeing the Works 35 presented special problems in terms of boundary claims, because it does not empty into the Rio Grande but flows into the Mississippi River and thence into the Gulf of Mexico. Although the Red River actually heads in the Texas Panhandle, the Spanish thought that its source was near the Rio Grande.s Presi­ dent Thomas Jefferson probably shared this notion, but he discreetly avoided discussions of the Red River in relation to boundary ques­ tions.6 Instead, American expeditions were sent to investigate the river sources. Following an exploration of the headwaters of the Mis­ sissippi River, young Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike of the United States Army was assigned to investigate the western portions of Louisiana and the sources of the Red River.

This log stockade nearSanford commemorates the locationofPike'5 winter camp in the San Luis Valley.

Pike's orders also incorporated some business with Indian tribes through whose land he wouldbe passing. He was to return a group of 36 The San Luis Valley

Indian captives to their Osage village in Missouri, to arrange peace betweencertaintribes, and to treat with the Comanches. Ashe traveled across the plains and toward the headwaters of the Arkansas and the Red rivers, he was to describe the geography, the navigability of the rivers, the natural history, and the people occupying the regions vis­ ited. (Obviously, the governmentinWashingtonwanted the mostfor its meager money.) Finally, Pike was cautioned by his commander, Gen­ eral James Wilkinson, to move carefully so as to avoid detection and cause for offense while near New Mexican territory.' On October 9, 1806, Pike left Belle Fontaine, near St. Louis. In his party were eighteen men from the Mississippi expedition plus the son of General Wilkinson, a volunteer surgeon, an interpreter, two soldiers, and the fifty-one Osage Indians who were being returned to their home. Provisions were sufficient for a four-month tour of duty. Instead, Pike was gone nearly eleven months, some of his men even longer, and the absence of any cold-weather equipment was to be a severe handicap. The expedition went according to plan for several weeks. Even when Pike learned from the Pawnees that six hundred dragoons from Santa Fe had been looking for him, he was not surprised, for he had been warned by Wilkinson that the Spanish probably would try to stop him. He was disturbed, though, to observe that the Pawnees were much more favorably impressed by the Spaniards' display than by his little party.' The most puzzling aspect of Pike's journey up theArkansas River is thathe seems to have beenbent on reaching Spanish territory above all else. Although he dutifully kept careful notes on every riffle in the river, as well as other features of geography, he was peculiarly intent on following the trail of the Spaniards. Near present-day Pueblo, Colorado, he digressed long enough for a vain attempt to climb Pikes Peak and then returned to his pursuit of the Spanish trace. November had arrived and the strength of the men had dimin­ ished. Caught in an early snowstorm, some of the horses nearly died from starvation. While a few men were sent back to the Mississippi to report the progress of the expedition, the remainder entered the mountains. Still following the Arkansas and the trail of the Span­ iards, they reached what was to become the site of Canon City. There theyleft the river and moved north into SouthPark, where the Spanish Refreshing My French Grammar and Overseeing the Works 37 tracks led. Pike, oddly, was sure enough of his geography to identify correctly the sources of the South Platte River; but, descending from South Park into the UpperArkansas River Valley near Buena Vista, he believed that he had found the headwaters of the Red River. He ex­ ploredthis streamnorthward to its source andthen turned downstream. On December 26, whenPike was in the vicinity ofSalida, he was only a day's march from Poncha Pass and the San Luis Valley. Still under the impression that he was following the Red River, Pike continued downstream. Reaching the Royal Gorge, he crossed the hills through which the Arkansas knifes, and then found himself, much to his mortification, backathis former campsitenear Cafton City. At least, he consoledhimself, he had found the source ofthe Arkansas River. Despite this reversal Pike clung to the goal of finding the head­ waters of the Red River, although he had lost the Spanish trail that he apparently thought would lead to this objective. His men had been marching with reduced gear since leaving the area of Pueblo, their clothing was inadequate for winter travel, and their food was gone. At theCafton Citycampsitetwomen andmoreof theequipmenthad to be left. The restofthe horses also remained there. OnJanuary 14, 1807, Pike, Dr. Robinson, and twelve men headed south on foot, following Grape Creek. Struggling through deeper and deeper snow, the men labored with forty-five-pound packs contain­ ing presents for Indians and ammunition. Reaching the Wet Moun­ tain Valley, they went without food for three days when they were unable to bring down any game, until they succeeded in killing both buffalo and deer. In this valley nine of the men suffered frozen feet, and two individuals were unable to travel farther. Reluctantly leav­ ing these two behind, Pike and the others moved into the Sangre de Cristos, or the "White Mountains" as he called them. During the ap­ proach to the mountains, another man had to be left behind, but the main party crossed Medano Pass and entered the San Luis Valley on January 28. When Pike saw the valley and the Rio Grande in the distance, he was sure that he had found the Red River at last. In fact, he used that name instead of the Rio Grande on his maps. Reaching the banks of this stream near Alamosa and finding no timber, Pike proposed that the group move downstreamuntil wood was found for building rafts. 38 The San Luis Valley

Perhaps he was planning to float down the Red River to the Gulf of Mexico, or perhaps his real goal was Santa Fe, as some claim. Downstream Pike found cottonwood groves crowding the banks of the Conejos River. Moving up this streamaboutfive miles, he also found thatwarm springs keptthe Conejos River thawed and assured a water supply.' Here Pike decided to build a stockade "thatfour or five might defend, against the insolence, cupidity, and barbarity of the savages whilst others returned to assist on the poor fellows who were left be­ hind at different pointS."lO AlthoughPike had seen signs of horses near the sand dunes, there is no evidence thathe found any "savages" in the valley. Nevertheless, he had the stockade built as strongly as possible under the existing circumstances. Logs twelve feet long were set up on end to form the outer walls, and an inner tier of stakes slanted outward toward the exterior walls. The entire construction was only about thirty-six feet square.n This was the first building, however rude, set up by Ameri­ cans in Spanish territory, as well as in the San Luis Valley, and over it the American flag was flown for the first time in what became Colo­ radoY While his men built the stockade, Pike hunted and kept up his journal. Among his notations were descriptions of a large, Spanish road along Conejos Creek. He also mentioned using this road whenhe wentouthunting, buthe neverexpressed concern aboutthe possibility that he was in Spanish territory. On February 7 Dr. Robinson set forth alone for Santa Fe. Pike con­ fided to his journal thathewonderedwhether he ever would see again this able companionwho wouldbe marching directly into the hands of the Spanish. The professed reason for Robinson's taking this risk was to collect a debt from Baptiste La Lande for William Morrisonof Illinois, who had outfitted La Lande's trading expedition. If Morrison knew that La Lande was in New Mexico and if La Lande was, in fact, de­ tained there by the provincial authorities, it seems unlikely that Robinson went to Santa Fe expecting to collect anycashfrom the profits of the tradingventure. Much discussion has been devoted to Robinson's melodramatic journeyfrom the San Luis Valley to Santa Fe and to the real purpose of the entire Pike expedition for that matter. To understand these argu­ ments, one must know something about General Wilkinson, who had ordered the expedition. Refreshing My French Grammar and Overseeing the Works 39

Wilkinson was originally a commissioner of Louisiana Territory and later governor and commander of the army, duringwhich time he sold information to the Spanish government concerning the plans of the United States in the Southwest. He also was an acquaintance of Aaron Burr, Jefferson's vice-president. After Burr's political career had been ruined by his killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, Burr turned his ambitions toward separating the western states and Louisiana from the United States. When Burr appeared in Louisiana in 1805, an alli­ ance between Burr and Wilkinson was suspected. Perhaps to clear his own name, WUkinson revealed Burr's plot to Jefferson in 1806. Pike had left for the Southwestbefore Burr wasbrought to trial. UponPike's return, he found himself under suspicion for his affiliation with any­ thing connected with Wilkinson. Robinson, whohadbeena close friend ofWilkinson, was even more suspect.13 One theory about the Pike expedition is that it was merely a ploy for Wilkinson to get word to the Spanish government about Burr's plot so that it would fail. On the other hand, if Wilkinson himself, indeed, entertained treasonous schemes, he mighthave sentRobinson to gather information about New Mexico. In either case it seems ap­ parent that Robinson planned from the outset to reach the San Luis Valley and, from there, Santa Fe. Pike may have been in league with Robinson, or he may have been a dupe in the scheme. His knowl­ edge of Robinson's plans has never been determined. Following Robinson's departure for Santa Fe, the young com­ mander settled down to the quietroutine of playing the waiting game. According to his journal, he spent the hours "refreshing my memory as to the French grammar, and overseeing the works." The former activity ironically was well chosen, for on February 26 two French­ men appeared. These were foreign scouts who had been sent to the San Luis Valley, they said, to inform Pike that GovernorAlencaster in Santa Fe was sending fifty dragoons to protect the Pike party from Ute Indi­ ans, for the Utes were threateninga raid. As yet, Pike had seen no Utes, but within a few minutes he did observe the approach of fifty-nine Spanish dragoons and fifty mounted militia. The "protective" force was armed withlances, carbines, and pistols. Unruffled, Pike requested throughthe French interpreters thatthe troops remainoutside and that the officers be invited into the stockade for breakfast. The two Spanish 40 The San Luis Valley

lieutenants, DonIgnacio Saltelo and Don BartholemewFernandez, were astonished to discover thatto enter they were obliged "to crawl on their bellies over a small drawbridge." After a breakfast of venison, goose, and biscuits, the following conversation took place, as Pike recorded:

The commanding officer [Saltelo] addressed me as follows: "Sir, the governor of New Mexico, being infonned you had missed your route, ordered me to offer you in his name mules, horses, money, or whatever you may stand in need of to conduct you to the head of the Red River, as from Santa Fe to where it is sometimes navi­ gable is eight days' journey and we have guides and the routes of the traders to conduct us." "What," said I, interrupting him, "is not this the Red River?" "No Sir! the Rio del Norte." I immediately ordered my flag to be taken down and rolled up, feeling how sensibly I had committed myself in entering their territory, and was conscious that they must have positive orders to take me in. 14

As Pike suspected, Lieutenant Saltelo did have orders to take Pike to Santa Fe. In fact, Governor Alencaster had sent two scouting parties looking for Pike long before he entered the San Luis Valley. Scouts had watchedAlmagre and Sangre de Cristo creeks, each party being composed of a captain, eight soldiers, and about two dozen civilian volunteers with their Indian friends. Every third day the scouts had sent a courier to Santa Fe to report whether or not Pike had appeared. The commanders of each party had been instructed to invite Pike, if he were found, to come to Santa Fe, and they were to insinuate that his compliance would be in the best interests of har­ mony. If he should decline to come, he was to be told that other less cordial soldiers might not let him pass.15 Pike circumspectly accepted the invitation extended by Saltelo. While some of the Spanish soldiers remained in the valley with Pike's men, the American explorer was escorted down the west side of the Rio Grande and out of the valley At San Juan he met Baptiste La Lande, who madeno mention of having seen Robinson, nor did Pike's journal give any hint that he thought this to be the man for whom Robinson was looking. They talked of La Lande's detention in New Refreshing My French Grammar and Overseeing the Works 41

Mexico, but Pike felt that the Frenchman's remarks were designed to disarm Pike and that La Lande actually was a spy for the Spanish government. La Lande accompanied Pike and his escort the rest of the way to Santa Fe. At the New Mexican capital, where Pike stayed for one day and night, the Spaniards' guest was politely questioned and entertained. Pike seems to have been as discomfitted by his shabby appearance at dinner in the governor's palace as he was by the official interrogation regarding his expedition. The next day he again set off to the south under escort and was reunited with Robinson atAlbuquerque.After being taken to Mexico, they were released to return to Louisiana by way of Texas. Pike's men, too, eventually were escorted through New Mexico and sent homeward. Nothing in Pike's papers, found a century later in Spanish ar­ chives, and nothing in his future military career indicate that he was less than loyal to the United States. His expedition contributed to the nation's understanding of its new frontier, and, when his journal was published, it was illustrated with a map that for the first time de­ scribed correctly the locations of the Platte and Arkansas rivers and the Rio Grande, although he perpetuated the errors about the Red River by placing its source in the neighborhood of the New Mexican Sangre deCristos. Hisnotes conscientiously reported indetail all thathe had observed onhis longjourney to theSouthwestand Mexico. 16 A few of the descendants of the Spanish party that had arrested Pike later lived in the San Luis Valley. The child of one soldier, Julian Sanchez, had a home on Culebra Creek; and the children of Antonio Domingo Lucero, a drummer boy, also lived in the valley17 But for several years after Pike's visit the valley remained unsettled. It con­ tinued under the dominion of Spain until 1821, and occupation by New Mexicans was not encouraged. Evenafter Mexico, including NewMexico, became independentof Spain, the Arkansas River remained theboundarybeyondwhichAmeri­ cans rarely traveled. When Spain found its North American claims about to slip from its grasp, a last-ditch effort to establish its northern boundaryhad beenmade. In 1820 theAdams-OnisTreaty was ratified, recognizing theArkansas River as thatborder.18 This formal agreement acted as aneffective buffer for the nextseveral years, long after Ameri­ cans finally were permitted to enter New Mexico.

Chapter V

UIn the Nibor Hood ofTouse U

For two centuries French voyageurs and Indians with whom they traded harvested millions of beaver pelts from the upper regions of North America to feed the international fur market. Yet, for only a quarter of a century did "mountain men" trap in the San Luis Valley before the beaver industry died out. During its brief heyday in the Southern Rockies trapping was neither the large-scale economic ven­ ture nor the same kind of experience which it had been on the rivers of the North. But what the southern beaver industry lacked in dura­ bility, profit, and birch bark canoes, it made up for in the liveliness of Taos. Shortly after Pike's expedition to the Southwest, fur hunters had begun to appear more frequently along the Arkansas and Platte riv­ ers. Spanish officials, nervous about this activity and by alliances made between the fur traders and the Plains Indians, had pressed their boundary claims and arrested any trappers found near the Ar­ kansas as trespassers. Later, in the second decade of the 1800s, a trapping party led by Joseph Philibert crossed the mountains to the San Luis Valley. These 44 The San Luis Valley

eighteen French trappers had been assembled by Philibert in St. Louis to trap and trade with the Arapahos. In the autumn of 1814 forty Spaniards in search of horses in the San Luis Valley came upon two men of this party. They were taken to Santa Fe for questioning, and 250 soldiers were sent out to arrest the others and to confiscate their goods. All were held in Santa Fe for a month and a half and then were allowed to remain in Taos for the rest of the winter prior to their retreat across the mountains to the plains.' Philibert's trapping was successful enough that he encouraged others to try to enter the valley. Although the New Mexican govern­ mentwaspersuaded occasionally to permit trapping east of the moun­ tains, licenses still were not issued for the valleys along the Rio Grande. To prevent unauthorized activity there, the Spaniards estab­ lished a post on the Rio Colorado, or the "Little Red River," north of Taos where Questa now is located. The Rio Colorado outpost was noted by Jules De Mun in 1816, when he traveled to the "Rio de la Culevra" (Culebra Creek) with a party of Spanish traders and two trappers from St. Louis.' Traders and trappers may have observed the formalities of seek­ ing permission to work east of the mountains, but from time to time rumors of an American takeover of the plains reached Santa Fe.' In 1818 while the Arkansas River boundary was being negotiated by the United States and Spain, relations between the two countries dete­ riorated abruptly when American notes, describing routes into New Mexico and the resources of the province, were apprehended by the Spanish. The viceroy in Mexico City sent orders that the mountain passes on these routes be fortified to prevent an invasion. Foremost of these passes was Sangre de Cristo, which the notes reported to be practicable for artillery and easy defense. Another pass into the San Luis Valley also was considered for a fortification. This may have been Mosca Pass, which the notes called a very bad route, seldom used even by Indians.4 Apparently a fort was built only on Sangre de Cristo Pass. It was a triangular stone enclosure on a hill about five miles east of the pass's summit.' The fort was built by 1819, for in that year one hundred Indians attacked a small detachment of Span­ iards there.' Although a large troop was sent to reinforce the site after this incident, the fort appeared to have been abandoned for about a year when Jacob Fowler, an American trapper, passed it in 1822. In the Nibor Hood ofTouse 45

Although Spain did acquire the regioneast of the mountains north to the Arkansas River under the terms of the boundary agreement of 1820, Spanish possession was short-lived. Discontent with Spain's rule was strong in Mexico. Following the examples of the French and American revolutions, Mexico rebelled in 1821 and became indepen­ dent of the crown. As soon as Spain's rule in New Mexico was tenninated, Ameri­ can traders turned their efforts toward the new market, Santa Fe. The third party to reach New Mexico, following those of Baird and McKnight, was led by Hugh Glenn, a trader among the Osage lndi­ ans. When he learned from Spanish soldiers that Mexico had de­ clared her independence, Glenn was camped with about twenty men near Pueblo. He immediately decided to seek permission to trap in the Rio Grande area, and he and four of his men joined the soldiers who were bound for Santa Fe. They followed the well-worn Sangre de Cristo trail, which lay along the Huerfano, past Badito Cone, and then departed from the river valley. From there they continued to Sangre de Cristo Pass, then down Sangre de Cristo Creek, and along the east side of the San Luis Valley to Taos. This route became so frequently used by trappers in subsequent years that it was known as the "Trappers' Trail," as well as the "Taos Trail." While Glenn was getting the license, his men remained on the east side of the mountains under the leadership of Jacob Fowler, sec­ ond in command of the Glenn expedition. Fowler is of particular interest because he kept a journal of the venture in 1821-22, includ­ ing a description of trapping in the San Luis Valley. His faithfulness to the principles of phonetic spelling was equalled by an accurate eye for detail. His record provides both the first American descrip­ tion of the San Luis Valley after Pike and also information about the fur-trade years.' Predictably, soldiers arrived to escort the Fowler contingent from Pueblo to Taos. They set forth on January 29, 1822. Crossing Sangre de Cristo Pass, on February 5 they entered the San Luis Valley, "an oppen plain of great Extent." En route Fowler observed not only the abandoned fort on the pass but also the settlement at Rio Colorado, which had been deserted by "the Inhabetance for feer of the Indeans now atWar With them."AtTaos the trapping party learned that seven hundred soldiers were then battling Navajos east of the mountains. 46 The San Luis Valley

These Indian troubles, together with a three-year drought and scarcity offlour, probably were responsible, in part at least, for the encourage­ ment of American tradein Santa Fe. Arriving "in the nibor Hood oftouse," Fowler'sbrigade was intro­ duced quickly to the local customs-from infamous grain alcohol to local hospitality, which beganwitha fandango and ended witha "Close Huge" from which they escaped only after considerable embarrass­ ment. Four days "in the nibor Hood of touse" were enough. OnFebru­ ary12, splitting into three parties, the men left town to trap. Two of the groups, led by Isaac Slover and Jesse van Bibber, went directly to the San Luis Valley, while the third, ledbyFowler, investigated the streams to the south. Finding the beaver already taken there, he and his men also went north to the valley. Here they trapped along the Conejos, called byFowler "Pikes forke of the Delnort." Their camp was"about three miles below His Block House Whear He was taken by the Spanierds." The trappers worked the SanJuanMountains to the west, La Garita Mountains, WagonWheel Gap, across the passes and down the Lake Forkofthe Gunnison River. On the east side of the San Luis Valley they trapped along Trinchera and Culebra creeks. They met with fair success despite ice on some streams. In addition to beaver they took a few"aughter." Game brought in for the camppotincluded mountainsheep, deer, elk, "cabery" (prong­ horn antelope), geese, and one sandhill crane. When hunting was bad once, they killed a horse for supper, but the poor beast was not yet skinned outbefore a hunterbroughtinsome venison. OnCulebraCreek they bagged a wolf. The first of their encounters withIndians occurred near SouthFork. While the trappers were out of camp, Utes stole two "Buffelow Roabes Some lead and two knives." This tribe, Fowler observed, "livealltogether on the Chase Raising no grain." Another camp near the Conejos found itself hemmed inbetween two large Indian encampments. The traps of one manwere stolen, butherodeafter the culprits and recovered all but two. On Culebra Creek Jicarilla Apaches came into Fowler's camp to warn him that Utes had stolen three of the Americans' horses and in­ tended to take more. To avoid this raid, the menmoved their campa few miles and spent a cheerless night without a campfire but without an Indian incident either. In the Nibor Hood of Touse 47

In the early summer of 1822 the Glenn expedition packed 1,100 pounds of furs back to St. Louis and sold them to the American Fur Company.' Trapping had been sufficiently good that other indepen­ dent parties were encouraged to head for the Southern Rockies. Here they could operate without competition from the great trading com­ panies of the North. Furthermore, furs traded in New Mexico were not taxed at this time.' Many of these trappers who came in the 1820s and 1830s worked the San Luis Valley. Others used the valley as a route to the Gunnison and Uncompahgre river regions. In addition to trails left by the trappers, a rudimentary wagon road appeared in the valley. By the mid-twenties, when trade be­ tween the Missouri River and New Mexico was becoming active, some shippers used the Sangre de Cristo Pass route to Taos. How­ ever, the main branch of the Santa Fe Trail lay far to the east on the plains. Most traffic to Santa Fe stayed on the main branch or else used the Mountain Branch that crossed Raton Pass, south of present-day Trinidad, Colorado, bypassing both the San Luis Valley and Taos. For trappers, however, Taos was the principal trade and supply center in the Southern Rockies. Many of the mountain men head­ quartered in or near Taos, married Mexican or Indian women or both, and chose to remain in the area after the fur industry declined. Originally, about half of the trappers were of French extractionlO Most of the American trappers were frontiersmen, who, like the French, came out throughMissouri.ll Among the early mountain men was Antoine Robidoux, whose father, a French-Canadian, founded St. Joseph, Missouri. Antoine Robidoux arrived in New Mexico in 1824 and was responsible for bringing several colorful men into the area. He operated posts on the Uintah River in Utah and on the Gunnison River, the latter being reached by a short cut across the Sangre de Cristos through Mosca Pass and then across the San Luis Valley to Cochetopa Pass. The use of Mosca Pass by Robidoux's sup­ ply trains resulted in its being called Robidoux Pass for a while. The name was still in use whenAmericans surveyed the area in the 1850s. One of the men attracted to the Southern Rockies by Robidoux was Antoine Leroux, who arrived in Taos in 1824. 12 Leroux was back and forth through the San Luis Valley continually in the following years. Kit Carson came to Taos in 1826,13 He worked on wagon trains 48 The San Luis Valley

for two years and then became cook for Ewing Young, a Taos store­ keeper, who organized a trappingparty in 1829.14 !twasa large party of about forty men. Intending to go to western New Mexico, they set out through the San Luis Valley to conceal their real destination.15 Later Carson achieved success as an independent operator and had his own coterie of trappers and scouts. Already a central character in Taos, Kit married theSpanish sister-in-law of Charles Bent, a prominentAmeri­ can entrepreneur, in the 1840s, thereby assuring Carson's social accep­ tance. Tom Tobin, who came west in the 1830s, worked with Carson from time to time. He is known to have trapped in the San Luis Val­ ley in 1838, on one of many probable trips to the area. After marrying a senorita atArroyo Hondo north of Taos, Tom settled down to farm­ ing a plot given to the couple by his mother-in-law. Tobin was the half-brother of another famous mountain man, Charles Autobees.16 Tom and Charlie both worked at times for Simeon Turley at Arroyo Hondo, where a potent beverage called Taos Lightning was distilled at Turley's place of business. Charlie's assignment was to haul ship­ ments of this frontier necessity to trading posts which had been built east of the mountains." Without question, Charlie's trips through the San Luis Valley were the most eagerly anticipated missions of the entire fur-trade era. As inflammatory as Taos Lightning was the personality known as "Peg_leg" Smith. "Peg_leg," whose given name was Thomas, and Aaron B. Lewis crossed the San Luis Valley from Taos in the early 1830s with the intention of trapping between the Gunnison and Colo­ rado rivers. When Ute Indians attempted to appropriate their catch, "Peg_leg" discouraged the thieves witha barrage of colorful language, but the trapping expedition was abandoned. The men returned to Taos by way of Poncha Pass and the valley.18 Among the legendary trappers are found only a few Mexican names. Domingo Lamelas was one of these exceptions. In 1827 Lamelas was granted a license to trap on the Rio Colorado (the "Little Red") and on the Moro, provided that he took no foreigners with him. Instead he trapped in the San Luis Valley with Simon Carat and Antoine Leroux. The furs were impounded and the men were ques­ tioned by government officials. In their testimony Leroux revealed that the operation had been under contract to Sylvestre Pratte." De- In the Nibor Hood of Touse 49 spite such efforts by the New Mexican government to maintain some control of the industry, it obviously was in the hands of "foreigners," whowere onlyslightly inconvenienced by officialdom on the onehand and hostile Indians on the other." By the 1840s the decline in beaver prices affected the amount of trapping being done, although the industry did not die out abruptly. In 1842, for example, John Hawkins and Dick Wootton hauled a valu­ able mixed cargo of beaver pelts and Spanish silver across Sangre de Cristo Pass to Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River. Hawkins may have been the son of Jacob Hawken, renowned gunsmith of Missouri. Wootton became well known as a resident of territorial Colorado. Both Hawkins and Wootton were employed by Bent, St. Vrain and Company in the 1840s.21 From this company's adobe fort on the Ar­ kansas River, trade with Indians of the plains and mountains took place. As the profit in beaver declined and trapping dropped off in the 1840s, the buffalo trade gave many mountain men jobs.22 The mood ofvarious Indians often determined their success. When Charles Town ofTaos went to the San Luis Valley in 1846 to trade on Culebra Creek, the Utes stole his horses." Nevertheless, traders and Indians are known to have camped to­ gether harmoniously several times on Saguache Creek, about twenty miles above the present town of Saguache. This location was one of the most popular and beautiful of the Ute camps. Its Indian name, Saguguachipa, meant "blue water," referring to a spring that rose from a basin ofblue-stained earth. Because the traders whovisited this camp could not pronounce the name, they abridged it to "Saguache," the name applied later to the creek and the pioneer town." In October 1846 Alexander Barclay came to the valley from the post on Hardscrabble Creek to trade with the Utes for buffalo hides at two encampments, one on the west side of the valley between the Rio Grande and Saguache Creek, the other between Saguache Creek and Poncha Pass." Almost no information about New Mexico appeared in print in the States through these years. Jacob Fowler's journal was not pub­ lished until many years later, in 1898. Pike's record remained the most available source, with the exception of a few newspaper stories repeating the tales of mountain men. A map prepared by the United 50 The 5an Luis Valley

States government in 1839 named only a few mountains and streams, one being the Rio Bravo del Norte, or the Rio Grande. Where the San Luis Valley mighthavebeen shown,butwasnot, were these words: "Of this Country the little that is known is learned from the Trappers of Santa Fe. They represent the Country from the Colorado to the sources of the Arkansas & Platte as very Mountainous and the Vallies nar­ row." 26 Ignorance about the area soon came to an end, though. In 1836, whenTexas gained its independence from Mexico, Texas claimed that its western boundary was the Rio Grande, which incidentally would have included the east side of the San Luis Valley. WhenTexas became one of the United States, the boundary claim along the Rio Grande was adopted by the American government. Not surpriSingly, Mexico con­ tested the matter, and this dispute, coupled with a problem of debts owed the United Statesby Mexico, precipitated the outbreakofwar in 1846. On August 19 of that year General Stephen Watts Kearny took possession of New Mexico for the United States bymarching into Santa Fe. By virtue of this military occupationtheSanLuis Valley became part of the United States. Among the first Americancitizens to visit the valley thereafter were Mormons of Nauvoo, Illinois, who had left that place because of ha­ rassment there. The mustering of volunteers for the Mexican War pro­ vided some of these Mormons with an opportunity to enlist as volun­ teer infantrymen with the promise of going to California. Taking along a few families, they marched to Santa Fe, arriving after Kearny had taken the capital. Although the Mormons had not come through the journey invery good shape, some were determined to continue to Cali­ fornia, while eighty or ninety others were sent back to Pueblo for the winter. These men and their families were joined in December by sev­ eral members of the Mormon Battalion, which hadbeenbesetbyillness after it started for California. This addition, which nearly doubled the contingent at Pueblo, arrived after a difficult trip through the San Luis Valley and across Sangre de Cristo Pass in deep snow. A few of them who were too illto complete the journeywith the others laid over with SimeonTurley atArroyo Hondofor several days, butall were in Pueblo by the middleof January 1847.27 They were fortunate tohaveleftTurley's when they did. In the Nibor Hood of Touse 51

As might be expected, the sudden take-over of New Mexico by Americans was notwell accepted bymostlocal citizens. The Mormon Battalion reported a lack of cooperation in obtaining food and equip­ ment in villages which they passed. In the area around Taos, where isolation hadbred independence for scores ofyears, the New Mexicans rebelled against the American settlers in January 1847. New Mexico's new governor, Charles Bent, was one of the "foreigners" killed in the Taos uprising. AtArroyo Hondo,where the last Mormons hadjust left, SimeonTurley and others escapedby digginga hole from the distillery into the granary. Turley was captured and killed, butTorn Tobin made it to Santa Fe, where he joined the volunteers who Were organizing to put down the rebellion." Another survivor from Arroyo Hondo was John D.Albert, who, like Tobin, had married a Mexican and was work­ ingfor Turley. Albert escaped to the north, passing "thesettlements on thelittle Red River." Discovering themtobe inleague with the uprising, he continued throughthe San Luis Valley, across Sangre deCristo Pass, and so to Pueblo." Since Fowler had passed through this area in 1822 and reported Rio Colorado deserted, it had been resettled. A description of the "Plaza of the Colorado" was written by George Frederick Ruxton, Esq., an Englishman who traveled through Mexico and the Rocky Mountains in 1846 and 1847. In New Mexico only a few days before the rebellion, Ruxton visited Taos, Arroyo Hondo, and Rio Colorado. He found the inhabitants of Rio Colorado living in the most deplor­ able conditions he had seen anywhere. "Growing a bare sufficiency for their own support, they hold the little land they cultivate, and their wretched hovels, on sufferance from the barbarous Yutas, who actually tolerate their presence in their country for the sole purpose of having at their command a stock of grain and a herd of mules and horses. "30 Between this settlement and Pueblo he found no other dwell­ ings. With a half-breed guide, Ruxton spent his first night out from Rio Colorado in a "state of congelation" from the cold. This camp on "Rib Creek" (Costilla) wasnot improvedbythe "wolves" that prowled around all night. When Ruxton crossed "La Culebra, orSnake Creek" the next day, he noticed that the Mormons had camped there only a few days earlier. Ruxton and his guide continued to "La Trinchera, or Bowl Creek" and thenentered an exceptionally windy valley, called 52 The San Luis Valley

El Vallecito. Itwas known also as the "Wind Trap" by mountain men, Ruxton noted. From this uncomfortable place theyclimbed Sangre de Cristo Pass and left the valley.'! During the quarter century since New Mexico had first welcomed traders and trappers, the San Luis Valley had become a familiar place to mountain men, to a large number of Mormons, and to one world traveler. The self-reliant, buckskin-clad trappers were not about to leave the West just because the beaver trade had given out. They remained as hunters, scouts, and Indian fighters, their names reap­ pearing subsequently in records of American exploration and mili­ tary campaigns. The Mormons would return, though several years later, to this valley that they first saw under such inauspicious cir­ cumstances. And the journalist-on-horseback, the gentleman adven­ turer who appeared at a climactic moment in history, would be fol­ lowed by a host of other reporters, and rich men, poor men, doctors, lawyers, and even a few lingering Indian chiefs.

Explorers in the West often published extravagant descriptions ofits geography, as seen in this view of Blanca Peak at the entrance to the San Luis Valley, from Heap's Central Route to the Pacific. Chapter VI

"Mule Tail Soup, Baked White Mule, and Boiled Gray Mule"

A preacher is expected to guide his followers to the portals of heaven, but Parson Bill Williams led thirty-two men straight into the gates of hell in the winter of 1848-49. William Sherley Williams had given up a pulpit in the States many years prior to this disaster and had trapped all over the West with Jedediah Smith. Assuming the ways of the land like many other mountain men, Williams had taken Indian women as wives andhad stayed in the West when the fur trade waned. When John Charles Fremont met him at the trading post at Pueblo inNovember 1848, "Old Bill" was sixty-one years old.! Despite his age Williams was hired at Pueblo to guide Fremont's reconnaissance of a route for a transcontinental railroad, because it was generally believed thathe knew the country involved better than anyone else.' Had this notion been true, he would have been a most appropriate successor to Kit Carson and Thomas Fitzpatrick, moun­ tain men who had guided Fremont's expeditions to Oregon and Cali­ fornia earlier in the 1840s. With their help Fremont had completed the most extensive investigations till then of the western territories, Kit Carson, left, posed with the Pathfinder, John Charles Fremont, who met disaster in the San Juan Mountains. Mule Tail Soup, Baked White Mule, and Boiled Gray Mule 57 and his staff had prepared the first map of the West that could be considered reliable, so to work for the famed Fremont was a prestige which any aging trapper would consider an honor. After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo formally ceded New Mexico to the United States in 1848, Americans needed to know more about their new territory. Although Fremont had traveled through Colorado earlier in the 1840s, he had not been south of the Arkansas River. Fremont's influential father-in-law, Senator Thomas H. Benton of Missouri, who had financed the two earlier trips, now sent him to investigate New Mexico in hopes of finding a route near the thirty­ eighth parallel for a railroad, the "central route to the Pacific," which Missourians believed to be the key to America's westward expan­ sion.' In addition to Benton's investment, other St. Louis business­ men put up cash and equipment for the reconnaissance of 1848-494 The thirty-eighth parallel lies a little north of Medano Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It crosses the San Luis Valley near Crestone onthe eastand lies south ofSaguache on the west. Cochetopa Pass is north of this parallel, and the Rio Grande heads just south of it. Lake City, north of the Continental Divide, is quite near the thirty-eighth parallel.Apparently, Fremontintended to reach the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River, on which Lake City is located, by cross­ ing the San Luis Valley and traveling up the Rio Grande. In Novem­ ber 1848, while Fremont was atBent's Fort, he wrote to Senator Benton that his route would take him to the head of the "Del Norte.'" This would nothavebeen an unusual choice, although Cochetopa Pass was used more frequently for winter travel into the Gunnison country. With the exception of a guide, Fremont's expedition was fully manned when it left Bent's Fort. In this force were a physician, a millwright, a gunsmith, a cartographer, and an artist who would perform the functions now filled by photographers. Fremont had expected to hire Kit Carson at Bent's Fort for another tour in the vital role of guide, but Kit was confined in Taos by illness. There were assurances that a substitute could be found farther up the Arkansas at Pueblo, for several mountain men were known to be wintering there. Thus, Williams came to be chosen. When the party left Pueblo, they headed west through the out­ post at Hardscrabble and then crossed the Wet Mountains into the Wet Mountain Valley. In the Wet Mountains the men encountered 58 The San Luis Valley

deep snow, although it was still only late November. Because of this early onset of winter the expedition found itself moving more slowly and consuming more of its food supply than had been planned for this stage.' In hindsight it seems that Fremont should have aban­ doned at this point the impractical goal of a winter crossing through the mountains. Instead, Williams led the men into the Sangre de Cristos from the Wet Mountain Valley, evidently planning to use Medano Pass as Pike had done in 1807. But, as the expedition's cartographer, Charles Preuss, observed in his journal, "Bill's vacillations showed that he was not very much at horne, at least in these parts," and in crossing the range he "definitelymissed the promised good pass."7 When they finally reached the top, where they could see the San Luis Valley, theyhad to make a "wide detour through fresh-fallen snow to the real pass."s It has been suggested that the pass which they descended was Mosca, or Robidoux Pass; but since their trail led along the north side of the sand dunes, it seems clear that they used Medano.' In fact, Medano has been called Williams Pass, along withanother name, Sand Hill Pass. OnDecember4 whenthey circumvented the dunes, snow lay three feet deep. More snowfell and was drifted bystrongwind while the men and their 120 mules struggled across the San Luis Valley in a much more difficult traverse than usually encountered. They arrived at the river "where the valley narrows down to a canyon," the water glisten­ ing "ratherdeep below." According to Fremont's account, this stream was La Garita Creek. Preuss remarked, "It was obvious that Bill had never beenhere."lo Despite such doubts about Williams' ability to guide, the expe­ dition entered the mountains here. As the snow became deeper and deeper, the mules were unable to find anything to eat, and most of the grain carried for them was gone. Nevertheless, the party pressed farther into the mountains, while the old trapper assured them that a snowless mesa lay beyond the divide. Seven mules had died by De­ cember 16 when the expedition reached a summit that they hoped would be the Continental Divide. It was not, and more mountains lay ahead. The next day the strongest men pushed on, attempting to break a trail for the others, but wind and snow drove them back to camp. The party occupied this place, called "Camp Desolation," for sev­ eral days. Here the hands and feet of a number ofmen froze. Even the Mule Tail Soup, Baked White Mule, and Boiled Gray Mule 59 eyelids of Dr. Benjamin Kern were frosted shut one day. Many of the animals died in this camp, and "Old Bill" lay down and wanted to die himself.llIna vain effort to save the remaining mules, they were driven onto a promontory from which the snow had been blown, exposing a little grass. But nearly all of them froze to death on this unsheltered knoll. The menbeganto survivebyeating frozen mule meat, while the mules that were still alive ate blankets, ropes, pack saddles, and each others' tails and manes. Finally, on December 22 Fremont admitted defeat and turned the expeditionback. Using a different route thanthe one bywhich they had entered the mountains, they struggled through the snow, hauling bag­ gage and equipmentinrelays and on wooden sleds thatthey had made. On December 24 they had to digthrough six feet ofsnow with pots and dinner plates. At"Camp Hope" on December 25, according to Fremont, they feasted on elk stew, doughnuts, biscuits, coffee, and mule-meat pie. But one of his men reminisced in later years that the Christmas menu had consisted of "mule tail soup, baked white mule, and boiled gray mule." Relishes were tallow candles12 Aside from concern for historical accuracy, one might accept the second as symptomatic of the men's morale. By December 27 conditions had become so desperate that a party of four set out for help. In this group were Williams, Henry King, Thomas Breckenridge, and botanist Frederick Creutzfeldt. Their des­ tination was Abiquiu, which they thought was the "next Spanish town," where they hoped to obtain animals and food. Estimating the distance to be about one hundred miles, they expected to reach it in about four days by traveling at night. Agreeing to this plan, Fremont sent them off with $1,800 for their purchases. The fact that Williams thought that Abiquiu was the most accessible Spanish town is fur­ therevidence ofhis current unfamiliarity with New Mexico. After the rescue party set off on December 28, the others contin­ ued their slow progress with the baggage and equipment. "A sled came to grief, we could not find material for snowshoes, ... we had to leave the animals behind."l3 At this time the men broke up into three groups, called "messes," each of which was to carry or scav­ enge its own food supplies. By New Year's Eve one of the messes already had dropped about three miles behind the others. In it were the Kern brothers, Captain 60 The San Luis Valley

Andrew Cathcart, who had beenwith Ruxton during some of histrav­ els, and a few Indians who were returning to California with Fremont. To celebrate NewYear's Eve, this motley little band "sangseveral songs

in our crude way, 1/ read aloud to each other, and minced some mule meatfor the next day's "treat."14 As the three messes worked their way down through the moun­ tains, they passed several campfire sites left by their would-be rescu­ ers. It soon became apparent that the rescue party had become lost before reaching the Rio Grande and had spent more than four or five days getting out of the mountains. Later it was learned that all four men had been frostbitten and that their food had given out. For sev­ eral days they subsisted on a hawk, an otter, and a boot, until, when King died from exhaustion, the survivors ate some of his flesh. Fi­ nally, on their twenty-first day out, Breckenridge killed a deer, and on the following day the "rescue party" was rescued by Fremont, whose mess reached the San Luis Valley on January 11. 15 Finding Indian tracks on January 12, the Fremont mess followed them and arrived at an Indian camp on the fifth day. Here they were able to obtainhorses and an Indian guide who would take them down through the valley to the settlement on the Rio Colorado. One day out from the Indian encampment, they found Williams, Creutzfeldt, and Breckenridge, looking like apparitions. When the party reached Rio Colorado, preparations were begun immediately to assist the men who had been left behind in the moun­ tains. Local women set about baking large quantities of bread to be carried by the rescue party. Since the village had no mules-only a few goats-Alexander Godey rode down to Arroyo Hondo, thirteen miles to the south, to get some. He brought back thirty, plus one well-received hog. Godey seems to have been one of the hardiest and ablest mem­ bers of the expedition. He had been with Fremont previously. Godey was twenty-five years old when he met Fremont in the summer of 1843 at Fort St. Vrain, a fur-trade post on the South Platte River. The young man then had been in the Rockies for six or seven years, work­ ing as a hunter for the trading posts near the mountains and occa­ sionally undertaking trading expeditions into Indian territory. Godey hired on with Fremont to accompany the survey in 1843. Despite his manyother qualifications the youngmountainmanapparentlydidnot Mule Tail Soup, Baked White Mule, and Boiled Gray Mule 61 have sufficient experience inthe Southern Rockies to qualify as a guide in 1848-49. However, the self-reliant Godey was chosen now to lead the res­ cue attempt, which began on January 23 from Rio Colorado. Accom­ panied by four Mexicans, he headed back toward the mountains, while Fremont recuperated in Taos at the home of Kit Carson and the other two men waited in Rio Colorado.l6 Eighteen miles above the mouth of the Conejos the rescue team found the first of the survivors. To this group Fremont had given the unrealistic task of bringing out the baggage, an assignment that was impossible for them to fulfill, of course. Not only the baggage but also the weaker members of the mess had been abandoned. Quarrels about the division of food had arisen, and finally the mess's leader, Lorenzo Vincenthaler, had declared each man for himself. Seven of this group died. As the rescuers pressed north, they found a few of the deserted men still alive. The Kern team also was found in severe condition but still resolved to stay together. Although two of their men had died, they resisted the decision to eat human flesh, choosing instead a diet of bugs, moccasin soles, rosehips, and the carcass of a dead wolf. A final survivor, one of the California Indians, was found in the shelter of a cave. By February the heroic rescue party had brought out the men, Fremont's trunk, and some of the other baggage, but ten men and all of the expedition's mules were dead. Still the disaster was not complete. Fremont, who had shown such an exaggerated concern for the expedition's equipment, re­ mained unwilling to give it up as a loss. In the spring Dr. Kern and "Old Bill" were sent to recover it. They both were killed by Indians during their return to the tragedy-filled mountains. Although Ute Indians were seen wearing the Americans' clothing in the summer of 1849, Fremont's equipmentnever was found." The area where the ill-fated Fremont expedition foundered has been pinpointed by the discovery of two campsites. One of these was high on Wannamaker Creek, the other at the head of Embargo Creek. At both sites were found a number of tree stumps, cut about six feet above the ground, presumably at snow level. At the camp on Em­ bargo Creek two sleds that hadbeen made to haul Fremont's gear were found. Albert Pfeiffer, thesonof a mountain manofthe samename, first 62 The San Luis Valley

saw the sleds while he was trailing a deer about 1880. One sled was about four feet long, and the otherwas aboutsix and one-halffeet long. Both had been made ofspruce wood without metal fastenings. In 1930 a U.S. ForestService ranger, E. S. Erickson, was guided to the location of the sleds by a sheepherder, Epimenio Romero.18 At the Wannamaker Creekcamp, called Camp Desolation by theexpedition, forty-three tree stumps were found.19 After camping here for several days, the menhad started with their improvised sleds toward the Rio Grande via Em­ bargo Creek, where the sleds were abandoned.20 The route bywhich the expeditionreached the Wannamaker Creek encampmentnever has been established, although Fremont's contem­ poraries accepted the fact that the menwereheaded for the headwaters of the Rio Grande when they became lost. The pass that they would havebeen seekinghas been called variously Leroux, Summer, or Will­ iams Pass, as well as the Pass of the Del Norte. When they reached the headwaters of Wannamaker Creek, they still were about twenty-five miles east of this pass. Despite Williams's faults as a guide, the severe weather alone could have been responsible for his confusion, as he easily might have mistaken one landmark for another in the blinding snow. In the winter of 1806-07 Zebulon Pike undertook a crossing of the Sangre de Cristos without a retinue of experts, without special equipment, without pack animals, and without a guide, and he ap­ pears to have reached his intended destination. Still, he has been re­ ferred to as the "lost pathfinder." Compared to Fremont's disaster of 1848-49, Pike's accomplishments probably have deserved more credit. For his part, Fremont did succeed eventually in reaching Cali­ fornia, though not by a central route. Instead, he followed Kit Carson's advice and used a southern route. Although the renowned "Path­ finder," as Fremont carne to be called, returned to the San Luis Valley once more during his fifth and final venture in exploration, his ener­ gies thereafter were directed toward politics, mining, and railroad building, all of which won him additional fame as well as controversy. History will not permit Parson Bill Williams to vindicate him­ self, for he had no second chance. For him there was no escape from the devilish fate that the San Juan Mountains had stored up.

The site on Ute Creek where Fort Massachusetts was built in 1852 is overgrown with sagebrush and chamiso.

Based on a sketch by Richard H. Kern, whowas killed in the GUIUl.ison massacre inUtah in the autumn of 1853, this lithograph by J.M. Stanley of Fort Massachusetts appeared in the reports of United States explorations and surveys for a railroad to the Pacific. Author's collection. Chapter VII

More Mule Meat

The fulfillment of America's "manifest destiny," westward ex­ pansion, owes an enormous debt to that inglorious beast the mule. Exploration of western territories frequently depended on the avail­ ability and the stamina of this long-eared symbol of stubbornness. When a mule was ready to give up, his human counterpart also was apt to be in desperate straits. Thus, the mule often was called upon to make one more sacrifice--to be eaten-as Fremont's expedition proved. Others would do the same. In the year when the "Pathfinder" from Missouri had left the bones of 120 mules in the San Juans, all of present Colorado officially became United States territory. In 1851 the Territory of New Mexico was organized, incorporating what is now Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado. In practice most of the San Luis Valley was considered to be within the Territory of New Mexico, but the law creating this territory was imprecise in the boundary description. In it the northern limit was drawn along the thirty-eighth parallel, but when the boundary reached the Continental Divide, it went south to the thirty-seventh parallel and then continued west. North of this 66 The San Luis Valley

boundary the land was part of the Territory of Utah, also organized in 1851. Confusion stemmed from the fact that the mountains where the boundary was supposed to drop south from the thirty-eighth to the thirty-seventh parallel was called the Sierra Madre. Unfortunately, some maps of the day showed the Sierra Madre at the location of the Continental Divide, while others placed it at the Sangre de Cristos. This point about the boundary is pedantic, however. In effect the intention of Congress is clear, for new settlements south of the thirty-eighth parallel in the San Luis Valley were placed under the jurisdiction of Taos County, New Mexico Territory.! Further evidence to support New Mexico's jurisdiction is found in military organiza­ tion for the area. In 1851 the United States Army set up a system of defense for the Southwest. Headquarters were at Fort Union, about one hundred miles east of Santa Fe. Under its charge were several smaller posts, the northernmost of these being Fort Massachusetts, built in 1852 in the San Luis Valley. Its purpose was to offer protec­ tion to routes through the valley and to settlers who had begun to move into New Mexico's northern frontier. It was the responsibility of the commander of the Ninth Military Department at Fort Union to select locations for such forts.' How­ ever, Major George A. H. Blake was assigned to take Company F, First Dragoons, and Company H, Third Infantry, to the San Luis Val­ ley in "Ute Country," where Blake chose the location of Fort Massa­ chusetts on UteCreekbeneath Blanca Peak. The site implies thatBlake had little concern for defending either trails or settlements, for it was well removed from both, but it was the first adequate location north of privately owned land, the Sangre de Cristo Grant. The fort en­ joyed sufficient timber, clear running water, and scenery, but the sur­ rounding hills made it a more likely spot for surprise attack than a convenient place from which to protect citizens. Consequently, the garrisonwas relocated later at Fort Garland, when that site was leased from the owners of the land grant. With rudimentary governmentand defense organized in the West, Americans were eager to begin its exploitation. Despite Fremont's experience in 1848-49 Senator Benton remained steadfast in his hope that the thirty-eighth parallel would yield a transcontinental rail route through St. Louis to the Pacific. Contending that this would be the shortest possible line between Washington and California, he led a More Mule Meat 67 campaign to secure congressional appropriations for surveying this route, while his competitors were doing the same for northern and southern routes. To reinforce his arguments favoring the central route, Senator Benton obtained a statement from Antoine Leroux of Taos. Benton sent Leroux's letter to the New York Daily Tribune, where it appeared on March 16, 1853. Leroux's information was, of course, everything that the senator's sympathizers could have wanted. Leroux stated un­ equivocally that the central route was the best to California, as he and other traders and trappers could prove from personal experience. Also, since the army had provided protection against Indian depredations, the San Luis Valley quickly would become the most prosperous section of New Mexico, he said, and would provide traffic for the proposed railroad. West of the valley Cochetopa Pass afforded a year-round pas­ sage, which was suitable even for wagon traffic, it was so gentle. This pass had been used by wagons since 1837, he claimed, when two fami­ lies "named Sloover [perhaps Isaac Slover] and Pope" had used it en route to California.3 An opportunity to investigate this route came as an adjunct to the journey of E. F. Beale, newly appointed superintendent of Indian affairs in California, who would be traveling to his new post. Benton sent-and paid the expenses of-Beale's cousin, Gwinn Harris Heap, whose duty it was to prepare written reports and artist's sketches of his observations about possible locations for a railroad. Since Beale's expedition was small and notequipped with appropriate instruments for such work, Heap was merely expected to make a preliminary reconnaissance. Nevertheless, his report yielded an excellent descrip­ tion not only of the Beale route but also of the surrounding area and its people. Illustrated with lithographs from Heap's sketches, the published report became a major tool in Benton's continued cam­ paign for a central route.' Beale and Heap left Washington in April 1853. By May 15 they had assembled a force of ten men, enough light equipment for the rapid trip that they planned, and a string of pack animals. From Westport, Missouri, the supply point, they headed west on a route along the "Kanzas" and Arkansas rivers to the Huerfano, which they followed into the mountains. Entering the San Luis Valley by way of Sangre de Cristo Pass, Heap wrote: 68 The San Luis Valley

We were now travelling on an Indian trail; for the wagon trail, which I believe was made by Roubideau's wagons, deviated to the right, and went through the pass named after him. This pass is so low that we perceived through it a range of sand hills of moderate height in San Luis Valley; to have gone through it, however, would have occasioned us the loss of a day in reaching Fort Massachu­ setts, though it is the shortest and the most direct route to the Coochatope; and Mr. Beale's views constrained him to take the most direct route to Fort Massachusetts, where he expected to obtain a guide through the unexplored country between New Mexico and Utah, and also to procure some mules. We were therefore very re­ luctantly compelled to forego the examination of Roubideau's Pass. ... An excellent wagon road might be made over these mountains, by the Sangre de Cristo Pass, and a still better one through Roubideau's....

Continued ourcourse to the southwestward through thick pine woods, and in one mile we reached the head waters of Sangre de Cristo Creek, flowing into the Del Norte after its junction with the Trinchera. The Sangre de Cristo mountains, and the Sierras Blanca and Mojada [referring to the northern Sangre de Cristos] were cov­ ered with snow....

On our maps, the Sangre de Cristo is improperly named In­ dian Creek, which is a fork of theSangre de Cristo, and is not named at all on them. Up Indian Creek, I am informed, there exists an excellent pass from the San Luis valley to the plains on the eastern side of the mountains [Veta Pass]....

We arrived [at Fort Massachusetts] late in the afternoon, and received a warm and hospitable welcome from Major Blake, the officer in command, Lieutenants Jackson and Johnson, and Dr. Magruder.... Messrs. Beale, Riggs, Rogers, and myself quartered at the Fort; the men encamped two miles below on Utah Creek, in a beautiful grove of cottonwoods. A tent was sent to them, and with fresh bread and meat they were soon rendered perfectly com­ fortable. There was excellent pasturage around their encampment, on which the mules soon forgot the hard marches they had made since leaving Westport. ... More Mule Meat 69

As it was found impossible to obtain here the men and ani­ mals that we required, and that it would be necessary to go to Taos, and perhaps to Santa Fe, for this purpose, Mr. Beale and Major Blake left for the former place on the morning after our arrival at the fort. ... During our detention at Fort Massachusetts, I took frequent rides into the mountains on each side of it.s

When Beale returned he brought a guide and a muleteer, cousins who eachbore the name FelipeArchilete. The guidewas distinguished by the nickname "Peg_leg," given to him aiter an injury in an Indian ballle, which cost him a limb. He not only knew the Rockies well, but he also was skilled in speaking the Ute language. Despite his lame­ ness he was well qualified to substitute for Antoine Leroux, whom Beale had been unable to secure for a guide, as originally hoped. While at the fort Beale also hired Patrick Dolan, a soldier whose tour of duty had expired, and discharged one Mexican who had traveled with the party from Westport. On June 15 the expedition resumed its march. Six miles from Fort Massachusetts they crossed Robidoux's wagon road. Passing through the valley they encountered wet ground, in which some of the mules became mired. The mules also showed a troublesome in­ clination to try to return to the fort. When Rogers and Heap decided to go back to the fort for an additional bit of supply, they hired an­ other muleteer, Juan Lente, and also bought a mule for him. While Heap took care of these errands, the main group had crossed the Rio Grande, where they encountered Ute Indians hunt­ ing for wild horses. The Indians camped with the expedition that night and parted on friendly terms the next morning after sharing breakfast. Beale's group then headed north toward Saguache Creek. Heap's journal describes their route:

We crossed a fine brook of clear and cool water-the Rio de la Garita, which rises in the Sahwatch mountains, and flowing east, discharges itself into a large lagoon at the base of the Sierra Mojada, in the northern part of the valley of San Luis. ... In ten miles from the Rio Garita, we came to an abundant spring, surrounded by good grass, where we rested for a moment to drink [at Russell Spring] . At the spring we found a trail leading to the Sahwatch valley . 70 The San Luis Valley

The valley of the Sahwatch has two entrances from that of the San Luis. The one which we selected, on account of its being the nearest, is called by the Spaniards Ei Rincon del Sahwatch ["the n corner of the Sahwatch ], as it forms a cut-off into Sahwatch valley proper. The main entrance is a few miles farther on. We went three miles up the Rincon, and encamped at sunset at a spring of excel­ lent water, where OUf mules found fine pasturage. ...

Mosquitos allowed us little rest. For two and a half miles our course was west by north; we then turned to the northward over some steep hills, and upon reaching their summit obtained a glori­ ous view of the valley of the Sahwatch. [The "Rincon" seems to be Tracy Canyon.]'

They reached "the celebrated COOCHETOPE PASS" on June 18. Heap observed that this pass and Camero Pass were the two routes most frequently used by Indians traveling to and from the San Luis Valley. A military post strategically placed between the two in Saguache Valley would do much to hold the Indians in check, he pointed out.' He had an opportunity to examine Camero Pass two weeks later when he and "Peg_leg" returned to Taos to replenish sup­ plies lost in an accident. Since the Puerto del Camero, or "Mountain Sheep Pass," was known only by Indians and Mexicans trading with them, Heap was pleased to have this observation firsthand.' How­ ever, because he repeatedly described this route as being about a mile from Cochetopa Pass, it must be assumed that he did not mean a route along Camero Creek but the route over today's North Coche­ topa Pass' They also inspected an alternate route from the upper end of the Saguache Valley to the San Luis Valley. They ascended a narrow val­ ley and then turning east came down a series of almost level valleys until they reached Camero Creek, which flowed through a gap. Heap describes the trip down Camero Creek thus:

Half a mile below this gap there is another, and a quarter of a mile farther a third; the passage through them is level, whilst the trail around them is steep and stony. In the afternoon, we went through the first gap, made a circuit around the second, as it was much obstructed with trees and bushes, and, leaving the third on More Mule Meat 71

our left, rode over some low hills, and five miles from [the first gap} crossed the Garita. We were once more in San Luis Valley. ... We encamped on the Rio Grande del Norte, as the sun was setting be­ hind the pass in the Sierra de San Juan, at the head of the Del Norte ... the one in which Colonel Fremont met with so terrible a disaster. ... From the plains this pass appears to be more practicable than either the Camero or the Coochetope; but it can be traversed only by mules, and by them only from the middle of August until the first snow falls. to

This information gathered by Heap was more complete than any yetprovided, but it was notpublished before two other surveys cov­ ered much of the same country. The first was sponsored by the gov­ ernment and the second by Benton again. One can easily under­ stand the pressure to locate a route for transcontinentaltransporta­ tion. In the 1850s the fastest means of reaching the California gold fields from the East was by steamboatwitha land crossing of Panama, a thirty-day trip at best. Beale scarcely had begun his trip to California when Captain John Williams Gunnison of the Topographical Engineers undertook an army reconnaissance of the central route. His orders from the United States War Department were to survey a line through the Rockies near the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Benton tried to get his son-in-law, Fremont, appointed to lead this survey, perhaps be­ cause of rumors that this exploration was intended to prove the im­ practicability of the central route. Regardless of such supposed con­ niving, Gunnison was a reasonable choice since he had some previ­ ous experience in the West, surveying in Utah. 11 Gunnison's survey was not planned to be fast-paced. He left Westport in June 1853 with thirty-one men and several wagons loaded with supplies and provisions. In the party were Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith, Gunnison's assistant; Sheppard Homans, astrono­ mer; R. H. Kern, artist and topographer; and botanist Frederick Creutzfeldt, who with Kern accompanied Fremontin 1848-49. They approached the San Luis Valley by the Huerfano, after los­ ing some time by following the Apishapa in error. Crossing Sangre de Cristo Pass with the wagons caused another delay of four days while the road was cleared of overgrowth. In addition to this pass, other possible routes into the valley were surveyed before the party 72 The San Luis Valley

left the area, butSangre de Cristo was the only one recommended by Gunnison for a railroad.12 As Beale's party had done also, the Gunnison expedition layover for a few days at Fort Massachusetts. While repairs were made on wagons, Gunnison went south to Taos and engaged Antoine Leroux to guide him through the mountains. Then, while the wagons and most of the men headed west, Gunnison and a few others went north through the valley. In this small party was Sheppard Homans, for whom Homans Park near Poncha Pass was named. Poncha Pass it­ self was surveyed and named Gunnison Pass, a title that never gained common usage. Turning back to join the main group, the men sur­ veyed the entire area around "Coo-che-to-pa Pass."13 However, the official report did not recommend this key pass for the rail route.14 In fact, the failure of this army survey to recommend a suitable route through the San Juans became a major cause of the ultimate defeat of Benton's dream. Tragedy awaited Gunnison's expedition when it continued west. Near the southwest corner of the present state of Utah, a small re­ connaissance party was attacked by Indians. Eight men were killed, among them Gunnison, Kern, and Creutzfeldt15 LieutenantBeckwith was then charged with the responsibility of completing the survey and preparing the official reports16 The third survey for the central route in 1853 had to be aban­ doned in Utah. This expedition was led by Fremont, whom Benton sent west with private financing after the army survey was given to Gunnison. As in 1848 Fremont entered the San Luis Valley through Medano Pass from the Wet Mountain Valley, but he also examined Robidoux Pass. Ascending Cochetopa Pass, he observed that trees had been cut for a wagon road. There was snow on the pass, and as the party descended toward the Gunnison River, some of Fremont's recipes for cooking mule meat over tallow candles had to be put to use again. When Fremont reached Utah his old enemies-snow, cold, and hunger----defeated him again. One man died and all supplies had to be abandoned.!' Fremont's fifth expedition concluded the search for the proposed central route to the Pacific, and the Pathfinder's career as an explorer was finished. Travel adventures staged in the San Luis Valley in the 1850s still were notconcluded, though. In1857, at the time of the MountainMead- More Mule Meat 73

ows Massacre in southernUtah, trouble betweenthe Mormons and the United States government reached a crisis. Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston was sent to quell the rebelliousness of the "Saints," but his supply trainwas so harassed by Mormons as it crossed Wyoming that Johnstonhad to send for additional supplies and help before reaching Salt Lake City. From Fort Scott, a temporary postbuiltafter the Mormons destroyed Fort Bridger, Captain Randolph B. Marcy was ordered to Fort Union in New Mexico for reinforcements. Marcy's expedition became another of the harrowing tales ofwinter travel inthe mountains. Marcy set outon November 27, 1857, with forty soldiers, twenty-five mounted men, packers, and guides. Jim Baker, a fur trapper of earlier times, accompanied as interpreter. Tom Goodale was the party's offi­ cial guide. With Tom came his Indian wife and her pet pony. Sixty mules were trailed along to carry provisions on the return from New Mexico. I8 By way of Brown's Hole and the Roan Plateau of northwestern Colorado, the party arrived in the Gunnison country and headed for Cochetopa Pass. Already they had been in deep snow for two weeks, and half of their food was gone. As the snow depth increased in the approaches to the pass, the men packed a trail by crawling on hands and knees, inching forward. Otherwise, they sank to their waists in snow. Progress was so slow that provisions were exhausted before the men reached the summit of Cochetopa. Tom Goodale's squaw wept as her pony was killed to be eaten. The next meal was an old mule, which could go no farther. Mule meat was the menu for the next two weeks. Sprinkled with a little gunpowder, it tasted almost as good as if seasoned with salt and pepper. At one point they missed the correct route, but one of the Mexicans got them back on the trail to "that Mecca of our most ardent aspirations"-Cochetopa Pass.t9 With the San Luis Valley in sight at last, Marcy sent two Mexi­ cans with three mules to Fort Massachusetts for help. Eleven days later the Mexicans met the main group on the west edge of the San Luis Valley. With them came fresh horses, food, and a jug of brandy. Overcome with good cheer, some of the men became intoxicated, while their captain, as diplomatic a leader as he was courageous, looked the other way. Four days later, on January 18, 1858, the men arrived at Fort Massachusetts. From there they proceeded to Taos and FortUnion.20 74 The San Luis Valley

On his return, Marcy did not recross the San Luis Valley but trav­ eled up the east side of the mountains. He was escorted by Colonel William Wing Loring, who was conducting reinforcements to Colo­ nel Johnston. They reached Johnston in June. Loring then returned to Fort Union by way of Camp Floyd, Utah. 21 En route they crossed Cochetopa Pass. So the "Buffalo Pass" of the Indians, the proposed line for a central railroad, became a wagon road. For a few years after this expedition the route was known as "Loring's Trail."" Loring kept a journal during this journey, but it was a perfunc­ tory job of reporting. He was concerned with undramatic subjects such as soil conditions and the availability of water, grass, and wood for fuel, which might avert hardship or tragedy for future travelers. With particular interest he noted the speckled trout found in the waters of Camero Creek and the Rio Grande. On September 6, Loring's party passed Fort Garland, just built to replace Fort Massa­ chusetts and named for General John Garland, commander at Fort Union. The grass nearFort Garland was "excellent," Loring reported." The year 1858 saw the last of the early explorations that passed through the San Luis Valley. The valley had been undergoing many changes during the 1850s, and even greater events would take place in the following decade. Explorers' mule trains were soon forgotten.

Peaks of the Culebra Range soar behind a crumbling adobe house at Los Fuertes. Chapter VIII

"In Voices ofGladness"

Sun-baked plazas, flat-roofed adobe homes with hollyhocks and squash and peach trees growing in grassless yards, irrigation ditches lining unpaved streets, crosses crowning church spires and desolate cemeteries, stores built of adobe, schools built of adobe. These could belong to Spanish-speaking communities anywhere inOld Mexico, West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, SouthernCalifornia, or even the SanLuis Valley ofColorado. The first permanent settlements in what is now Colorado were in the San Luis Valley, and they are towns such as these. The pioneer builders of homes and tillers of fields came from the area of Taos, Santa Fe, and Abiquiu. Some of these first settlers were of Spanish blood, some were mestizos of mixed Spanish and Indian blood, and some were Indians who joined the villagers, adopting their language and names. Whoever they were, they shared not only language but also poverty, and they still do in many cases. More than a century since their founding, these settlements in the San Luis Valley retain the look, the sound, even the flavor of their ori­ gins. To Anglo visitors the towns appear so foreign thatitis difficult to 78 The San Luis Valley

recall that they were begun after the United States possessed the San Luis Valley and the rest of New Mexico. Although they are on land originally granted by the Mexican government to some of its subjects, the settlements actually have been under American rule since their in­ ception. Efforts to colonize in the valley were begun several years before the United States took possession of New Mexico, but Indians drove out the would-be settlers again and again with the same harassment experienced by the people of Rio Colorado, a few miles south of the valley. The first attempt to colonize in the San Luis Valley was on the Conejos River. Land for the colony was granted in 1833, this grant being one of several made by the new government of Mexico after the rebellion of 1821. The intent was to encourage the settling of re­ mote areas of New Mexico. Some of these grants carried a taint of political favoritism; but the grant on the Conejos, made to a group of citizens rather conspicuously lacking in economic or social influence, seems to have been one of the exceptions. The land was conveyed to fifty families on the condition that they effect a settlement on the grant, but hostile Navajos prevented them from fulfilling this obliga­ tion. The best the grantees could do was to herd sheep there in 1840 and 1841 1 In a move to reestablish a claim to the grant, Seledon Valdes and other grantees or their heirs petitioned in 1842 for a revalidation of the grant. At this point the history of the first grant in Colorado be­ comes entangled, apparently forever, in bureaucratic red tape. Ac­ cording to the later testimony of Valdes's son, the petitioners sent the original documents of 1833 to Juan Andres Archuleta, prefect of the First District of New Mexico, who secured the governor's somewhat ambiguous permission to grant a renewal. Archuleta subsequently ordered that the grantees again be given possession of the land, but the original papers ascertaining the grant of 1833 disappeared dur­ ing these transactions. In October 1842 Cornelio Vigil, justice of the peace court at Taos, went to the site called San Francisco de Padua on the Conejos River and formally gave the tract to eighty-four fami­ lies from Taos, El Rito, Rio Arriba, Rio Colorado,Abiquiu, and other villages in northern New Mexico. Most of these people were de­ scendants of or substitutes for original grantees who had died since 1833. The grant was made in the names of Julian Gallegos and In Voices of Gladness 79

Antonio Martines, who thus were accorded particular respect by the others. The proclamation granting the Conejos tract in 1842 incorporated the following provisions, which were customary in Mexican land grants:

The tract aforesaid shall be cultivated and never abandoned, and he that shall not cultivate his land within twelve years or that shall not reside upon it will forfeit his right; and the land that had been assigned to him will be given to another person-that the pas­ tures and watering places shall be in common for all the inhabit­ ants-that said land is donated to the grantees to be well cultivated and for the pasturing of all kinds of live stock, and therefore, ow­ ing to the exposed frontier situation of the place, the grantees must keep themselves equipped with firearms and bows and arrows in which they must pass review as well at the time of their settlement there as at any time the Alcalde [mayor] or Justice of the Peace in authority over them may deem proper to examine them-the grant­ ees being fully notified that, after the lapse of twelve years after the act of possession, all the arms they may then have must indispens­ ably be firearms in good condition, under the penalty that who­ ever shall fail in this requirement shall forfeit his right in the said grant-that the towns they may build shall be well walled around and fortified-and in the mean time the settlers must move upon said tract and build their shanties there for the protection of their families.2

To signify their compliance and joy, the new owners of the grant "plucked up grass, cast stones and exclaimed in voices of gladness, saying 'Long live the sovereignty of our Mexican nation!"'3 The boundaries of this large grant were described as extending north to La Garita Mountains, east to the Rio Grande, south to San Antonio Peak, and west to Sierra Montosa. Each family was to be allotted a long, narrow strip of land for cultivation. These plots, about five hundred feet wide, eventually filled most of the irrigable land between San Antonio River and La Jara Creek. As stipulated in the proclamation, pastures and watering places would be held in com­ mon, and roads in and out of town would be public. During the 1840s and early 1850s the grantees attempted three or four times to settle on their land and to plant crops of wheat and © Colorado Historical Society In Voices ofCladness 81 com,but each time Indian threats drove the grantees out, thereby pre­ venting them from establishing the required permanenthomes. Instead, the farmers returned with their harvests to winterin their old homes in NewMexico. 'This intermittenttenure, coupled withtheloss of the origi­ nal decree of 1833, caused the UnitedStates governmentto disallow the grant inthe 1860s, although New Mexico's first governor underAmeri­ can jurisdiction, Charles Bent, assured the grantees in 1846 that "they mayby virtue of their former right ... go to settle ontheConejos River if they choose to do SO."4 Rather thanimpeding settlement of the New Mexican land grants, the fledgling American regime was encouraging it, at least at local levels. An explanation might be that those in authority sometimes were the same individuals who held grants. William Gilpin, first gov­ ernor of Colorado Territory, once stated that members of Fremont's expedition of 1843--44 had planted the seeds of a scheme whereby New Mexican merchants petitioned for grants in their own names but took in associates who were not citizens of Mexico, as original grantees were required to be.' Himselfa memberof the Fremontexpedi­ tion to which he referred, Gilpin was not known as a modest man or even a zealous adherent to literal truth; but in this case one is inclined to believe him, for he was linked closely withNewMexican land-grant history. In 1843 and 1844 four land grants were made in what now is Colorado. The grantees in these instances were quite unlike the peo­ nes at Conejos. One ofthe new doles was the Beaubien-Miranda, later known as the Maxwell. It lay partly in Colorado and partly in New Mexico. Another of the new grants was the Sangre de Cristo in the southeastern portion of the San Luis Valley. The Sangre de Cristo Grant contained more than a million acres and was the largest pri­ vately held piece of land ever to exist in what is now Colorado.' Its size exceeded even the well-known King Ranch in Texas. Some owners of the four grants authorized in 1843 and 1844 were naturalized citizens who had come to New Mexico from Canada and Missouri in the 1820s with the fur trade. For example, one of the grantees for the Sangre de Cristo was Stephen Luis Lee, formerly a fur-trade man who had become more successful as a distiller of "Taos Lightning." He also was sheriff of Taos County and brother-in-law of "Don Carlos" Beaubien. Charles H. Beaubien was a French-Canadian who acquired the title "Don Carlos," Mexi­ can citizenship, and land grants totaling about two million acres. Denver Public Library, Western History Department photo. In Voices of Gladness 83

"DonCarlos" was thefather ofthirteen-year-old Narciso Beaubien, the other grantee ofthe Sangre de Cristo. One might wonderwhy Don Carlos himself was not the grantee, instead ofhis young son, until it is understood that the elder Beaubien was co-owner of the Beaubien­ MirandaGrant, which approximately equaled the size of the Sangre de Cristo. A French-Canadianwho had come to New Mexico in the early 1820s, Beaubien had married a wealthy senorita, changed his given name from Charles to Carlos, adopted citizenship inMexico, and soon was operating a prosperous business in Taos. During the Taos Rebellion in 1847 both Lee and Narciso Beaubien were killed. Through this tragedy "Don Carlos" came into posses­ sion of the Sangre de Cristo Grant. Narciso's share was inherited directly by his father, while Lee's estate was administered by Joseph Pley, an associate of Beaubien. In the spring of 1848 the latter pur­ chased Lee's half of the Sangre de Cristo Grant for $100. In addition to the deaths of his son and brother-in-law, the Taos Rebellion had caused the loss of Beaubien's partner in the Beaubien-Miranda Grant when he took flight into Old Mexico during the uprising. Conse­ quently, DonCarlos found himselfin full control ofbothgrants, which totaled about two million acres. Since he also had been appointed judge of the northern district of New Mexico, in which jurisdiction these two grants lay, Beaubien had a free hand in the role of feudal baron.' His two grants were separatedby the Culebra Range of the Sangre de Cristos. The Sangre de Cristo Grant, with which we are concerned in this history, lay on the east side of the Rio Grande, beginning one Spanishleague above the mouth of Trinchera Creek, from which point the boundary ran straight northeast to the summit of "Sierra Madre," or Blanca Peak. From there the boundary followed the spine of the Sangre de Cristos southward along the Culebra Range to take in the headwaters of Costilla Creek and then ran generally northwest to meet the Rio Grande. After the granting of the Sangre de Cristo tract in 1844, no settle­ ment was attempted on it until 1848. When the San Luis Valley was visited in 1846 and 1847 by Barclay, Ruxton, and the Mormon bri­ gade, they found no towns there. In 1848 George Gold (or Gould) attempted to establish a colony at ornear the present town of Costilla, New Mexico. Gold was a mountain man who had headquartered in 84 The San Luis Valley

Taos after giving up trapping. When he undertookhis enterprise on the Costilla, it was without the blessing of Don Carlos, who quickly ban­ ished the trespassers from his grant.8 The settlement was gone when Fremont retreated through the valley in January 1849 and found the most northerly settlers at Rio Colorado. Later in 1849, however, the first permanent settlement was made in the San Luis Valley. With Beaubien's encouragement several fami­ lies built rude shelters on Costilla Creek where Garcia, Colorado, now is located, less than a mile from the present town of Costilla, New Mexico. In 1849 the village that became Garcia was called Plaza de los Manzanares, deriving its name from two brothers, surnamed Manzanares, who had come from El Rito among the original set­ tlers.' The name was changed when two brothers, Guillermo and Agipito Garcia, petitioned for and obtained a post office a few years later. These early colonizers faced not only the formidable task of scratching out enough food for survival but also the continual threat of marauding Indians. This hazard surely came as no surprise, for raids were commonplace occurrences in all the rural areas of north­ ern New Mexico, until, following the Mexican War, United States military forces made concerted efforts to halt these activities. Several punitive expeditions were undertaken, especially against the Utes and the Navajos. During the winter of 1847-48 one of these cam­ paigns, led by Colonel Benjamin Beall and guided by Kit Carson, engaged Apaches east of Sangre de Cristo Pass, and two chiefs were taken captive. In March 1849 Lieutenant J. H. Whittlesey conducted another expedition through the San Luis Valley with Antoine Leroux as guide. This contingent attacked a Ute camp about fifteen miles north of Rio Colorado. It has been suggested that avengers of this battle were responsible for the murder of "Old Bill" Williams and Dr. Benjamin Kern, when they returned to the San Juans to recover Fremont's equipment.1o Despite this tragic event, the army's Indian campaigns succeeded in convincing the Utes that they should agree to a treaty with the United States, whereby the tribe recognized-Qn paper, at least-the authority of the government in Washington for the first time. The Indians agreed to release both American and Mexican captives, to return stolen goods, and to permit free passage through their lands. In Voices of Gladness 85

Encouraged by the Utes' acceptance of this treaty, more New Mexi­ cans setforth in 1850 to colonize Beaubien's Sangre de Cristo Grant. At Costilla a cluster of jacales appeared among the cottonwoods. These temporary, crude huts werebuiltby setting logs upright and chinking them withmud. Duringthe next year, 1851, Costilla achieved the status of a village with modest importance when three merchants from Taos opened a store therell This first business enterprise passed into the ownership of F. W. Posthoffand next Ferdinand Meyer, a German im­ migrantwho had worked for Posthoffin Taos previously. Meyer was to occupy a central role in the life of Costilla for many years and was to become known throughout the region after he opened other stores in San Luis, Conejos, Fort Garland, Del Norte, and elsewhere. In Costilla another store opened under the ownership of Louis Cohn, who soon moved his business to San Luis." The communities at Manzanares and Costilla both were built on a plan which was typical of later settlements. The colonizers erected their homes around a central plaza, or square, and prominent lots were reserved for future religious or government buildings. Several plazas, all with different names often made up a closely knit neigh­ borhood, and considerable historical confusion results from the pro­ liferation of names for these little complexes. For example, several small plazas appeared along Costilla Creek east of Ute Peak-Plaza de Arriba, Plaza del Media, Placita ("Little Plaza") de Los Madriles, Placita de Los Cordovas, Plaza de Los Chalifas, and, of course, Plaza de Los Manzanares.B Some of these plazas are known today by the names of later occupants, some have variant spellings, some are im­ possible to locate, and all are so close together that they usually have been called collectively "Costilla." A second cluster of plazas was begun on the Sangre de Cristo GrantatCulebra Creekin 1850. The first settlementhere was attempted at San Pedro, about three-fourths mile south of the present town of San Luis." The first colonizers to come to this area included Juan Salazar, Antonio Jose Martines, Julian Gallegos, and Benacio Jaquez, according to the reminiscences of Salazarfs son Antonio. These first-comers were drivenoutby Indians, but two returned with a larger group in the spring of 1851 to make a second effort to establish homes. In the party were Juan Salazar, Benacio Jaquez, Faushn Medina, Mariano Pacheco, Dario Gallegos, Juan Ignacio Jaquez, Ramon Rivera, Antonio Jose Vallejos, Juan Angel Vigil, and Jose Hilario Valdes. 86 The San Luis Valley

Weeds now crowd the once-lively plaza at Costilla, New Mexico. Photo by Thomas J. Noel.

During the autumn of 1851 Indians killed Rivera, Vigil, and Vallejos.ls After this attack the men leftthe valley for the winter, butthey returned again the next spring to stay. When they returned one of their first undertakings wasthe digging of an acequia to irrigate their wheat, beans, com, and vegetable gar­ dens. Although ditchrights werenotrecordedatthe time, becausewater was held in common on the grants, this acequia had the distinction of being the first recorded water right, dating from April 10, 1852, when Colorado required filing ofsuch data. Itwas called the SanLuis People's Ditch. The Culebra settlers laid out their farms in long, narrow strips, anywhere from fifty-five feet to one thousand feet long, depending on the size and importance of the families receiving the plots.16 The farmers lived in plazas and went to their fields by day. On the east side of town, Beaubien gave the people a public pasture, called a vega, of nearly nine hundred acres. This combination of privately and publicly owned land was usual in New Mexican communities. Beaubien also set up rules for the conduct of the colony at San Luis. The settlerswere charged withthe responsibility of keeping their In Voices of Gladness 87

town clean and orderly. Providing for its future growth, he required newcomers to obtainpermission to live in the townby applying to the district judge-Beaubienhimself-{)r to the justice of the peace, and a dwelling or a lot couldbe purchasedby payingits value to the church.I' Despite this nominal encouragementof religion, SanLuis did nothave its ownpriest for several years. As early as 1852 there were two plazas on the Culebra-San Luis and San Pedro, although they did not actually go by those names. San Pedro, at the junction of Culebra and Vallejos creeks, was known for several years as Upper Culebra or Plaza Arriba, while San Luis was called Culebra or San Luis de Culebra. In 1853 San Acacia was settled downstream, and it was called Lower Culebra or PlazaAbajo.18 Los Fuertes, also called Vallejos, was established at about the same time. Its name referred to its log cabins, designed to serve as for­ tresses to protect the villagers in the event of Indian attack. As each plaza was built, irrigation ditches were dug. While the ditch at San Luis was being dug, another was under construction for San Pedro. The San Pedro Ditch has Colorado's second recorded water rights, dating frrnn April 1852. The third was the Acequia Madre Ditch, taking its water from Costilla Creek and recorded in the name of Ferdinand Meyer in 1853. The Montez Ditch on Rita Seco dates from August 1853, followed by the Vallejos Ditch on Vallejos Creek. Manzanares Ditch, dug in 1854, and Acequiacita Ditch, in 1855, both took water from Costilla Creek19 The history of Colorado's water rights provides one of the few sources of recorded information about these early towns. Unfortu­ nately, church records for marriages, baptisms, and burials do not begin until 1854, when priests from Taos and Arroyo Hondo first visited the grant to perform religious rites. Oral reports handed down by descendants of early settlers often are vague or conflicting. For instance, it has been said that San Pablo was settled as early as 1849 by Antonio Jose VallejOS on the pie-shaped piece of land lying be­ tween Culebra and Vallejos creeks, across the Culebra from San Pedro's location. According to one report, San Pablo was attacked by Indians and Antonio was killed, after which the plaza was reoccu­ pied by Antonio's brother and others.20 It seems probable that this information has been confused with the settlementof 1851, whenAnto­ nio Vallejos also is said to have been killed. Because of such conflicting 88 The San Luis Valley

accounts much of the early history of the San Luis Valley maynever be known accurately. The problemis compounded by the desire ofseveral plazas to be called first, and certainly all of these rivals are worthy of recognition. Although Indian depredations continued, new settlers arrived in the valley each year. In 1854 two more villages were started near San Luis. These were Chama, upstream from San Pedro on Culebra Creek, and San Francisco on San Francisco Creek.21 The latter plaza subsequently was called La Valley or was immediately adjacent to another plaza by that name. On the west side of the valley colonization was finally taking hold at the same time. The first permanent settlement on the Conejos Grant was made in August 1854, ending the long period when farm­ ers and sheepherders stayed on the grant only during the summers. In 1854 Jose Maria Jaquez led a group of colonizers from EI Llanito to the Conejos River. They came with wooden ox carts, horses, and burros, and chose a spot on the north side of the Conejos and lived there that summer. They called this place EI Cedro Redondo, mean­ ing "the round cedar." Meanwhile, in August a larger group of ap­ proximately fifty families arrived about four miles downstream. This party was from Abiquiu and was under the leadership of Lafayette Head. The settlement that they built on the north side of the Conejos River was called Plaza de Guadalupe. In October it received a boost in its population when the people at EI Cedro Redondo decided to move their homes down to the larger colony." Thus, Guadalupe be­ came the first permanent settlement on the Conejos Grant, and it was just in time to fulfill the requirement that the grant be settled within twelve years after the decree of 1842. As in the Costilla and Culebra Creek areas, other colonizers soon built several plazas on the Conejos Grant. Servilleta appeared two miles east of Guadalupe and was named for the village from which its founders came.23 Mogote, also settled in 1854, was about six miles west of Guadalupe and was named for nearby volcanic hills, called mogotes, meaning either I/stacks ofcorn" or "horns of animals," both of which they resemble. Irrigation ditches also appeared quickly. In 1855 the Guadalupe Main Ditch and Head's Mill and Irrigation Ditch were dug. Others followed on all of the neighboring tributaries of the Rio Grande. In Voices of Gladness 89

Guadalupe, as it appeared in the 1870s.

Individual farm plots were allotted to families living on the grant with tracts running north and south between San Antonio and La Jara creeks. Although the people who settled the Conejos Grantwere a mixed group, Lafayette Head was like none of the others. Already coming up in the world as an important citizen in New Mexico before he came to the valley, he soon emerged as one of the most influential pioneers of the San Luis Valley. Coming from Missouri, he first had seen Santa Fe with the Army of the West during the Mexican War. Shortly after the province was occupied, he moved toAbiquiu, where he operated a store, became a United States marshal, and with the help of his friend Kit Carson was appointed Indian agent. In 1853 he was elected to the New Mexico legislature, in which he also served later as a member representing Conejos. Undoubtedly, his public image was helped by his having a Spanish wife, whose dowry had been as pleasantly plump as her girth became. "Uncle Lafe, " as he was known when his hair had turned to snow, became the patriarch of a little empire on the Conejos. Above, the old plaza at Conejos was called "Fort Head" in honor of Indian Agent Lafayette Head. Right, Lafayette Head, or "Uncle Lafe" as he was called, was the patriarch of the Conejos settlement. In Voices of Gladness 91

Butmost of the settlers of the Conejos Grantwere poor when they came, and so they remained. They werefaced withcreating their primi­ tive shelters, providing enough food for their families, and defending themselves against Indians. Still, they preferred to remain, for most of these people had little hope except their stake in this new land. Many werepeons, who as youngboyshad beenplacedby their fathers in the service of wealthy families. When their period of servitude expired, they became free men;butfrequently they incurred indebtedness to their pa­ trons for goods acquired, sometimesatinflated value, duringthe period of peonage, and so their economic freedom was notpromised. Further­ more, the colonists on the grantfaced possible fines ifthey did abandon the settlements, as the people atOjo Caliente learnedwhenthey requested permissionto leave their homes because of Indian hostilities. Also among the settlers were people of mixed blood, the progeny of Spaniards and Indians. Intermarriage had been common in the 1700s and 1800s, especially withgenizaros, Indians whohad been captives of other tribes and who had been ransomed by the Spanish government and given citizenship. For this dispensation the genizaros agreed to adopt Christianity and the ways of civilization. They also served the New Mexican province bysettling outlying colonies, such as Abiquiu, where they acted as a buffer against hostile Indians. The genizaros of Abiquiu spoke Spanish and intermingled freely with the Hispanic set­ tlers there. Most likely, someof the colonizers of the Conejos Grantwho came with Lafayette Head from Abiquiu were descendants of the genizaros. Language presented no barrier between settlers in the northern colonies for all spoke Spanish. Although two and a half centuries had elapsed since the conquistadores had entered New Mexico, the mother tongue of the conquerors had remained not only dominant but also remarkably pure. Some of the original Spaniards who occupied the New World spoke Andalusian, Galician, or Spanish-Portuguese dia­ lects, but Castilian Spanish of the royal court prevailed. Only slight traces of Mexican elements of speech found their way into the lan­ guage spoken in New Mexico, and even Indians assimilated into the communities used a courtly Castilian dialect. The isolation of the northern settlements around Taos and Abiquiu and in the San Luis Valley protected the language from change into the twentieth century in remote villages and farms." 92 The San Luis Valley

While some Indians had become thoroughly integrated into Span­ ish life, many bands continued to harass the outlying settlements. When Fort Massachusetts was built in 1852, raids were deterred only slightly. The northernmost of a string of military forts along the Rio Grande from Texas through New Mexico, Fort Massachusetts was nearly fifty miles from the settlements on Culebra and Costilla creeks, and it was also several miles off the Sangre de Cristo Pass trail, which the army intended to protect. The fort was authorized in March 1852 and was ready for occu­ pation by June.25 The name of the outpost was almost as inappropri­ ate as its location, but it probably pleased Colonel Edwin V. Sumner, commander of the Ninth Military Department who ordered the fort's construction and whose home state was Massachusetts. Regardless of

AtConejos the Ute agency and Lafayette Head's family shared the long building at left.

its strategic faults, the fort could take pride in itself as a symbol of civilization, to which nothing else in the entire area compared. Where else could surveyors and military expeditions find such comforts as an officers' quarters, a hospital, a kitchen, a blacksmith shop, and a stock of provisions?26 Certainly not in the villages to the south. Heap described the advantages and disadvantages of the place when he visited it in June 1853:

This post is situated in a narrow gorge through which the Utah [Ute Creek} rushes until it joins the Trinchera, and is a quadrangu­ lar stockade of pine log pickets, inclosing comfortable quarters for one hundred and fifty men, cavalry and infantry. Lofty and pre­ cipitous mountains surround it on three sides; and although the situation may be suitable for a grazing farm on account of the pas- In Voices of Gladness 93

turage, and the abundance of good timber may render this a conve­ nient point for a military station, it is too removed from the general track of Indians to be of much service in protecting the settlements in San Luis valley from their insults and ravages. The Utahs, who infest the Sahwatch mountains, enter San Luis valley by the Carnero and Coochetope Passes from the westward, and by those of Del Puncha [Poncha], Del Medina, and Del Mosque [Mosca] from the northward and northeastward, and a post established at the head of the valley of San Luis would be more effective in keeping these marauders in check, as it would there be able to prevent, if neces­ sary, their descending into the valley in large numbers, and com­ pletely cut off their retreat with their booty.... The cavalry at Fort Massachusetts numbered seventy-five men, of whom forty-five were mounted. Though their horses were ex­ cellently groomed and stabled, and kept in high condition on corn, at six dollars a bushel, they would soon break down in pursuit of Indians mounted on horses fed on grass. ... Of this fact the officers at the fort were perfectly sensible, and regretted that they were not better prepared for any sudden emergency. ... I replenished our provisions from the sutler's store, and had a small supply of biscuits baked; a bullock which I purchased from the quartermaster was cut up and jerked by the Delaware, and the mules were reshod, and a supply of spare shoes and nails obtained. They were completely rested, and in even better condition than when we started from Westport; after a general overhauling of the camp equipage by the men, everything was put in order for resuming our joumey.27

Because of difficulty in obtaining sufficient provisions for the fort's own use through the winter, the stockade was unoccupied except for a few guards from October 1853 until April 1854. By the time that the fort was manned again, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Horace Brooks, the importance of keeping troops in the valley was clear. During the spring of 1854 Indians had raided villages along the Rio Grande, even south of Taos. The San Luis Valley served as the main route for the Indians in these depredations. One band was pur­ sued in May by cavalry guided by Kit Carson across Mosca Pass, while Fort Massachusetts established its value as a place where troops could organize their maneuvers. The expedition succeeded incatching up with the Indians near Raton Pass.2B 94 The San Luis Valley

This punitive expedition in the spring of1854 was the forerunner ofgreater trouble with the Indians. During the sununer of 1854 a small­ pox epidemic among the Muache Utes was blamed by the tribe on con­ taminated goods distributed to themby the United States government. In retaliation the Muaches, led by Chief Blanco and joined by Jicarilla Apaches, massacred the settlers of Pueblo onChristmas Day, while the occupants of the trading fort were celebrating the holiday with "Taos Lightning." From there the Indians moved into the San Luis Valley, killed some settlers at Costilla, and drove off the plaza's livestock. As a result of these crimes, another punitive expedition was or­ ganized in Taos. CeranSt. Vrain recruited volunteers, and Kit Carson joined again as guide. By early February 1855 Colonel Thomas T. Fauntleroy arrived from Fort Union to lead the troops aorth to Fort Massachusetts, which itself was under threat of attack. Brush was cleared away, extra fortifications were put up, and guards were posted. The attack did not corne, though. Instead, Colonel Fauntleroy traced the enemy to the Saguache Valley, where corpses of smallpox victims were found in the snow. Shortly after this discovery the troops saw about 150 Utes and Jicarilla Apaches corning down Cochetopa Pass toward them. Not realizing the strength of their opposition, consisting of four companies, the Indians drew up for a fight. They were routed quickly. Two chiefs and six warriors had been killed, while on the American side only two men were wounded. The next day, leaving wagons and artillery under guard, the main command tracked the Indians through the mountains to Poncha Pass, while about 150 other men moved into the Wet Mountain Valley to join other troops who were there. North of Poncha Pass the main body engaged a large band of Indians on March 23. Some were killed and a few prisoners were taken before the Indians scattered. Again they were pursued, this time into the Wet Mountain Valley, where an­ other battle and rout took place. Colonel Fauntleroy and his men then returned to Fort Massachusetts by way ofMosca Pass to obtain supplies. After a rest the men set out again in late April. This time some of the volunteers crossed the Sangre de Cristos to campaign against the Apaches while others went to the southwest portion of the San Luis Valley. In the meantime Colonel Fauntleroy's regulars were tracking the Utes again into Poncha Pass. A night march across the passbrought In Voices ofGladness 95 the troops to a Ute encampment near the main trail. Despite having marched continuously since leaving Fort Massachusetts, the Ameri­ cans attacked. Twenty-five minutes later the battle was over. Forty Indi­ ans had been killed, many more were wounded, and six children had been taken prisoner. All of the Indians' plunderwas either loaded up or burned. Withoutrest the troops headed toward Cochetopa Pass, where they met about eighty Utes in a series of skirmishes. From there the victorious commandretired to a campsite on La Garita Creek for a much needed rest before returning to Fort Massachusetts and Taos, their mis­ sion against the Indians completed.29 While these events were taking place, another incident had oc­ curred at Guadalupe. There Indians had surrounded the plaza and run off most of the settlers' stock, which had been herded into the plaza at night for protection.3D Later when the Utes attacked the vil­ lage again, Lafayette Head led the settlers in a fight, which took place on the fields east of town. The battle lasted from dawn until noon, when the Utes withdrew after their leader, Chief Kaniache, was se­ verely wounded by "Major" Head. After these victories won by military troops, by volunteers, and by the settlers themselves, a period of comparative peace followed the spring of 1855. Promised a new treaty, the Utes and Jicarilla Apaches were not a major threat to colonists in the valley thereafter. Although the Muache Utes still retained a tenuous claim to the north­ ern end of the valley, roving Utes never again would dispute the occupation of land in the southern end. Following the Indiancampaignin 1855 the settlers on the Conejos and Sangre de Cristo grants at last thought that they had something about which to exclaim "in voices of gladness." They replaced their stolen stock while neighbors arrived in steadily growing numbers. Little communities proliferated with log jacales and fuertes being re­ placed by more permanent, flat-roofed adobes. Although the threat from Indians had diminished, homes still were built around the tra­ ditional plaza.31 Such sophistications as windows still were often ab­ sent, or at least very small to withstand the onslaughts of summer heat and winter cold as much as Indian arrows. When windows were provided, they were simply large pieces of mica or, more often, sheep­ skin parchment. Earthen floors were covered with rag rugs woven in strips, called jerga, but furniture was an almost unknown luxury for 96 The San Luis Valley

mostpeople. Beds were mattresses laid out uponthe floor atnight and rolled out of the way during the day's activity.32 Almost entirely dependent on their own resources, the settlers spunand wove fabric for clothing, bedding, and rugs from the wool of their own sheep and goats. They also raised some cattle, hogs, and chickensbut relied mainly on a vegetarian diet. Their crops consisted chiefly of corn, oats, wheat, barley, beans, peas, lentils, potatoes, and chili peppers. Farming implements and techniques were primitive but reliable. Most plows were simple pine stocks, twisted andbent, to which plow­ shares were attached with leather thongs. The same oxen that pulled the plows, pulled two-wheeled, woodencarretas, or carts, to carry the crops. Sweating under the hot sun, the settlers and their oxen dug ditches to bring water to the fields, and eleven of these were com­ pleted by 1855 with nine more added by 1857. In the first years grain had to be ground by hand in Indian-type metates, shallow stone basins with small, stone, hand grinders. Thus, it was an event of major importance when Maria Jaquez built the first flour mill in the entire valley in 1856. This mill was located about two and a half miles east of Guadalupe on the south side of the Conejos River, and it served all of the plazas in the southwestern part of the valley for a brief period.As inothermills builtshortly, native lava stone was used for the burrs to grind a rather coarse meal. The flour was not separated from the bran.33 Ofsuch was the staff of life. Man does not live by bread alone, but the early settlers of the San Luis Valley did not have much religious care in the first few years either. Since most New Mexicans were Catholic, the need of a for­ mally organized parish with a resident priest to perform rites was keenly felt by many. Conejos was the first settlement to have a church. When Lafayette Head moved his household from Guadalupe to the south side of the river in 1856, the center of community life moved with him. In Guadalupe the people had met in a small jacal on Sun­ days to recite the Rosary and a litany and to sing a few hymns, but in Conejos the building of an adobe chapel was undertaken at once. Though still incomplete, this structure was used by the Reverend P. Gabriel Ussel when he visited the plaza and offered the first Mass in the newly created mission of Conejos in1856. In1857 FatherJose Miguel Vigil visited the mission and dedicated the still unfinished church to In Voices of Gladness 97

Our Lady of Guadalupe. A Catholic parish, the first in Colorado, was organized inJune 1857, the same year inwhich a convent opened, and was served by Father P. Montano from 1858 until 1860, when he was replaced by Father Vigil. In 1860 the adobe church of modest propor­ tions was completed, and a rectory wasbuilt. Both wereblessedby the famed bishop ofSanta Fe, John Baptiste Lamy, in 1863.34 Catholic worship soon became organized formally throughoutthe valley. In1859 a small chapelwas donated to the people ofSan Luis by the Dario Gallegos family, and in the same year another was built at San Pedro. Records for these outlying areas were kept at the parish in Conejos. At one time these records showed twenty-five villages and placitas to have been included in the parish.35 Such records provide one of the few sources of information about the valley's growth in the earlyyears. After 1860 this parishbecame partof the Colorado mission admin­ istered by the Reverend Joseph P. Machebeuf. The clergy serving this area, including Lamy and Machebeuf in the hierarchy, came from the Frenchsecular priesthood and from ItalianJesuits as a result ofchanges in the church of New Mexico after the Mexican War, a change thatwas not popular among Spanish-speaking parishioners. After 1868, when Colorado's Catholic churches were separated from New Mexico and administered with Utah's parishes, the San Luis Valley's churches underwent further cultural estrangement. From the outsetthe SanLuis Valley's spiritualleaders found them­ selves in competition witha deeply rooted religious organizationcalled La Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jesus, or Los Hermanos Penitentes. The Penitentes were most active in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado from 1850 to 1890. They were not a newbrotherhoodbut one whichhad existed since the sixteenth century in Spain and was trans­ planted with theconquistadores. The order took root firmly innorthern New Mexico, where, because of isolation from the centers of popula­ tion, settlers rarely saw a priest." Not always were the Penitentes a response to an absence of traditional religion, though. For instance, at Chama, settled in 1859 on Culebra Creek, four miles southeast ofSan Luis, there was a large Penitente organization despite the presence of nearby Catholic chapels in bothSan Luis and San Pedro. The brother­ hoods provided charitable functions. The adobe church at Conejos in the 1870s.

The Jaquez Grocery in San tuis occupies one of the first church buildings in the town. In Voices ofGladness 99

Penitentes gathered in meetinghouses such as this one in Costilla County.

Thebrothers were-and still are, for thatmatter--eatholic laymen. Their most conspicuous characteristic was their means for expiating sin. Among these customswere self-flagellation, standingoncacti, plac­ ing stones in their shoes, and being bound to wooden crosses. The brotherhood's meetinghouses, called moradas, which were built adja­ cent to many of the villages of New Mexico, are still to be found in Costilla, Alamosa, Conejos, and Saguache counties in Colorado, but the oldmoradas seemlike the gathering places ofa secret, underground society. Partly because of such extreme practices as flagellation and cross-carrying, pressure from the churchand from the civil government was brought against the movement. One of the first opponents was Bishop Lamy, who directed thatPenitentes be denied the Catholic sac­ raments. As late as the mid-1880s the church still felt that the brother­ hood was so active that additional bans were issuedY The colonists of the San Luis Valley demonstrated their indepen­ dence in other aspects of life, also. Just as they believed that witches could possess one's soul-and almost every village had some old crone who was suspected of being a witch-the settlements also had persons who were designated as faith-healers, capable of curing the ill. Penitentes' crosses lie behind a morada in Saguache County. Photo by George C. Simmons.

Inflammatory descriptions of Penitente activities were used to stir up opposition to the brotherhood in the late 1800s. This sketchfrom Darley'sPassionists ofthe Southwest shows men being dragged to death. Denver Public Library, Western History Departmentphoto. In Voices of Gladness 101

When faith alone was inadequate, various maladies were treated with folk medicines derived from plants and minerals of the surrounding countryside. Such medicines were prepared and administered by a medica, a local womanwho nursed the villagers. Many families still use some of nature's medicines, which are more affordable than a druggist's.38 Babies were delivered with the help not of a physicianbut of apartera, ormidwife. It is small wonderthat such self-sufficient people also relied on their own methods of healing their souls as they were able to do within thebrotherhood of the Penitentes. More traditional religious observances contrasted with the som­ ber activities of the Penitentes. Everyone, young and old, took part in happy, colorful festivals celebrating Christmas, saints' days, wed­ dings, and so on. In addition to the services conducted by priests, the villagers had gaudy processions, evening services illuminated by bonfires, and religious plays such as Los Pastores during the Christ­ mas season. Dances and sports events were part of the religious fes­ tivals, too. The gaiety and color of these occasions provided a much-needed change from the usual routine of a drab, hand-to-mouth existence. Another welcome diversion was going to the store. Until 1857, when Daria Gallegos opened his retail business in San Luis, going to

Los Pastores processions still mark the Christmas season in the San Luis Valley. 102 The San Luis Valley

]his long adobe building housed the store which belonged to the Gallegos and Salazar families in San Luis. After this store burned in the 1890s, it was replaced by another which still stands.

the store meant a trip to Costilla, but Gallegos's mercantile house changed the way of life in the Culebra plazas. He had green coffee, unrefined sugar, com meal, dried fruit, salt, peas, chocolate, tobacco, matches, and yard goods. His total inventory when he opened shop had cost him only $452, but it must have seemed like a miracle to the local folk who came to ogle the stock, select a small purchase, and chat with the neighbors. Gallegos's business, conducted in a forty-by-twenty-foot building, was so brisk that he began to send wagons to Missouri in 1858 to bring merchandise for his store. The first trip took eleven months, and the second failed when Indians raided the wagons on the plains near present-day La Junta.39 Gallegos's store succeeded despite this setback, perhaps because he was an integral part of the community and knew his customers' needs and problems. People with little cash could exchange wool and produce for such items as coffee and sugar. Gallegos himself had arrived in San Luis in 1851. When Antonio Salazar married Dario's daughter in 1874, the pioneer roots of the family and the business were sunk even deeper, for Salazar's father was one of the men who had attempted a colony in 1850 at San Luis. He had been killed by Indians soon afterward, and young Antonio became a sheepherder. In Voices of Gladness 103

Later Antonio worked for Ferd Meyer in Costilla, and Ferd taught the boyto read and write. The Gallegos store wasbought outbythe Salazar family after Dario Gallegos's death, and it still is in operation, although the original adobe building burned in 1895. When gold was discovered in Colorado in 1858, a few enterpris­ ing people recognized that more money could be made from pros­ pectors than from prospecting. Two such men were H. E. Easterday and Ceran St. Vrain, who were operating a mill and freighting and mercantile businesses in Taos. Recognizing a growing need for flour in the mining country, they decided to build a new mill in the San Luis Valley near the farms of that area. WhenjournalistAlbert D. Richardsontraveled throughthe valley in the autumn of 1859, he noted the exceptional yield of com and wheat that hadbeenraised underirrigation. While visiting inthe home ofF. W. Posthoff in Costilla, Richardson examined the mill at that plaza. He ob­ served that it was the usual Mexican type, grinding only very coarse, unbolted flour. Inthe early monthsof the gold rushthis type offlour was all that was available for shipment to Denver or the mines. Easterday and St. Vrain intended that their mill would be capable of producing more finely groundflour which Americans preferred. Easterday oversaw the construction of the new mill at San Luis and remained there as resident manager of its operation. By April 1860 Easterday was advertising American Mill Flour in Denver's Rocky Mountain News. From Costilla and the area around Amalia, New Mexico, from Vallejos and San Pedro, the farmers were hauling their grain to the new mill. This business and increased traffic on the road running north from Costilla, by a route where Sanchez Reser­ voir now is located, helped establish San Luis as the dominant Spanish-speaking town in the southeastern part of the valley. On April 7, 1860, Easterday sent his partner, Ceran St. Vrain, an order from the "San Luis Mills," in which he requested goods to stock a store that he was building. He pointed out that the town's name, hitherto Culebra, was being changed to San Luis and that a post of­ fice was being requested. In the same letter he asked St. Vrain to "buy us a good strong negro woman that can do all kinds of house work, andbring orsend her withthe wagons."" Because of the hubbub ofactivity around the place, Mrs. Easterday needed help in the house, he explained. 104 The San Luis Valley

Although the color of Mrs. Easterday's servant probably excited some interest, the arrival of a slave in the San Luis Valley would not have seemed exceptional. The people there were accustomed to social and economic systems which created widely divergentclasses. As one example, public education was unknown in the early settlements ex­ ceptamong thericos, the comparativelywell-to-do families, whereschool­ ing was provided in private homes. This distinction alone helped to perpetuatesocial and economic differences into the future. Slaves in a household also perpetuated the system, by lending status and provid­ inghelp with the work. Acquisition of Indian servants began in New Mexico with the first conquistadores and padres. Besides the servants acquired for gov­ ernment, military, and church officials, other Indians who were cap­ tured in battle were donated to loyal citizens. By the 1700s slave trad­ ers were in full operation, obtaining Indian women and childrenfrom raiders and distributing them frequently by lot. From 1700 to 1760 alone, eight hundred Apaches were placed in Spanish homes as ser­ vants. They were baptized into the Catholic faith and given Spanish names in the process, but they were not given full status as family members.41 By the mid-nineteenth century the slave trade still was flourish­ ing in towns all along the Rio Grande with Taos being one of the principal markets. Most of the captives at that time were Navajo chil­ dren." The Ute Indian agent at Abiquiu, Albert Pfeiffer, reported in 1858 that Utes and Apaches were at the agency in large numbers awaiting the arrival of New Mexicans from the area of Taos who were to join them in a campaign against the Navajos. When this force returned to Abiquiu after their expedition, they had with them twenty-one small Navajo girls, as well as about fifty to seventy-five horses, another valuable trade commodity." The Utes normally ex­ changed captives, deerskins, venison, and buffalo robes for horses at Abiquiu. Itwas also fairly commonfor the poorerNew Mexican mento conduct their ownraids against Indians to acquire captives, since a slave might be sold for as much as $500. Perhaps some New Mexicans felt justified incapturingIndians inretaliation for the theft ofSpanishboys,

whowere taken to Indian camps and giventhe chores ofIIsquaw work.II Among the early settlers of the San Luis Valley were many Indian slaves, or "servants." In homes blessed with these Indians, the senoras Juan Carson was anApache who became a servant in the horne of Kit Carson after Mrs. Carson bought the child from his Ute captors. 106 The San Luis Valley

and their daughters were spared the menial tasks that were the normal lot of the poorer women of the valley. In the Gallegos household, for instance, an Indian named Guadalupe was the cook, and in the man­ ner ofcooks anywhere, she ruled the entirefamily quite efficiently. The Salazar family also had its "Tia," a Navajo who was accepted as pay­ mentfor goods at the Gallegos-Salazar store. Indian slaves were not confined to anyone area of the San Luis Valley and were found in households of the Conejos plazas as well as in the Culebra and Costilla Creek villages. In 1865, when Lafayette Head was required as Indian agent to submit a list of Indian captives in service in the valley, he named eighty-eight in Conejos County. Several of these were described as having been purchased within the San Luis Valley. Surprisingly, many were Utes. Whatever the tribe, the majority of the slaves had been acquired during the early 1860s and were quite young-under ten years old-indicating that the slave trade was still being carried on vigorously in the valley as late as the Civil War. In Costilla County, where Head also reported the census of slaves, sixty-five were counted. Their descriptions generally com­ pared with those in Conejos County, except that an even higher per­ centage had been purchased as late as the 1860s. More of the slaves in Costilla County were bought from Mexicans than was the case on the western side of the valley, where the majority were traded or bought from Indians44 When the Indian slaves were given their freedom after the Civil War, most left the families whom they were serving. Some remained, though, amongthembeing five whoappearedbefore the Costilla County clerk to declare that they wished to remain and that they enjoyed all legal freedoms within the households where they lived.45 Although the end of the slave trade thwarted the ambitions ofa few traders and settlers, the development of the valley wasnot significantly affected. What mattered more in the longrun would be the availability ofland and the enterprise of newcomers who wanted it. Through the 1850s new plazas built by Spanish-speaking people had proliferated. Different from most of these settlements was the vil­ lage near Fort Garland, the fort built in 1858 by the army to replace short-lived Fort Massachusetts. At the new location of the military post, Mexican adobes soon appeared. Their builders were attracted by op­ portunities to raise gardenproduce to sell to the fort, by a few jobs that In Voices of Gladness 107 couldbepicked up there, andbythe sodallife thatwas sure to be lively whereverAmerican soldiers and Spanishsefioritas met. Other more typical Spanish-speaking settlements also took place north of the fort. At the western base of Sierra Blanca, Zapata was settled in 1864 by former residents ofTaos Valley. The people of Zapata herded sheep and sold mutton to the fort. Across the valley, settlement extended north of La Jara Creek into the outlying portions of the Conejos Grant after 1858 and 1859. In one group of these settlers was Jesus Valdez, a member of the rescue party from Rio Colorado that had been sent to assist Fremont's expedition in 1849. Valdez and Luis Montoya settled on San Fran­ cisco Creek near the present town of Del Norte, while others, includ­ ing Domacio Espinoza, Crescendo Torrez, J. Mateo Romero, and Susano Trujillo, continued north to La Garita Creek. The original settle­ ment of La Garita was south of the present townsite. La Garita means "the lookout point" or "the sentinel," perhaps referring to a column near the head of La Garita Creek, an elevated pointabove La Garita and Camero creeks from whichIndians are said to have sentsmoke signals, or possibly referring to anyone of a number of lookouts found in the buttes northwestof Del Norte. Soon after, Jose Damian Espinoza, Julian J. Espinoza, and Santiago Manchego ofthe same party settled onCamero Creek at the mouthof the canyon, where Utes had an important camp­ ingground. With this group of settlers werehundreds ofhead ofsheep, cattle, and other farm animals. Ditches were dug in a short time to divert water. Although this settlementwas established on land assured by treaty to belong to the Utes, the Indians tolerated the newcomers for the first year or two.'" Also in the spring of 1859 fourteen families came from Santa Fe, Ojo Caliente, and the Conejos area with fourteen wagons and a herd ofmilk goats to build a plaza near present-day Del Norte." The name of this settlement was La Lorna de San Jose, La Lorna referring to the rise of ground on which it was located. Around this plaza a confus­ ing array of other plazas was spawned in the mid-1860s. Prominent among these were Seven-Mile, or Valdez, Plaza and Lucero Plaza. The latter was about four miles upstream on the Rio Grande from today's Monte Vista. The founders of Lucero Plaza were a few families from Santa Fe who came in 1859 but were driven out by a hard winter and Indian threats. A larger group, led byManuel Lucero, a member of the 108 The San Luis Valley

original party, returned in 1865 to farm and to establish a permanent settlement." The Silvas, who were the leading family in the district, induced Jesus Maria Alarid to join them in the new colony to teach the cat­ echism and secular subjects to their children. In addition, the Silvas brought a Ute servant child, Juan. As other plazas fanned out around La Loma de San Jose, the area became laced with irrigation ditches. First of these was the Silva Ditch, followed by some forty others within a decade. As evidence of their assumptions regarding their legal right to settle in this area, these colonists called theentire region La Garita District of the Conejos Land Grant. As a result of this persistent movement to make new homes in the SanLuis Valley, Spanish-speaking settlers hadby the early 1860s trans­ formed the valley into an area typical of rural northern New Mexico, with small plazas dotting most of the land which could be irrigated easily. Thevalley atlast seemed to have fulfilled its role as a frontier for the expansion ofSpanish New Mexico, however belatedly.

Fort Garland in 1860.

Blanca Peak looms behind the abandoned buildings of Fort Garland. Chapter IX

"A Matter afGrace"

By the late 1850s, with settlement in the valley accelerating and the rush to the gold fields of the Rocky Mountains under way, the presence of Indians, however peaceful some of them might be, was an obstacle to expansion that would not long be tolerated. Because Indians still roamed through the valley and the Central Rockies as a whole, they were fated to become witnesses, opponents, and victims in tum while the invasion of their homelands took place. Waves and ripples of antagonism were felt in the San Luis Valley as settlers, itinerant miners, promoters, and government officials all increased the pressure to contain and finally to remove the Indians from the region. During the Civil War years Indians posed more problems in the San Luis Valley than did the warbetween the states. Some of this unrest may have been inspired by Confederate agents, attempting to divert Union energy into Indian warfare, as has been suspected of some In­ dian troubles elsewhere in the West. More obvious as a cause was the flagrant self-interestof miners and various promoters in direct conflict with the Indians' interests. Meanwhile inadequate resources of the 112 The San Luis Valley

United States BureauofIndian Affairs compoundedthe red men'sgriev­ ances. Many of these complaints were heard in the San Luis Valley, because a major Ute agency was located there in the 1860s, butoften the relationship between Indian and agent was little understood by any­ one involved. For example, in March 1861 T. C. Wetmore ofCafion City wenton a prospecting trip to the San Juan Mountains. Uponhis return hefired off a letter to the commissioner of Indian affairs in Washington, advising him thathe had found the richest mining districts in the new Territory ofColorado fullof Navajos andUtes, withwhom,heclaimed, the United States had no treaty. With an eye to the season when miners would be able to enter the mountains, Wetmore asserted that it was imperative to have a treaty before June 1. He thought that an appropriate treatycould be negotiated for three or five thousand dollars by a special agent, and, of course, Wetmore volunteered to be that agentfor a small salary.' He apparently had no understanding that these Indians already were as­ signed to agencies and that an agent had no power to negotiate treaties anyway. Furthermore,Wetmore erred inthe beliefthatnotreaty existed, for there had been one since 1849. This misunderstanding was shared by manyminers and land speculators in the West, who contended that nomadic tribes had no valid claims to land. This attitude permitted them to violate existing treaties without a qualm ofconscience. An important influence in maintaining a tenuous peace between the Indians and the settlers or miners was Fort Garland. When the fort was built to replace Fort Massachusetts in 1858, its chief purpose was to protect northern New Mexico from Indian attack. By leasing a site for the fort from the Sangre de Cristo Grant for twenty-five years, the army was able for the first time to gain an effective posi­ tion from which to guard the roads running east, south, southwest, west, and northwest in its vicinity. Named for General John Garland, commander of the Depart­ ment of New Mexico, the new post could boast a proper parade ground, but the buildings surrounding it were less than impressive. They consisted of nine long, low structuresbuilt ofnative adobe brick to serve as barracks and officers' quarters. These mud buildings were heated by open fireplaces, which probably offered little warmth in the bitter winters of the valley. Outside this compound were several other adobe buildings-a hospital, stables, shops, laundry, commis- A Matter of Grace 113 sary, bakery, and trading post. The journal kept by Colonel William Wing Loring during his expedition in 1858 noted that the site also had access to both good grass for grazing and wood for fuel.' In 1860 the troops who built this post were replaced by the Tenth lnfantry under the command of Major E.R.S. Canby. After the Civil War broke out in 1861, most of the Tenth's men were sent to theaters of action. In New Mexico they participated in the defeat of a Confed­ erate thrust at Valverde, which was the closest that fighting carne to Colorado soil during the war. In the meantime Fort Garland was manned by volunteers.' A regiment of two hundred volunteers was organized in the San Luis Valley for this purpose, and it included many Spanish-speaking settlers. Although the Indian agency was not located at the fort, it inevi­ tably became involved with Indian problems. Formerly under the administration of the War Department, Indian agencies logically had been located near army posts inmany cases. Perhaps because of these past associations FortGarland's commanders often found themselves listening to the grievances of the Indians. Until 1860 Utes, Navajos, and Apaches in northern New Mexico, including the San Luis Valley, were assigned to agencies at Abiquiu and Taos. OnAugust 25, 1860, another agency for the Tabeguache Utes was established atConejos withLafayette Head as agent. His first bud­ get reveals something of the agency's operations. Besides his own sal­ ary of $520, agency expenses were budgeted for $1,000, with another $170 requestedfor Head's "interpreter sometime." A year latersemian­ nual expenses had risen to $750 for Head's salary, $250 for the "inter­ preter sometime," and $3,600 to $4,600 for "contingencies." The in­ creased costs resulted from the unexpectedly large number of Utes­ about two thousand-who had appeared at the agency during its first months of operation' When the Territory of Colorado was created in 1861, Head's agency carne under the authority of Colorado's territorial governor, who wasex officio superintendent of Indian affairs in the territory. The first governor and superintendent was William Gilpin, ardent advo­ cate of mining in the San Juan Mountains. Apparently foreseeing no conflict of interests, he also espoused the reservation system for Indi­ ans. His argument for adopting reservations was that money to buy provisions for Indians was scarce, due to the Civil War, and the Indians 114 The San Luis Valley

could hunt for their own food ifthey had enoughland, eliminatingthe need to give them costly provisions. Otherwise, the hungry Indians wouldbe forced to plunder and fight. Head's Indians already were complaining that they were starv­ ing. They had lost their hunting grounds, and Head was not distrib­ uting rations fairly, they charged. Gilpin came to Head's defense, pointing out to the secretary of the interior that Head had been forced to purchase supplies on his own credit to provide rations for the Utes. Since Gilpin himself soon was removed from office for irregu­ larities in attempting to pay the costs of Colorado Volunteers in the war, it is understandable that he sympathized with the agent's prob­ lem. Gilpin described Head as "a most efficient and competent of­ ficer, a sincere Republican, and friend of the Administration and greatly respected by the Mexican population, whose language he speaks with fluency."s Be that as itmay, the Utes contended thatHead'sinterpreter could not speak Ute and that the agency still was not providing them with sufficient food in 1862, when a delegation went to Fort Garland in protest.' Head denied their accusations again and asserted that the Utes' problems would be solved if they were given a reservation in western Colorado, where they could hunt and provide for their own needs. Besides the problem of food, which caused begging and thefts, the mere presence of the Indians in the valley made the settlers ner­ vous. In 1861 citizens of the Conejos area traveled to Denver to present facts to Governor Gilpin about their fears of intertribal warfare. The Rocky Mountain News reported that"an alliance has been formed be­ tween the [Arapahos] and four [other tribes], to make war upon the Utahs the coming season. A bloody contest is expected, and the set­ tiers ... fear that one party or the other may encroach upon the white settlements. The delegation now in the city is composed wholly of Mexicans. They are a fine looking and well informed set of men, very gentlemanly and prepossessing in their appearance and bearing.'" Sometime in the early years of settlement on the Conejos, the colonists had witnessed one such battle, which took place between the Utes and Kiowas. The battle ground was a small, conical hill af­ terwards calledEI Cerrito de Los Kiowas, and it was about twelve miles east ofConejos. The fight occurred whena smallbandofKiowas, worked William Gilpin, who was the first governor of the Territory of Colorado, was deeply involved in the development of the Sangre de Cristo Grant and the Baca Grant No.4. 116 The San Luis Valley

up to a frenzy of courage by "Taos Lightning," attacked an encamp­ mentof about twohundredUtes. The Utes' leaderwaskilled. The aveng­ ing Utes found the main group of Kiowas on the hill that now bears their name. Surrounded, the Kiowas took refuge behind a hastily built breastwork oflava rock from whichthey fought off the Utes for several hours. Onlyafter more than sixty Indians werekilled did the battleend, with the Utes victorious.' When John Evans replaced Gilpin as territorial governor in the spring of 1862, Evans also subscribed to reservations as the solution to such problems. Furthermore, he believed that the Indian Bureau's policy to convert nomadic Indians to farming had special merit for Colorado, where Utes occupied some of the best mining land. Head took a few Utes to Washington in 1863 to impress them with the wis­ dom of theGreat White Father, but actual change ofprocedure for deal­ ing with the Utes was slow in coming. With a firm proposal inhand at last, Governor Evans went to Conejos in October 1863 to meet with the Utes and their agent. At this council were representatives from the Tabeguache, Capote, and Weminuche bands of the Ute Indians, but only the Tabeguaches were present in sufficient numbers to negotiate. The Muache band entirelyrefused to attend. Under Chief Ouray the Tabeguaches agreed to the treaty offered by Evans.' It gave this one band an immense reservation of about 5,785,000 acres on the Western Slope, with the Muaches being urged to join the Tabeguaches on the reservation at a later time ifthey chose to sign a treaty. Although the reservation was to be open to mining, railroads, and military posts, the Indians were granted relative free­ dom on the land. They were promised $20,000 in trade goods, an­ nual provisions for ten years, five stallions with which to improve their horse herds, cattle, sheep, implements, and a blacksmith. To remove the other bands farther from white settlements, the Capote and Weminuche Utes were persuaded to accept an agency in south­ western Colorado. Although this Treaty of 1863 was ratified by the United States Senate in March 1864, several changes were incorpo­ rated, generally reducing annuities. Unfortunately, the treaty did not remove the Indians either from mind or from sight. Head continued as agent for the Tabeguaches, and the agency remained on the Conejos. In fact, the agency was im­ proved somewhat in 1865 when Head built a new rambling adobe on A Matter ofGrace 117 higher ground above the floodplain of the Conejos. The Muaches also were still very much on the scene. In 1864 and 1865 they conducted several raids east of the Sangre de Cristos. Hoping to avert an Indian war, Ouray finally captured the Muache chief and turned him over to Kit Carson. Carson had become the best-known Indian fighter in the West. Though small in stature, he towered over friends and foes in courage and reliability. After distinguishing himself inservice during the Mexi­ can War, he had decided to settle down to domesticity and ranching at Taos, but he was called upon repeatedly to resume the role of In­ dian fighter, particularly in campaigns against the Navajos and the Apaches. From 1853 to 1858 hewas the agentatTaos for the Pueblo and Ute Indians in that area. In 1855 he participated in Fauntleroy's cam­ paign against the Muache Utes, who afterward were also assigned to Carson's agency at Taos. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he helped organize the 1st Regiment of New Mexico Volunteers, and as their commander in several campaigns against Indians in Arizonar NewMexico, andTexas, he rose to the rankofbrigadiergeneral.Among these campaigns are two thatare especially well known-the roundup of hundreds of Navajos for their removal to Bosque Redondo and the Battle of Adobe Walls against Comanches and Kiowas. During the roundup of Navajos at Canyon de Chelly, Carson was assisted by his long-timefriendAlbert Pfeiffer. In 1866 Kit Carson took command at Fort Garland, but his tenure therewasbrieffor his health was failing. A year later he resigned, and in 1868 he died. His year in the San Luis Valley was a reasonably happy one, in which Kit was able to round out his career while en­ joying the presence of his wife Josefa and their children. He loved the valley, and he was near his old associates from Taos. Above all, he was fully competent in his work, both in his dealings with his men and with the Utes. 1O Shortly after assuming command of Fort Garland, Kit Carson wrote in a report that the fort's location was one"of great beauty and remarkable Salubrity" for both man and beast, but the settlers were not so fortunate as the troops, for their safety still was constantly threatened by the presence of Indians.u At the time there were in the valley three bands of Utes, numbering 800 warriors, and one band of Jicarilla Apaches, numbering 250, all of whom were supposed to be 118 The San Luis Valley

contained by Carson's command of 60 men. He recommended that the fort be enlarged and strengthened.12 In December of 1866 Carson reported to the territorial governor, then Alexander Cummings, that the Tabeguaches were complaining to him about unfulfilled promises of food and provisions. They were near starvation and could not be expected to remain peaceful under such conditions.13 Cummings was not the sort of man to be swayed easily by sympathy for Indians, but in June 1867 the arrival of about five hundred discontented Utes in Denver made an impression on the territorial government as well as the general populace. It was agreed that a new treaty would be drawn up for the Utes and thata stop would beput to the distribution of moldy flour and other inferior food

When a delegation of Ute Indians and government officials from Colorado went to Washington in 1868, they were photographed by Brady. Well-known Indians in this group are Piah, second from left, and Captain Jack, center. Chief Ouray is fourth from right. Governor A. C. Hunt is to the left of Captain Jack, while Lafayette Head is seventh from the right side of the photograph.

at Conejos. In the meantime, when Governor A. Cameron Hunt suc­ ceeded Cummings, it was suggested with renewed vigor that all ofthe Utes shouldbe consolidated on one reservation and converted at once to farming and stock-raising to solve the problemsY In 1868 the new treaty was negotiated after a pilgrimage of officials and Indians to Niagara Falls and Washington.All Utes wereplaced on a reservation insouthern and westernColoradoinanarea totalingone-third ofthe Territory of Colorado. The Utes werepromised 160 acres perfamily, seeds, farm implements, cows, school, sawmills, smithies-everything theycould possibly need to become good Midwestern farmers. Reserva­ Han land would provide more than adequate hunting ground.IS A Matter of Grace 119

Two new agencies were to be set up for the vast reservation. One, on the White River near the presenttown ofMeeker, would be maintained for northern bands of Utes, while another on Los Pinos Creek would take care of the southernbands. This latter agency was onlyaboutfifty miles northwest of Saguache, across Cochetopa Pass, and it still kept manyIndians too close to the whitesettlements for comfort. Itdid, how­ ever, terminate the agency inConejos and took away the rightof Utes to wander about the San Luis Valley. A few incidents occurred in the valley even after the establish­ ment of the Los Pinos Agency. In 1869 a Ute was rumored to have been killed by a white man in the mountains. Ouray and two hun­ dred tribesmen carne down to the valley and pitched camp on a mesa north of Saguache. A massacre was expected momentarily, but the fortuitous reappearance of the "dead" Indian saved the village. Almost as soon as the Treaty of 1868 was ratified, Colorado's settlers and politicians were expressing their dissatisfaction with its terms. The latest of the many territorial governors, Edward M. McCook, asserted that he was unable "to comprehend the reasons which induced the Colorado officials and the general Government to enter into a treaty setting apart one third of the whole area of Colo­ rado for the exclusive use and occupation of the Ute nation.... 1 do not believe in donating to these indolent savages the best portion of my Territory."16 Predictably, the days of the Treaty of 1868 were numbered. On the whole, Ouray tried to keep the Tabeguaches in check, giving the white people as little irritation as possible. The other bands were not so sagacious, though, and many minor incidents provoked the set­ tlers, thereby justifying in the eyes of the whites a repudiation of the terms of the treaty. The Brunot Agreement of 1873, consequently, re­ moved a large portion of the SanjuanMountains from the reservation and opened thatland up to mining and settlement. This agreementalso moved the Los PinosAgency to a more remote, and thus better, location. Although it retained its former name, the agency was established on the Uncompahgre River, near the present town of Montrose. The Utes underOuray were thereafter called the Uncompahgre Utes. Changes effected bythe new treatyshouldnothave matteredmuch to the Indians, Colorado's citizens argued, because the "savages" were supposed to have settled down on their reservation land to get some 120 The San Luis Valley

Ute tepees pitched at the Los Pinos Agency.

farming done. Agent Nathan Meeker at White River especially was determined that his Indians should stop their wandering around and raise some crops. To reinforce his point of view, he ordered the Indians to give up their horse races, and he plowed the land for crops. Someof his Indians finally rose up against the agency in 1879 and killed Meeker himself. A general rebellion wasfeared. Among the troops sentout to quell the expected war and to rescue white women who had beenkidnapped from the agency were units of cavalry from Fort Garland. Among the regular troops stationed atthe fort in the 1870s were companies of the famed Ninth Regiment of U.s. Cavalry. This regiment included blacks who were accepted for regular dutyafter theCivilWar, andthey servedatseveralwesternforts duringthe Indianwars. Somewere withthe troops sent to westernColorado from Fort Garlandafter the Meeker Massacre. Fortunately, the expected war did not develop. Ouray helped maintain peace by assisting in the rescue of the kidnapped women, but Colorado's citizens now had enough evidence to force the com­ plete removal of the Utes from all of the state except a small corner in the southwest. Despite the futile protests of a few humanitarians, all of the northern bands and the Uncompahgres were sent to a reserva­ tion in Utah, and the Western Slope was opened up to mining and agriculture. Perhaps it was a blessing thatOuray didnotlive to see the exodus of his people from their horne land. He died in 1880, the year before the Utes left Colorado. A Matter ofGrace 121

The gradual usurpation of Indian land in Colorado had its legal tradition in the courts of the United States, where Indian titles to land did not stand up against the government except as "a mat­ ter of grace."" Clearly, the Utes had run out of "grace" at the Meeker Massacre. Long after the Indians were gone from the San Luis Valley, there remained many white settlers whose lives had been closely associ­ ated with them. One of these was Albert Pfeiffer, an adopted Ute whose death in 1881 coincided symbolically with the removal of his red friends from western Colorado. Pfeiffer, the son of a Lutheran pastor, immigrated from Europe to the United States as a young man, arriving in St. Louis in 1844. He came to New Mexico at an undetermined time and married into a Mexican family at Abiquiu, where his inlaws operated a trading post. Later, Pfeiffer became the Indian agent. During the Ute troubles in the mid-18S0s, he joined the volunteers under Ceran St. Vrain and Kit Carson in the campaigns in the San Luis Valley. During the Civil War he again served under Carson as a volunteer in Indian campaigns in the Southwest. Also, he is known to have led volunteers from Fort Garland in an action to protect settlers in the Embargo Creek area of the San Luis Valley when Indians raided there in 1862. 18 While Pfeiffer was stationed at Fort McRae in New Mexico in 1863, a band of Apaches attacked a group of soldiers and civilian women at a spring near the fort. Among them were Pfeiffer, his wife, and her servant girl. Mrs. Pfeiffer, her servant. and two soldiers were killed, and Pfeiffer was wounded. Perhaps some of the dramatic sto­ ries about Pfeiffer chasing the Indians across the desert have been exaggerated, but the deep hatred of Apaches and Navajos, which he harbored afterward, was not.19 He and Kit Carson remained loyal friends. Kit was familiar with Pfeiffer's habit ofassuaginghis grief in alcohol, and Kit worried about this in letters which he wrote to Pfeiffer. In 1866 Pfeiffer came to Fort Garlandwhen Kit took command there. After Kit's resignation Pfeiffer stayed inthe area and moved onto a ranch nearSouthFork. He did little ranching, though. Instead, he often went off to join Ouray's band of Tabeguaches, who had adopted him, in their frequent fights with the Navajos. On one occasion he volunteered to represent the Utes in a hand-to-hand duelwith a Navajo to determine possession of the prized 122 The San Luis Valley

hot springs at Pagosa. Pfeiffer won. Whenhe died in 1881, marking in another waytheend ofan era, this bravebutsadmanwasburied on the north side of the Rio Grande east of South Fork.

Chokecherries, a staple in the diet of Indians and Spanish-speaking settlers, are native to the San Luis Valley. Chapter X

"Do You Want to Work for Wages or the First Day's Brandings?"

Major changes in patterns of settlement occurred in the San Luis Valley in the 1860s. Causes of these changes were publicity attending the gold rush, a change in territorial jurisdiction, enactment of legis­ lation to enable homesteading, and the presence of Civil War veter­ ans who were eager to farm and develop the territory. Itwas 260 years after Don Juan de Oiiate took possession of New Mexico "from the leaves of the trees in the forest to the stones and sands of the river" that the Pikes Peak gold rush began, and Colo­ rado was occupied by Americans as it never had been by Spaniards. Major William Gilpin was one of the foremost promoters who fos­ tered this development. After he traveled west with Fremont in 1843, Gilpin became ac­ quainted with present-day Colorado during his return from the Northwest in 1844, traveling alone with a Mexican guide. On that trip he passed through the San Juan Mountains and, probably, the San Luis Valley.' Deeper familiarity with the Southwest resulted from his service in the Navajo campaigns after the Mexican War. At this time Gilpin was stationed at Abiquiu.' 126 The San Luis Valley

When the fifty-niners headed across the prairie for Pikes Peak and the mines near Cherry Creek, they had a variety of hastily put-together guidebooks, one of which included a speech delivered by Gilpin in 1858 inKansas City. In ithe extolled the "veritable arcana" of "metaliferous elements" to be found in the San Juans and the La Plata Mountains. "It is manifest with what ease the pioneers, already engaged in mining at the entrance of the Bayou Salado [South Park], will in another season, ascend through it to the Cordellera, surmount its crests and descend into the Bayou San Luis. They will develope at every step, gold in new and increasing abundance. Besides, access is equally facile by the Huerfano, an affluent of the Arkansas coming down from the Spanish Peak, 100 miles farther to the south. From New Mexico, the approach is by ascending the Rio Bravo del Norte. The snowy, battlement of the Sierra San Juan form the western wall of the Bayou San Luis.'" In other articles Gilpin urged investors from Missouri and the East Coast to put their money into the Bayou San Luis, or "San Luis Park," although he himself seems not to have had money invested there as yet.' His verbosity about the Rocky Mountains' future made him so well known in Missouri that he was boosted into the office of governor of the Territory of Colorado, when it was created in 1861. Guidebooks which appeared early in the gold rush provided not only a wealth of words about the mines but also a handful of maps, each promoting one or another route to Colorado. Referring to his partisans in Missouri as "the Central people," Gilpin ardently es­ poused the central route between St. Louis and San Francisco, which would cross the San Luis Valley. Other equally ardent promoters backed the Smoky Hill and the Platte River routes to Denver and the mines near it, discounting the central route and the potentials of south­ ern Colorado jealously. William N. Byers, who became editor of Denver's pioneerRocky Mountain News, coauthored one ofthe guides favoring the northern interests-Handbook to the Gold Fields ofNebraska and Kansas. When interest in the San Juan mines appeared from time to time among Denverites, Byers saved no printers' ink in advising that the San Juan mines were a humbug. Nevertheless, through the autumn of 1860 newspapers of Den­ ver, Canon City, and Santa Fe persistently printed articles about the mines to the southwest. Many of these were in the form of letters from Wages or the First Day's Brandings 127 prospectors and agents with unnamed interests. The Rocky Mountain News itself carried accounts about a circuitous reconnaissance into western Colorado under the leadership of Richard Sopris. During their return to Denver via the San Luis Valley, this party reported that rich placer diggings had been located near Fort Garland and thathundreds of prospectors had flocked there in the summer of 1860. Sopris, how­ ever, didnotthinkthat these mines would fulfill their original promise, especially since Indians were said to have threatened the safety of the prospectors.sA "Capt. McKee, with a company of thirty-six men ... had been as far South as the tributaries of the Rio-del-Norte," and theyhad found the entire region to be goldbearing6 Perhaps these good prospects were indirectly responsible for an ill-fated expedition near Fort Garland the next spring. One hundred and twenty men from Denver paid D. K. Reeder two dollars each for filing fees on a gulch four miles north of the fort. Gold was not found and, after a vote cast by those in camp, "Reeder was publiclywhipped with fifty lashes and sent west.'" During the autumn and winter of 1860-61 several parties left the Denver area to try their luck in the San Juans. Some of these crossed the San Luis Valley and made it better known as a result. The best-known expedition was led by Charles Baker, usually called in­ correctly the "discoverer" of the San Juan mines. Regardless of his imprecise place in mining history, he did attract a large amount of attention. He also attracted a large group of prospectors as follow­ ers, and with some of them came their wives and children. Baker's expedition to the San Juans left Denver in December 1860 and took a customary route down the east side of the Front Range to the Huerfano, across Sangre de Cristo Pass, and through the San Luis Valley. Because of the season they left the valley not by one of the passes to the westbutby traveling south from Conejos to Ojo Caliente. At the Chama River they turned northwest on the Spanish Trail to Abiquiu and eventually to the Animas River and Baker's Park, later the location of Silverton. As detractors of the San Juan mines had prophesied, such a jour­ ney in winter was not easy. The Baker group encountered so much snow on Sangre de Cristo Pass that they were forced to cut trees to supply food for their stock, and they lost twelve yoke of oxen. After a rest at Fort Garland, they suffered additional losses between the fort 128 The San Luis Valley

and Conejos whena howlingwindstonn scattered their livestock. When the party finally straggled into Conejos, a fandango was in progress. Some may have felt better after that. Others probablyfelt worse. Atany rate, the road was easier south of the Conejos River, for the expedition now was traveling a well-used route. Soon after this ill-starred expedition reached their destination in the SanJuans, its members became demoralized, fell into factions, and decided to abandon the enterprise. When they split up, going in three different directions, a Denver-bound contingent left Baker's Park by way of Stony Pass and the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Wagon Wheel Gap between South Fork and Creede takes its name from pieces of broken equipment later found at this location, sup­ posedly left by these members of the Baker expedition during their difficult journey.8 In the meantime, major political changes were taking place, and these had a profound effect on the future of the San Luis Valley. Den­ ver and part of present-day Colorado had been in Kansas Territory, the San Luis Valley and southern Colorado had been in New Mexico Territory, and much of the land west of the Continental Divide had been in Utah Territory according to political divisions made after the Mexican War. On February 26, 1861, the Territory of Colorado was established by Congress with its boundaries almost identical to today's State of Colorado. The exception was the southern bound­ ary, which was drawn along the thirty-seventh parallel, almost but not quite where the state line lies today. For the San Luis Valley the most important effect of the creation of the new territory was that most of the valley henceforth would be in Colorado, although the arbitrary division placed the southern end in New Mexico. The po­ litical separation of most of the Spanish-speaking people in the val­ ley produced a dichotomy of interest which has never been resolved satisfactorily. With the establishment of the new territory, counties were delin­ eated in 1861. No longer was the valley going to be a huge, neglected outrider of Taos County, New Mexico. Instead, the section north of the new territorial boundary-by far the larger part of the valley­ was divided into two Colorado counties, which automatically were supposed to share Colorado's interests. Costilla County contained the eastern and northern portions of the valley. Guadalupe County Wages or the First Day's Brandings 129 encompassed the western side of the valley, north to the Rio Grande. Guadalupe had its own enormous outrider that took in a long strip across southwestern Colorado all the way to Utah. The name of this county was changed after seven days to Conejos County. County seats, designated on a temporary basis in 1861, were San Miguel in Costilla County and Guadalupe in Conejos County. The location ofSan Miguel, long a mystery, has been identified as Costilla, New Mexico, the most prominent town in the area at the time and the site of the San Miguel mission church, its location in 1861 being in Colorado, prior to a survey of the thirty-seventh parallel. At any rate, when Costilla County was formally organized in 1863, San Luis was the county seat'Similarly, in Conejos County, Guadalupe lost its title as countyseatin 1863 to the newer, smaller settlement ofConejos on the south side of the river. lO Headquarters for a few Anglo settlers, Conejos had for its prin­ cipal booster Lafayette Head. Head ran his Indian agency there, and after his new house was built in 1865, the town could boast the finest horne in the entire valley. Nevertheless, old Guadalupe, a mile north­ east of Conejos, remained larger and was incorporated in 1869, sev­ eral years before Conejos took this step. Servilletta, meanwhile, over­ shadowed both towns in population for a time, but it was destined to fade into obscurity. Guadalupe was bypassed again when Conejos became the post office in 1862. At the same time three other post offices were estab­ lished in the valley in Costilla County. These were at San Luis, Fort Garland, and Coslilla.ll Ferd Meyer was postmaster at Costilla, which was then in Colorado Territory. To have been one of this burgeoning territory's first legislators would, of course, have been a great honor and responsibility. The San Luis Valley's first two territorial representatives both were Spanish surnamed-Jose Victor Garcia and Jesus M. Barela-while the first member of the council (equivalent to the senate) was Colonel John M. Francisco. Francisco, despite his name, was no relation to his Hispano neighbors, for he hailed from Virginia and Missouri. At one time he operated the sutler's store at Fort Garland. In 1861 he settled in the valley of La Veta, eastofSangre de Cristo Pass atthe foot of the Spanish Peaks, where he could keep in close touch with his fellow sympathiz­ ers in the Confederate cause, who were influential south of Pueblo.12 ------''"" ... SauLuJ. ValleyCountiM and Communitlea _.­. .- '\, ](-Former O-Edating *-CountySeat _. "-'- .-• ..... Otr .. '<'UA-, .... CM,. -.;.~.~ .~atr • 'HIIo\r ...... _ ...... e-l •....:...""'='.:.. \ \. .- ._­ • .­ \ .- .- ....- \ 'AOUACH' ,... \ .... ,T_ • o _ ....T • QIlTOlll \ .tolloQl)"-...., ~"c_ ~_..=: ~'.- "- '", .tkyeto, ._1 ilL...... \ ...... 0:::: ._CIt\r ~-1 ·oc::.r... ) I' ( ,L .~---.------1 ".___ I 1-'-) ...... 1 ,'- 0.-.....••- '''''~.___.- '~~I .ow_e-,,-) ~ - ~.:.. '-"'c.,..ll~l '_IIC* ... _DoI_ / I -_••...... -- . o/lllOKA~1 I ..-, I ".7: .~ ~ ~,,'- ,,-~ '~.- '_YIIrA y""-, , ! • I 0 0." NDI I At A MO' A ...... ,\ I I•.- ....w:~AI /' -.- .t..-.""-,, .-...... ~ .~Otp 'I ._111. .-I•.--, .-- ....,. ( "'\ • • ....~) I / .-...... c:I'OI1'Go\II,ANO \ T,--·':'::...------L._- .::;_~.(-r I,'" COSTILLA I e.m...-.." .-.__ \ l .~ :::.-~ /._~.~ I ...... , CON I J 0 1 \. ..._. 00l0l_::"" I

__ '\ -.0. "==_ : .-_-:.=o! _ I• ..::= f ol.OlJUlln'l:ll(Val1otoool '\ ".,eot.IIlII \ .-.. .. IAH~«-~l .~~ \ 1.0.&_---"..... ollOOOn.. IoJnOMJO.~ ( 1_"_J (-.I I \ ...... ,,'- Ie.-.) I ~..~ ._~ J...... ~ ~~. ~ ~~_. :~:~l j '--- __ u u __ _ Wages or the First Day's Brandings 131

Transportation quickly became a major concern in the new terri­ tory. Perhaps the political station ofFrancisco helped himandhis Union­ ist friend Lafayette Head to obtainpermits to build and to operate two ferries across the Rio Grande. These permits, granted in 1861, were for La Lorna on the old Conejos Road and for a pointnearFort Garlandnorth of Los Sauces, or La Sauses, onthe road between the fort and Conejos. Inthe same yeara third permitfor a ferry was granted to Garcia, one of the valley's repre­ sentatives, and his partner for an operationat the mouthof the Culebra on the Rio Grande, the place being called Paso del Puerto. These three ferries were intended to aid the throngs ofsettlers and prospectors ex­ pected momentarily. Regardless of the extent of their use, the ferries certainly did better thana proposed steamboat. One promoterestimated that the Rio Grande as it flowed through the valley was "sufficiently large to float a Missouri River steamboat."13 Rates for the use of the ferries were high, but they were compa­ rable with tolls charged elsewhere in the territory for ferries and toll roads. At La Lorna, for instance, a wagon with two horses, mules, or oxen was charged two dollars, while a buggy with a single horse or mule cost half as much. Rates for loose stock were five or ten cents per head, depending on the size." Whether Francisco and Head operated the ferry at Los Sauces is unknown, but a ferry was in business there in 1863 called Stewart's Crossing. Taking advantage of the business from military person­ nel, prospectors, settlers, and merchants who used this cutoff across the valley, a trading post also operated under the name ofStewart's Crossing. IS During the early 1860s, the Military Express ran through the val­ ley, linking Fort Garland and Canon City, where it connected with the "PonyLine" from Denver. J. B. Doyle and Company, who operated else­ where in Colorado, ran the Military Express16 After the war ended, a toll road was built by the Denver and San Luis Valley Wagon Road Company to operatebetweenDenver and the valley. This line crossed South Park and Poncha Pass and ran through the San Luis Valley on the Conejos Road as far as the Conejos Indian Agency and Los Pmos, the latter being located near the border between Colorado and New l Mexico ? These were the pioneerwagonroads authorized by the terri­ toriallegislature. 132 The San Luis Valley

With the end of the war, settlement in the valley accelerated. The passage of the HomesteadAct in 1862, together with the IndianTreaty of 1863, had opened up most of the San Luis Valley, including the Conejos Grant where colonial claims were under legal dispute. Some of the new settlements on the valley's grants continued to be made by people from New Mexico. On the west side, between the Alamosa and La Jara rivers, Capulin, meaning "chokecherries," was estab­ lished in 1867 by people from Ojo Caliente, and La Jara was settled on the south side of the latter stream at about the same time. Plazas around La Lorna expanded to the north, while Ortiz and San Anto­ nio began to prosper in the corner of the valley south of Conejos. To the east Ojito on Trinchera Creek and to the north Rito Alto appeared. Nearly every stream within the San Luis Valley had at least one settle­ ment of Spanish-speaking people. Many of those who began to take up claims at this time were veterans of military service, particularly soldiers who had served at Fort Garland. They were issued scrip, which they could use whenthey filed homestead claims. This arrangement permitted the permanent settlement of many immigrants from Germany and othernorthern Eu­ ropean countries, who had served the Union cause. Among the veter­ ans who became pioneers of the San Luis Valley were Henry Backus, who settlednorthwest ofpresent-dayAlamosa; Peter Hansen, south of the same town; James Schultz, near Stewart's Crossing; and Mark Biedell, onLa Garita Creek18A group ofmenfrom CompanyOneColo­ rado Volunteers settled on Kerber Creek after 1865. Among these were Captain Charles Kerber, a Lieutenant Walters, and George Neidhardt. The Loren Jenks family from Pueblo also joined this settlement." A former resident ofCostilla whohad helped recruit menfrom the valley for the UnionArmy, CaptainCharles Deus, returned to live, buta series of financial losses forced him to leave. During 1866 the area around Saguache was homesteaded. Led by Nathan Russell, representing Fred Walsen (later of Walsenburg) and Christian Stollsteimer (later of Durango), this group home­ steaded the bottomlands along Saguache Creek. Natural arroyos were used to convey water to crops until the arroyos were converted into proper irrigation ditches. The first of these was the "Nathan Russell arolla."20 Spanish-surnamed laborers worked the fields and dug the ditches. Wages or the First Day's Brandings 133

The principal crop in this area was wheat, hand-sickled and often threshed by sheep. Flour was very much in demand in the new terri­ tory, and in 1860 prospectors sometimeshadbeen unable to buy any. In 1861, despite the existence of Easterday's new mill at San Luis, flour could notbe had at Francisco's store at Fort Garland or anywhere else in the San Luis Valley.'! In the next few years pack trains from New Mexico transported food to Colorado's settlements, as additional strain was puton provisions after the Treaty of 1863 required that rations be distributed to the Indians. What was left for the Indians was likely to be the moldy, wormy flour that the mills could sell only to Indian agents or to the army. Inhis report ofJune 1866 Kit Carson complained that flour shipped to Fort Garland was spoiled. Because of this demand for agri­ culturalproducts in the booming Territory ofColorado, the lushnorth­ ern end of the San Luis Valley around Saguache was quickly home­ steaded and put to the plow after the war. One of the settlers who went there to raise wheat was Otto Mears. Mears was a Russian Jew who began life in his adopted homeland by serving in the Union Army for three years, part of his military duty being under Kit Carson in the Navajo campaigns. After Mears's dis­ charge in August 1864, he took a job as a clerk in a Santa Fe store and soonentered into a partnership ina retail store there. Next Mears moved to the Conejos, wherehe opened a general merchandise store in the old townofGuadalupe. He also wentinto partnership withLafayette Head in building both a sawmill and a gristmill. Because the local Mexican farmers could notproduce enough grain for the gristmill, Mears moved again in 1866, this time to Saguache to raise wheat for the Conejos mill and to open another store. During the next year he brought in a mower, a reaper, and a threshing machine for his crops, this machinery being the first such implements in the valley. 22 Mears's well-known friendship with Chief Ouray began with a business arrangement, when Mears got a contract to supply food rations to the Utes." This relationship eventuated in Mears's accompa­ nying delegations of Utes to Washington and fulfulling many func­ tions as the contractor and sometimes as a commissioner. When the government'sprice for flour dropped, Mears soughtnew markets in the Upper Arkansas River Valley, and thus he entered an­ other career as road builder. Finding the Poncha Pass road to the Ar­ kansas River in unsatisfactory condition for freighting, he chartered a Otto Mears of Saguache-averybig man in a very small package. Wages or the First Day's Brandings 135 toll road across the pass and built a new wagon road. The success of this undertaking in 1867 was repeated in 1871, when he built another toll road across Cochetopa Pass.24 This road led to the Los Pinos lndian Agency and another store thatMears owned there. His road continued west to Lake City, a supply town that Mears founded for the San Juan mining country. These were the beginnings of the network of toll roads and later railroads which established Mears's reputation as "the path­ finder of the SanJuans." Clearly, Saguache had become the home of an energetic empire builder, and Mears had neighbors-Spanish-speaking, Anglo, and northern European-who seem to havebeen inspired byhis example. They were intensely conscious of the importance of the northern end of the valley, and the idea of riding all the way to San Luis to transact county business was both bothersome and demeaning. To overcome this problem, in December 1866 the County of Saguache was carved from that part of Costilla County which lay north of the Sangre de Cristo Grant. After the Brunot Treaty in 1873 Saguache County also encompassed a large area of land across the Continental Divide, pre­ viously in the Ute reservation. One of Saguache County's first officials was Otto Mears, who served as county treasurer. Another influential citizen who held vari­ ous county offices during his lifetime and who is credited with draw­ ing up the legislative bill to create the county was John Lawrence. Lacking the advantages of much formal education, Lawrence grew up as an orphan in St. Louis and came west in 1859 to make his way as a miner and muleskinner. In 1860 he prospected in the San Luis Valley and returned in 1861 with Nathan Russell and E. R. Harris to settle at Conejos." InFebruary 1867 Lawrence setout from Conejos to joinhis friends who already were at Saguache. He recorded the events of this jour­ ney, as well as the next forty years of his life, in a diary." Although his spelling was unorthodox, it was as consistent as were his other habits. As reported by Lawrence, this trip to Saguache presents consid­ erable insight into life in the valley at that time. Lawrence started out with two ox teams, a team ofhorses, wheat, oats, provisions, and some farm tools. Sylvestre Larux, or Leroux, who accompanied Lawrence, took along lumber and a workbench. Langino Velte, Juan de Jesus 136 The San Luis Valley

Manchez, and Jose Antonio Moranwent with them to farm on shares. Working for the partywere two Navajo Indianboys,Andres and Gabriel Woodson, whobelonged to Lawrence's partner,James B. Woodson. A youngherder, JoseAndres Chaves, completed the party. They drove a herd ofcattle belonging to Woodson and en route delivered a few head of stock to the Luceros on the Rio Grande and to other ranchers on Camero Creek. Inlater years the settlers atSaguache continued to have frequent business with the people around La Lorna and La Garita. Upon his arrival at Saguache, Lawrence spenthis first day paying calls on his neighbors and old acquaintances-Nathan Russell, E. R. Harris, Otto Mears, Fred Walsen, and John Greilig. He spent the second day establishing the Saguache cemetery. When he went over to a Mexi­ can camp to visit a family he had known at Conejos, he found that an old man in their outfit had died. The usual procedures of a proper burial did notseem to be on anyone's mind, so Lawrence took charge of affairs. First he got Harris to build a coffin, for which Lawrence and Mears donated the lumber. Then they chose a site on a "nole" south of the river for the burying ground and gave "the first man claiming the name of a white man a decent burial." During his long life in Saguache Lawrence was to be state repre­ sentative, county assessor, county judge, and for twenty-five years a member of the school board. He tried his hand at road building, con­ structing a toll road five miles west of town, paralleling the govern­ ment road that had been built farther north." He raised wheat, which he sold to the Ute Indian Agency, and he raised sheep, which he eventually willed to his Mexican workers. He was not the first settler in Saguache, nor was his town the first in the area. (It was, in fact, the third settlement in the immediate vicinity, one of the others being called Milton.) Nevertheless, Lawrence earned the title "Father of Saguache" through his long life of devotion to his community. Besides Lawrence's diary, another source of information on early-day Saguache is the account of an itinerant preacher. When the Reverend John L. Dyer visited the town in 1867 to hold Methodist services, he found few Protestants. Hehad incurred the anger ofa priest at Fort Garland, in fact, by invading the predominantly Catholic flock there. Nevertheless, atSaguache Dyer "held a two days' meeting at the house of Mr. Ashley, a family from Kentucky.... OnSunday the power of God came down, and nearly all were in tears. The lady of the house Wages or the First Day's Brandings 137 broke outin a grand shout, the first ever raised intheSan Luis Valley. ... We had there a foreigner, I think of Jewish descent. [Otto Mears, prob­ ably.] He sat near the door, and looked first at the door, then at me, and thenat the scene among the seekers. A manbythe nameofFullerton, and a Mr Woodson, whohad Mexican wines [wives?], werepresent. ... "Asevere hailstormbeattheircrops into the ground. Indianswere more numerous than white men. Old Chief SanJuan came along, and expressed great sorrow at their loss. For him it meant, no biscuits this year,II28 Leaving Saguache, Dyer continued north toward Poncha Pass. Although his detailed description of the valley did not continue, he at least mentioned finding a settlement as he approached the pass in Homan's Park. This area originally was settled by Mexicans, and in the late 1860s the population grew to about one hundred, many of the newcomers being German-born veterans of the Civil War. They eventually bought up or otherwise gained control of most of the land and water rights in this section of the valley and raised cattle and sheep there. The settlement to which Dyer referred may have been at Kerber Creek.29 Population trends in the valley were reflected in the creation of post offices, and a list of these issued in 1868 reveals the gradual movement into the northern half. Saguache had a post office with Nathan Russell as postmaster. Another was located at La Lorna. Still, the center of the valley's population remained around Conejos with almost six thousand people scattered among twenty-five placitas at that time. Farms along the Rio Grande became another Anglo and north­ ernEuropeanfoothold. Cattle raising was the principal activity on these farms, with mostofthe original livestock being purchased from Mexi­ can ranchers on the Conejos River. One of the newcomers here was Peter Hansen, UnionArmyveteran, whobeganraisingcattle ona home­ stead near the mouth of the Conejos. His cattle watered in the Rio Grande, sununer and winter. In winter this meant chopping holes in the ice, a chore reserved for Hansen's young son William. Mrs. Hansen soldbutter to neighbors. It was not an easy nor a glamorous life for the pioneers in the San Luis Valley, but it could be an honorable one. When William Hansen became sixteen years old, his hard-working father asked, 138 The San Luis Valley

Sheepherders on the banks of the Rio Grande perpetuate traditions of Spanish-speaking settlers of the San Luis Valley, with the help of modem trucks and trailers.

"Willie, do you want to work for wages or for the first day's brand­ ing of Heifer calves?"30 Willie chose the calves and became one of the valley's ranchers. Although land and water rights were not yet causes of overt con­ flict between original colonists and homesteaders, these problems would arise later. When settlers from New Mexico first diverted water into their irrigation ditches on the land grants, the fanners had no need to register their rights. Later, when attempts were made to do so as required by law in Colorado, the original farmers discovered that claims had been filed already for these ditch rights by such new­ comers as Mark Biedell or Russell Green. Contests over grazing rights and land ownership also would occur, especially after the public records in the Saguache County Courthouse burned in 1880. A more indirect reason why the Spanish-speakingcolonists found their rights eroded away lay in the failure of the first generation to prepare their children to assume legal and systematic control of the family's prop­ erty under state law.3! Perhaps most significant in ensuing social and economic changes in the valley were the profoundly different attitudesby which the dif- Wages or the First Day's Brandings 139 ferent cultures approached goals. For the Spanish-speaking colonists life was measuredby the needs ofthe day and the season. For the new breed ofpioneers, the day and the season merely marked their progress toward a remarkable array ofambitious aims. These adobe buildings were the home of Tom Tobin, who brought in the heads of the Espinosas.

,

The last legal hanging in Conejos County took place in 1889. Chapter XI

"Bring Their Heads"

With change came disorientation and frustration for many of the San Luis Valley's settlers. In a few instances the reaction was violent. In 1863 a series of crimes were committed by members of a San Rafael family, the Espinosas, against their enemies-at-large, the new­ comers in Colorado Territory. Although the Espinosas' violence has been attributed loosely to a malaise of the mind, it seems quite pos­ sible that the family had suffered wrongs perpetrated by Americans and were bent upon avenging these wrongs. According to one story, while the Espinosas were living in north­ ern New Mexico, Americans had run off their sheep and killed a youngster in the family in an effort to drive them from the land. Soon afterward the Espinosas moved to San Rafael, where two brothers in the family, Vivian and Jose, turned to what appeared to be run-of­ the-mill horse stealing. In the spring of 1863 they branched out and robbed a wagon between Santa Fe and Galisteo, New Mexico. The teamster, from Conejos County, recognized the bandits and alerted authorities. 142 The San Luis Valley

Volunteers were sentfrom Fort Garland to the Espinosas' log house at SanRafael, under the pretext of recruiting the brothers for the Union Army. Whenthis invitation was declined, the soldiers made a straight­ forward move to arrest the pair. The brothers then burstfrom the house, shOOting and killing one soldier, and made their escape. In the weeks thatfollowed, the fugitives terrorized the backcountry ofsouthern and central Colorado, in whathasbeencalled a "mission" to kill as manyAnglos as possible. Their first victim wasJudge William Bruce at a sawmill on Hardscrabble Creeknear Wetmore, and the sec­ ond also took place at a sawmill near Fountain Creek. Moving into South Park, they killed at least seven ranchers and miners, while an unknownnumber ofother deaths occurred in the wave of hysteria that these murders precipitated. Finally a posse from Fairplay tracked Vivian and Jose to a camp in the rugged terrain below South Park. Jose was killed there, but Vivian escaped. Henext killed two men east ofCafton City and, return­ ing to the San Luis Valley, murdered another in Conejos. After a short stay with his family he set out again, accompanied by a young nephew, toward Sangre de Cristo Pass with the intention of ambushing Governor John Evans who, Espinosa knew, had been in Conejos at Lafayette Head's agency to meet with the Utes. Instead of taking the governor, the Espinosas killed two other men. A couple of days later they attacked a buggy carrying an American man and a Mexican woman to Costilla. The woman was called a "prostitute of an American" and was assaulted, but the man escaped to Fort Gar­ landl The commander of the fort, Colonel Samuel Tappan, sent for Tom Tobin, who was in residence with squatter's rights on a piece of graz­ ing land about six miles south of the fort. Tobin, who was in Arroyo Hondo at the time of the Taos Rebellion, had drifted up to Costilla with his Mexican wife and was raising cattle and horses. Tobin lived on Trinchera Creek part of each year while his wife and small daugh­ ter lived in Costilla with their Navajo servant girl. When summoned by Colonel Tappan to the fort, Tobin was told that he would be re­ warded if he could track down the Espinosas and "bring their heads" to the fort. The colonel persuaded Tobin that he should have the pro­ tection of some soldiers. Tobin finally agreed to go with a small es­ cort, although he suspected that the soldiers, some of whom were re- Bring Their Heads 143 cruits from the Spanish-speaking settlements in the valley, mightbe as inclined to kill him as the Espinosas. Near La Veta Pass, Tobin tracked down the murderers and killed both. Taking his instructions literally, he put their heads in a sack and brought them to Colonel Tappan, along with a diary and letters which reported that the Espinosas had killed thirty people during their cam­ paign.' After this event Tobin became a local legend. While friendly to his neighbors and Indians who camped on his ranch, he was taciturn with strangers and angry with Colorado's government, which never fully rewarded him for his capture of the Espinosas.' Il1iterate him­ self, he supported schools at Costilla and near his ranch on Trinchera Creek and even became president of a school board. Ferd Meyer bought Tobin's Costilla property when Tobin moved permanently to his Trinchera ranch in 1872, and Meyer helped support Tobin there with monthly payments on that property, too, until Tobin's death in 1904. The family name remained linked with memories of old days when Tobin's daughter Pasquala married a neighbor boy, the son of Tom's old friend Kit Carson' Had the Espinosa's rampage occurred a few years later, it might have been interpreted as a crusade for justice rather than as a spree of wanton murders, for the rights of Spanish-speaking people on the land grants in the San Luis Valley were becoming disputed issues. However, in 1863 it is unlikely that the full extent of these threats to their rights was fully recognized. The United States had granted liberty and protection to Mexican citizens living in the Southwest at the conclusion of the Mexican War. Nevertheless, land grants made by the Mexican governmentrequired special adjudication. The two grants in the San Luis Valley, being in New Mexico in the 1850s, were assigned in 1854 to the surveyor gen­ eral of New Mexico, William Pelham, for review. Pelham's report was sent to the General Land Office, then to the secretary of the De­ partment of the Interior, who in turn made a recommendation to Congress for a final decision regarding the validity of the grants. In 1860 Congress confirmed the Sangre de Cristo Grant, but the Conejos Grant was not considered at that time because no one on the grant had submitted an application as required by the surveyor gen­ eral. In 1861 the necessary application was made with the names of 144 The San Luis Valley

four settlers inbehalfofothers living on the grant. Because the original documentof1833 was still missing, the settlers submitted sworn state­ ments of officials who were involved in the granting of possession of 1842 5 Apparently no action was taken immediately by the surveyor general ofNew Mexico, and documents regarding the grant were not received in Colorado until 1867, six years after the new territory was created. In 1868 the Conejos Grant was surveyed for the first time by a deputy ofColorado's surveyor general, who noted that a large number of Mexican settlements existed around Conejos, but no otherprogress seems to havebeenmade by the surveyor general's office' Meanwhile, the Conejos Grant was being handled as public do­ main. Spanish-speaking residents already living there were consid­ ered squatters with legal rights entitling them to 160 acres each un­ der the Pre-emption Act. Newcomers also were entitled to home­ stead parcels of land, while the older residents maintained that the land involved was part of the legal grant. Confusion stemming from such situations, which were common to other areas of the Southwest as well, finally led to the establishment of United States courts of private land claims. When one of these courts opened in Denver in the 1890s, Cresencio Valdes, son of the colonizer Seledon Valdes, petitioned for confirmation of the Conejos Grant and asked that people occupying the grant without consent of the grantees be given notices of eviction or that the grantees be given compensation. In 1900 this petition was dismissed on the grounds that, first, no evidence of the grant of 1833 existed, and, second, the governor of New Mexico had expressed some doubt regarding his own authority to grant possession.' The Conejos Grant was null and void, and a great number of clouded land titles, some held by Anglo residents of many years, were settled at last. The embittered heirs of the original settlers had no claim ex­ cept those of ordinary homesteaders, if, indeed, their land had been filed upon properly. Because land title had been settled by the confirmation of the Sangre de Cristo Grant in 1860, the way was cleared there for even more complex transactions. After William Gilpin was removed as governor of the Territory of Colorado in 1862, he devoted his full attention to promotingthe development of this region and the grant in particular. Bring Their Heads 145

1n 1853 Charles Beaubien had given away half of his title to the grant in a maneuver, not unknown today, to reduce his taxes if they should be levied on land grants, as the United States government was expected to do. These gifts of convenience were in three shares with one-sixth of the grant going to his son-in-law Lucien Maxwell; one-sixth to Joseph Pley, who had administered Stephen Luis Lee's estate and who had sold Lee's original half of the grant to Beaubien for $100; and the other one-sixth to James H. Quinn, another busi­ ness associate8 1n 1858 Pley sold his share to CeranSt. Vrain for $1,000, thereby enabling St. Vrain and Easterday to open their flour mill and other business interests in San Luis. In 1862 Gilpin bought this one-sixth interest from St. Vrain, giving Gilpin his entree in San Luis Valley real estate. In fact, Gilpin had more ambitious plans than this purchase im­ plied. His espousal of Colorado's mineral potential was little short of a mania, and he believed that the Sangre de Cristo Mountains could yield untold glittering rewards for anyone who would go after them. The only obstacle to securing those minerals was the land grants within which these mountains lay.' Some of the most promising por­ tions of the Culebra Range lay in the Sangre de Cristo Grant, while another group of peaks north of the sand dunes could be reached through the Baca Grant Number Four, which Gilpin was acquiring also. The Baca Grant was a new tract set aside in the name of the heirs of Luis Maria de Baca in 186010 In 1823 Baca had been granted the very large Vegas Grandes holding around the present town of Las Vegas, New Mexico. When ownership of this land was disputed in later years, the Baca family was permitted by Congress to select five other sites, called "floating grants," each containing 100,000 acres. One of these was Baca Grant Number Four, located on the western side of the Sangre de Cristos around the present site of Crestone. By early 1862 Gilpin had worked out an agreement to buy this Baca float for the price of thirty cents an acre, or $30,000, to be paid in five annual installments.u Gilpin's activities in connection with the Baca Grant and with St. Vrain's share in the Sangre de Cristo Grant soon attracted the attention of Charles Beaubien, who offered Gilpin an irresistible opportunity late in1862 to buy the half interest in the Sangre de Cristo Grant still owned by Don Carlos for $15,000, or 146 The San Luis Valley

about four cents an acre. Payment was to be complete by March 1863, according to the agreement to purchase.12 Foregoingfurther attempts to buy the Baca Grant, Gilpin had difficulty in raising even the cash re­ quired for the Sangre deCristo. Perhaps mostcitizens at that time were preoccupied with the Civil War, orperhaps they doubted the wisdomof investing money in"Indian-infested" territory. By late summer of 1863, after traveling from San Francisco to New York in search of backers, Gilpin had his money. By thenCharles Beaubien was dead, but the sale was consummatedby his heirs. Acquiring the interests ofMaxwell and Quinn, also, Gilpin gained control of the entire grant.13 By 1865 Gilpin was ready to launch the next stage of his program, marketing the land for a proposed five million dollars. In this cam­ paignhe publicized widely a mining appraisal made in the fall of 1864, which proclaimed the mountains within the Sangre de Cristo Grant to be as rich in minerals as the Gregory District itself. Needless to say, the expert who made this appraisal had been hired by Gilpin himself. To capitalize the sale of the Sangre de Cristo Grant, Gilpin brought in associates who bought about two-thirds interest, the largest of these investors being Morton Fisher of Santa Fe, who gave $162,000 for his share. Others of the diverse group included a cotton manufacturer from Rhode Island and a promoter of Madison Square Garden in New York. Fisher went off to New York, where he set up a corpora­ tion for the sale of the grant. He also sent a lawyer to England to establish an office there in hopes of luring European capital, which at that time was being poured into foreign investments. Of greatest con­ sequence in these efforts was that they attracted the attention of an English attorney, William Blackmore, who in turn became the central figure in promoting the sale of the grant. With these international dealings in the hands of others, Gilpin devoted his frenetic energy to promoting domestic sales. As a real estate broker most of his experience was discouraging. His biogra­ pher, Thomas Karnes, recounts an incident in 1865 when Gilpin pre­ pared an elaborate promotion for a group of Philadelphians. Having arrived in Denver by special stage, they were met there by Gilpin, who transferred them to a buckboard and set off to show them his special piece of the Golden West. En route the wagon slid off a moun­ tain road, but, undeterred, Gilpin gothis passengers safely to Culebra for a welcoming fandango. The former governor himself led the grand Bring Their Heads 147 march and outdid himself as a genial host, but the Philadelphians did notbuy.14 In 1868 Blackmore carne to Colorado to see with his own eyes what the Sangre de Cristo Grant had to offer. During his trip across the plains he met geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden and asked him to provide a report on the grant. Hayden's opinions in the resulting report were thatthe grant contained "immensely valuable" minerals­ gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron-and that the land was "by far the finest agricultural district I have seen west of the Missouri River." Hayden's report was included thenext year ina booklet published by Blackmore, perhaps with the bombastic assistance of Gilpin, to pro­ motenot only the Sangre de Cristo Grantbut also other ventures in the West in which Blackmore was interested as a broker.'5 Blackmore's personalevaluation of the Sangre deCristoGrantwas attuned to the salesman's problems, however. The grant was a white elephant, too large to marketin one piece, heconcluded. Athis sugges­ tion the grantwas dividedinto a northern and a southernportion, to be called respectively the Trinchera and the Costilla estates. While he set about seekingbuyers in the Netherlands for stock in theCostilla Estate, Fisher concentrated on selling stock in the other to English investors, their enterprisebeing organized collectively as the United States Free­ hold Land and Emigration Company. Of the stocks andbonds initially issued, a Dutchbanking firm boughtone million dollars ofbonds inthe Costilla Estate, but at only half their face value. Few other sales were made. The remaining stocks were divided among the promoters with Fisher and Gilpin each receiving $25,000 worth. Hayden, possibly in lieu of pay.rnent for his survey and report, received $10,000 in stock. Blackmore and the lawyer whohad represented Fisher inEngland took the lions' share-$575,000 in stock plus a commission of $150,000. Also, Blackmore received 7,500 acres of land on the Trinchera Estate.'6 Ina moment ofgenerosity, whichitappeared thathe could well afford, Blackmore wrote to Hayden, "Ihave pulled through the 'Coloradomat­ ter' and I enclose as a wedding gift to you a Banking draft for 500$:'" During 1871 the Freehold Land and Emigration Company made attempts to start development of the Costilla Estate, but the most notable accomplishments seem to have been the personal aggran­ dizements of the organizers and their colleagues. Gilpin selected a homesite on the Trinchera, and William Blackmore's brother George, 148 The San Luis Valley

who came with a cousin from England to manage that estate, estab­ lished a ranch and home for himself on the Trinchera, too. On the Costilla Estate, William and Henry Blackmore each chose tracts of 2,500 acres for themselves and gave 2,500 acres to Easterday, miller and surveyor, for surveying the three tracts. William Blackmore's immediate plans for the Costilla Estate in­ cluded developing a gold mine, building a reservoir and irrigation system, setting up a model farm to assist the emigrees who were expected to arrive any day to take up farms on the grant, and estab­ lishing a new town to be the commercial center of the valley. Unfor­ tunately, the man who was working the gold mine was a swindler, and Newell Squarey who was hired to set up the model farm was little inclined to hard work. Most important, the Spanish-speaking settlers already living on the grant chose not to move out of Blackmore's way. The Mexican people who had settled on Beaubien's grant were farming their plots of land, had rights to water from streams through their irrigation ditches, and were grazing their livestock and cutting timber un land which they did nut uwn but tu which they had right of access during Beaubien's ownership. When the new land com­ pany took over, the Mexicans were told thatthe original settlers would receive quit claim deeds to their property but not timber and grazing rights.l8 Ferd Meyer of Costilla took up the cause of his neighbors and led a public campaign to thwart the developers by means of letters to newspapers and public officials. Late in 1871, while Meyer was away, Blackmore, Gilpin, and Squarey went to Costilla and made a verbal agreement with the citi­ zens there, followed by a similar meeting at San Luis, whereby the land developers would allow the Mexicans to use water from the company's irrigation system, after the company's own needs were filled. This agreement seemed to bring about a more harmonious state of affairs. Later, when agreements were changed, broken, and generally provenunworkable, the matter of water rights had to betaken to court, where the settlement was in favor of the settlers. However, a reversalby the U.S. CircuitCourtatthe tum ofthe century cutthe water rights of the Mexicans in half." More than one hundred years after the land company arrived, the question of the Mexican's timber rights still has notbeen settled. Bring Their Heads 149

A further complication stemmed from a survey of the boundary between the territories of Colorado and New Mexico. The thirty-seventh parallel, the boundary established in 1861, was sur­ veyed in 1868 by E. N. Darling, a United States government sur­ veyor, and his survey was accepted in 1869 by the commissioner of the General Land Office. The survey proved that the parallel actually lay just north of Costilla, rather than south of it, and the town of Costilla and neighboring areas of the Costilla Estate, which previ­ ously had been in Colorado, were returned to the jurisdiction of New Mexico Territory. As a result, difficulties in obtaining proper legal titles and rights were compounded. In the quarrel between Blackmore and the Spanish-speaking set­ tlers, Gilpin was caught in the middle. He was resident manager of the Costilla Estate, but he undoubtedly was smarting at having been outmaneuvered by Blackmore in control of the land and the com­ pany. At least, he could comfort himself, the local people still re­ ferred to the project as "Gilpin's company." To the former governor's credit, he seemed to have genuine con­ cern for the welfare of the original settlers. In 1866 he had appealed to Father Pierre de Smet in an effort to rally influence for obtaining schools and churches on the Sangre de Cristo Grant. There were six thousand Catholics living there at that time. In addition to the bigger towns there were clusters of people large enough to form new par­ ishes in 1869 at Chama, Ojito de la Trinchera, Rito de los Indios, San Acacio, San Francisco, Sierra Blanca, Trinchera, Zapata, and Placer.20 When Bishop Lamy sent clergymen to the valley in 1867 to found the new Mission of New Mexico and Colorado, Gilpin offered them land on the grant for their headquarters, but the mission was established instead at Conejos. In an outright move to block Blackmore's schemes, Gilpin even delayed in turning over titles to land. Beset by well-publicized legal questions regarding titles and water rights, the Costilla Estate's de­ velopmentbecame stalemated. Few land buyers could be attracted un­ der these circumstances, and the Dutch bankers who might have fi­ nanced a promotional campaignwithheld funds. Aneconomic depres­ sion in 1873 dealt another blow. Hoping to find greater success on the western side of the valley, William Blackmore visited Seledon Valdes in Guadalupe in 1873 and 150 The San Luis Valley

tried to buyout the old settler, who gradually had built up his own holdings by purchasing others' shares in the Conejos Grant." Valdes had no more desire for Anglo intrusion on his grant than did the people of the Sangre de Cristo Grant. In fact, Valdes's neighborhood already was becoming too full of homesteaders and other Anglos who were picking up old Mexican claims for back taxes or by pur­ chase, and Valdes refused to sell to Blackmore. By 1878 and 1879 the U.S. Freehold Land and Emigration Com­ pany was unable to pay its own taxes, and in 1880 the Dutch bankers were forced to redeem the land by paying them. Through the next two decades no significant sales or developments occurred, and the Spanish-speaking residents on the estate actually were able to con­ tinue their ordinary routines with less interference than occurred else­ where in the valley, while the Dutch bankers wrote off their invest­ ment. Although Blackmore himself enjoyed a brief wave of notoriety as a result of his promotions, he became overworked and overex­ tended with many interests besides the Costilla Estate, and in 1877 he took his own life. His property in the valley was bequeathed to a brother, Humphrey, who in turn gave it to the Boyle brothers. Subse­ quently the ranch belonged to David Turner, his sister and her hus­ band, the Schleys. Itwent into receivership, and in 1937 it was bought by the Simms. Mrs. Simms was the daughter of Mark Hanna. Later it was owned by their nephews and then was purchased by Malcolm Forbes, president and editor-in-chief of Forbes Magazine. Thus, a century after Gilpin's extravaganza, part of the old grant again became a package of merchandise for land developers. The Forbes Ranch was being sold by international brokers who offered the public five-acre bits of "the romantic old Southwest." There still remain many Spanish-speaking people on the old grant, and some of them believe that the traditions of the "romantic old Southwest" in­ clude such privileges as gathering their firewood where they always have gathered it, whether ornot the landbelongs to newcomers. A few guns have been fired over this issue. Apparently, the "malaise" of the Espinosas is not entirely dead. More trouble arose in the southernportion of the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant after the Costilla Land Company sold its tract of about seventy-seven thousand acres to a lumber man from North Carolina, Bring Their Heads 151

J. T. Taylor, in 1960. Public access for hunting and gathering fire­ wood was then cut off, and animosities led to violence. Later the Taylor family undertook logging operations that stirred up addi­ tional quarrels, with environmental issues becoming a focus. Efforts were stymied when local citizens and the State of Colorado attempted to purchase La Sierra, as the Taylor's mountain tract is called, and, thus, unresolved problems continue in Costilla County. The D&RG's engine, Kokomo, with a helper pulls a train pastDump Mountain and across La Veta Pass. Chapter XII

"I Had a Dream"

At the close of the Civil War great energy was turned to another dream of empire, this one built on iron rails. Railroads were deemed the form of transportation best suited to serve the new centers of population in the West, but, just as railroad builders might produce fortunes, they also required large investments. Even while Gilpin's grandiose land speculations were faltering, another dreamer of em­ pire, William Jackson Palmer, caught the attention of Gilpin's back­ ers. Palmer's undertaking, the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, even­ tually was more successful than the U.s. Freehold and Emigration Company but not without great sacrifice. Projects such as Palmer's were encouraged by the absence of ad­ equate transportation systems or even provisions for them in the Ter­ ritory of Colorado. The only means of building roads to new towns, mining districts, and agricultural areas were to charter private enter­ prises to build toll roads, such as Mears's roads, or to operate ferries, such as those on the Rio Grande. Two of the first toll roads in the new territory had been chartered for the San Luis Valley. The first-the 154 The San Luis Valley

Canon City, Grand River, and San Juan Road Company-was built in the early 1860s. It entered the valley via Poncha Pass and intersected withthe military road from FortGarland toSalt Lake City, which crossed Cochetopa Pass. The second-the San Luis Valley Wagon Road-was built in the latterhalfofthe decade as partof a road linking South Park with the Gunnison country. Actually, both of these were merely im­ provements on previously existing wagon tracks. In the 1870s addi­ tional roads reached the Gunnison Valley and the San juan country through the SanLuis Valley after the BrunotAgreement opened up the area to mining. Otto Mears's Saguache and San juanToll Road, built in 1874, heralded this boom.! Mears's home town, Saguache, also figured prominently as a supply town and hostelry for teamsters and travelers heading into the Gunnison region, while Alamosa and Del Norte were to receive much of their early importance in connection with the San juan traffic. Entrance to the San Luis Valley from the east continued withSangre de Cristo Pass as the main route, although a shorter but more rugged toll road was built over Mosca Pass in 1871. This newer road boasted a stage station and supply town called Mosca at the foot of the pass, but it failed to compete. Mail came across Sangre de Cristo Pass in a buck­ board along withexpress and a few passengers in the same vehicle. At Fort Garland the wagons turned south to San Luis, Taos, and Santa Fe. This operation ran under the name the Denver and Santa Fe Stage Line. Billy jones, one-armed though he was, handled the reins. In 1870 this line was sold to Ben Holladay's Barlow, Sanderson, and Company, the firm that was also operating the Southern Overland Mail and Express as a subsidiary2 The Barlow and Sanderson opera­ tion was destined to playa prominent role in San Luis Valley trans­ portation for several years until it was supplanted by Palmer's rail­ road. It was in early 1870 that William Jackson Palmer, supervisor of surveys of the Kansas Pacific, wrote to Mary "Queen" Mellen, "I had a dream last evening." It was a vision of a railroad built by himself and his friends to link Denver with Mexico City. In the autumn of that year he took the first step toward making this dream a reality by filing for the incorporation of his Denver and Rio Grande Railway. A principal part of his planwas to lay track from Denver to Pueblo, thence I Had a Dream 155 up the Arkansas River to Canon City and through the Royal Gorge, over Poncha Pass and through the San Luis Valley to the Rio Grande, which wouldbefollowed to Santa Fe and El Paso, Texas. Amainbranch would push westward to Utah, and provisions for other branches in­ cluded a line running from nearthe mouth ofCostilla Creek to mines in the Culebra Range and lumber operations on the Maxwell Estate near the top ofthe range. Significant among the directors of the corporation were William P. Mellen, wealthy NewYork attorney who was the father of Palmer's bride "Queen," and Alexander Cameron Hunt, former governor of Colorado Territory who had become a real estate broker. Hunt im­ mediately chartered the Puncha Pass Wagon Road Company and set about buying up land in the San Luis Valley and elsewhere. These acquisitions included the Baca Grant, which, after Gilpin had failed to make good his purchase, had ended up in the hands of the Baca heirs' lawyer, John S. Watts of Santa Fe, in payment for his legal ser­ vices. Meanwhile, Dr. William Bell, a British physician and close busi­ ness associate of Palmer, went to England to seek financing for the railroad. There he contacted William Blackmore with whom Mellen also was acquainted. Through these connections Blackmore soon became involved in selling D&RG bonds to the same Dutch bankers who had underwritten the U.s. Freehold Land and Emigration Com­ pany. Their investment in the railroad was encouraged by assurances that track would be laid into the valley promptly and would provide the transportation needed for large-scale development of the Costilla Estate. Also, the land company would be relieved of the burden of building its own rail facility, a pOSSibility that had been authorized by Congress at the time of incorporation of the land company.' Construction of a narrow-gauged roadbed from Denver got un­ derway quickly, and service reached Colorado Springs and Pueblo before financial problems forced a delay during the Panic of 1873, which tightened money from both American and European inves­ tors. While D&RG construction was halted, the threat of another railroad's building into south-central Colorado and New Mexico was emerging in the form of the better-financed Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe. As a last-ditch move to capture the important traffic to Santa Fe, Palmer was forced to change his construction priorities, and 156 The San Luis Valley

hebegan to build south from Pueblo toward Trinidad and Raton Pass in 1876, the year in which theAT&SF reached Pueblo. This shift in the D&RG's routes was pushed, too, by investors in the U.S. Freehold Land and Emigration Company, who hoped to bol­ ster theirenterprise's lagging developmentby luringthe railroad over La Veta Pass and through the Trinchera Estate. The Spanish Range Railway Company was incorporated to build into the valley from Cucharas Junction to Fort Garland by way of the town of La Veta and Sangre de Cristo Creek. Although incorporated by D&RG people, this line bore a different name because of the continuing financial problems of the original corporation.' These economic problems plagued the operation as track was being put down and towns were being laid out along the new route. By June 1876 La Veta town was end of track and then Veta Pass, just southofSangre de Cristo Pass. Fifty to one hundred wagons offreight, meanwhile, were rolling toward the San Juan mines every day as the iron rails inched laboriously across the pass. Slowly the construction crews worked their way down the mountain,building a station about two miles from the summit and calling this point Sangre de Cristo. Then Placer at a mining camp five miles below Sangre de Cristo sta­ tion was reached with a meal station established there. The town of Russell was adjacent to Placer. By June 1877 Garland City, thirteen miles west of Placer and six miles northeast of Fort Garland, was finally reached. A typical, temporary end-of-track town, Garland City consisted of about one hundred buildings, including Perry's Hotel, which were hauled in and tacked up during the first two weeks of the town's existence. Such construction had to be quick, for the place lasted only until rails moved on to Alamosa within a year.' Hordes of people jostled through the rickety town, and wagons and teams filled the corrals. A dancing bear chained near one of the saloons added to the circus-like atmosphere. A post office functioned for eleven months until the town pushed on. When the population moved, all that was left was a few piles of rusty tin cans and broken liquor bottles, and the lonely graves of victims of a smallpox epidemic which had swept through the camp during the one winter of its life. The buildings were moved west, just as they had come in from other end-of-track places such as Cucharas Junction and La Veta. After FortGarland's military reservation was abandoned, the town ofFortGarland was settled around the Denver and Rio Grande's station. Beneath snowy swnmits ofBlanca Peak the towers of the town's Catholic church rise. 158 The San Luis Valley

Each mile of construction had carried the company deeper into financial trouble on the gamble that it soon would reap enough rev­ enue to salvage not only its own future but also that of the U.s. Free­ hold Land and Emigration Company. To assist the beleaguered rail­ road, the Freehold corporation agreed in December 1876 to quit claim to Palmer an undivided half interest in the Trinchera Estate and to deed to the railroad company a right of way, not to exceed fifty feet on either side of the track, plus an aggregate of six acres for depots.' Despite this help the railroad's hope of pushing west to Alamosa and a terminus closer to the boomingSanJuan mines was doomed to wait another year while additional financing was sought. The railroad defaulted on paying interests and stock dividends. The U.S. Freehold Land and Emigration Company defaulted on payment of taxes, and the property reverted to the Dutchbankers. And in the wake of these troubles and alcoholism William Blackmore took his life. Palmer's dream had become a nightmare. Itis to the credit ofGeneral Palmer that he continued to struggle to save the railroad, pressing toward whatever centers of traffic might help to recoup those whohadbacked the project. The plucky little Phila­ delphianhad an equally loyal following offriends from the EastCoast and England who had joined him in making Colorado Springs their home, and several of these neighbors were investors and officers in the D&RG. One of them was William S. Jackson-banker, treasurer of the railroad company, andhusband ofpopularauthoress Helen HuntJack­ son, or "H.H." as she inscribed many of her writings. Rallying to the cause of the railroad, she penned an ecstatic description ofa journey to the San Luis Valley over the new rails, and this piece of thinly dis­ guised public relations appeared as a chapter in her Bits of Travel at Home in 1878. Others with no vested interest in the railroad company added to the fame of the new narrow gauge with such jingles as:

It doubles in, it doubles out, Leaving the traveler still in doubt, Whether the engine on the track Is going on or coming back!

The first target for D&RG rails when the line was able to resume buildingbeyond Garland City was Alamosa, centrally located to serve I Had a Dream 159 agricultural and mining interests of the surrounding country and des­ tined to become the hub of future railroad activity in the valley. Al­ though the new town on the Rio Grande was called "Rio Bravo" in its infancy, it was platted as the Alamosa Town Company by A. C. Hunt in May 1878. The railroad reached the village scarcely two months later. In addition to the customary array of tents, claim cab­ ins, and saloons, Hunt erected a two-story headquarters building for the railroad at the corner of Sixth Street and HuntAvenue. This frame structure later housed the Bank of San Juan on the main floor and a hotel upstairs. As the town's position as the commercial center of the valley quickly became fact, the first bank was joined by another-the First National Bank-and mills, stores, and otherbusiness operations located there. Two freight companies-Fieldand Hill, and F. S. Struby and Company-ran general stores as well as doing their main busi­ ness, which was hauling mining supplies from the railroad to the San Juans. Two newspapers soon were available. One was the Inde­ pendent Journal, which formerly had been published elsewhere as the Colorado Independent, and the other was the Alamosa News.' By the early 1880s the fast-growing community also had a school and a Pres­ byterian church. This success in establishing a strategic foothold in south-central Colorado lulled Palmer into the short-lived confidence that he could beat competitors for the southern and western traffic. However, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe put up such a contest for the routes over Raton Pass and through the Royal Gorge that the D&RG was forced to concentrate on those problems instead of its original goals. Again the D&RG's expansion through the valley was stymied, this time for two years but almost forever. In the meantime, Barlow and Sanderson's mail, express, and pas­ senger services continued to skim much of the cream from the bus­ tling activity of the area. The termini for the stage and wagon line had moved west with each new end of track, from La Veta to La Veta Pass to Garland City to Alamosa. Wherever the track ended, the Barlow and Sanderson operation set up its offices and met incoming passengers and freight, exchanging them with sacks of ore to be shipped on the railroad to mills. In addition to the main stations there were way stations for the stage line, also. Before the railroad reached Alamosa, the stage stopped at FortGarland and at Washington Springs In the early 1960s narrow-gauge equipment still could be seen in Alamosa's rail­ road yards, where three rails accommodated trains of either gauge. I Had a Dream 161 before reaching the Rio Grande. From there the line continued west to Del Norte and Lake City, and the mail road from Saguache to Lake City also was used. A stage made the run across Mosca Pass to Silver Cliff with a link running south to Costilla by way of Zapata. A hack also made a round trip once a week from Sangre de Cristo north through San Isabel, RitoAIto, CottonCreek, and Bismark to Villa Grove, where it met the line over Poncha Pass. On the west side of the valleya line ran south from Alamosa to Conejos and Santa Fe, while anotherpost road linked Del Norte and Conejos via Piedra. Mail also ranbetweenConejos and Pagosa Springs on mountain trails. With mail and express traffic ranging over so many lonely miles, at least a few holdups were bound to occur. They took place mostly around Del Norte, where ore and payrolls for the mines were most likely to be shipped. On the road between Del Norte and Lake City a holdup occurred beyond Antelope Springs station. After wounding the stage driver, the highwaymen got away with their loot, but a posse from Del Norte captured them. The bandits were two brothers named Le Roy. In true Wild West style, the local citizens strung them up in a cottonwood tree.' Not long afterward the Allison gang was implicated in a stage robbery at Venable, a station northeast of the present town of Monte Vista. The sheriff of Conejos County became a local hero when he brought in these men, including Clay Allison himself according to stories told in the valley. All of the stage stations were located twelve miles apart, and each had a stock tender who was supposed to keep the teams in top shape and to hitch up a fresh team to incoming stages. West of Alamosa there was Riverside Station on the north side of the river.' The next was Venable, or Venerable, where a rather slovenly stock tender called "Swede" held forth. One night a stage carrying only the driver and an under-sheriff from Del Norte was held up. In the darkness the driver concealed the mail pouch and some valuable express with a rug, while the lawman lost his own money, watch, and six-shooter. The driver recognized the bandit's voice as being Swede's,but the stock herdernever was caught. He disappeared from the valley." During the battle between the railroads, while D&RG construc­ tion again was halted in the valley, the line was leased to the AT&SF, which raised freight rates and allowed trackage and rolling stock to As soon as the railroad arrived inAlamosa, stores opened to supply the central portion of the San Luis Valley. The town is the valley's commercial center today and has the largest population.

O. T. Davis's view of his home town, Alamosa, in 1906 shows the old Colorado state highway bridge. I Had a Dream 163 deteriorate. In1880 a compromise agreement was reached. The D&RG line was returned to its owners, who would be permitted to build west toward Leadville through the Royal Gorge while the AT&SF would be allowed to build south over Raton Pass. The D&RG also was to be allowed a southern extension into New Mexico from Alamosa to Espanola, a point a few miles north of Santa Fe. This ap­ parently illogical goal was actually part of a practical plan, for the D&RG people incorporated the Texas, Santa Fe, and Northern Rail­ way to complete the link from Espanola to Santa Fe, when the time came. As soon as the compromiseagreementwasmade, the D&RG headed downthe valley from Alamosa to constructboth the New Mexico exten­ sion and a SanJuan extension from Antonito to Chama, New Mexico. South of Alamosa the roadbed crossed the La Jara Creek, and here was built La Jara Station, downstream from the old Spanish town of that name. Bypassingestablished settlementswas common practice inrail­ road construction, both because it was easier to acquire unoccupied land andbecause the railroad could thencreate its own towncompany and sell lots. In the case of La Jara, the new town gained a post office and eventually became incorporated in 1895, while the old Spanish settlement faded into obscurity. In later years sidings were added at Estrella and Romeo, but for the time being, La Jara was the only station betweenAlamosa and Antonito. Antonito was built about a mile south of Conejos. While Conejos, the county seat and church center for the entire southwest portion of the valley, was left to struggle along as best it might, the new railroad town became the principal community of the area and the division point for the two railroad extensions. In late 1880 a post office called San Antonio was established in the new town, but the name was changed to Antonito in only two months, perhaps to avoid confu­ sion with the other settlement of that name a few miles up the San Antonio River. Antonito soon had a depot built of lava stone, a sec­ tion house, a bunk house, a sawmill, numerous saloons and gam­ blinghouses, a hotel, a newspaper, stores, and tluee churches--catho­ lic, Presbyterian, and Methodist-vying for the degenerate souls of the local railroad men. While railroad construction continued south and west, the workmen sought comfort in an entertainment capital of sorts in Antonito with its unusually high selection ofbars and painted ladies lounging in the open doorways of their shacks. 164 The San Luis Valley

The extension of the Denver and Rio Grande south ofAlamosa helped the economy of agricultural towns such as La Jara.

South of Antonito stations were built in New Mexico at Palmillo, Vulcano, Tres Piedres, Caliente, Embudo, Chamito, and Espanola. Al­ though various railroads were projected to Taos, including one which would have run through Costilla, no rails ever reached that town. In­ stead, stages connected with the D&RG atTres Piedres and Taos Junc­ tion on the west side of the Rio Grande. Despite its nickname, "The ChiliLine," the railroad carried little traffic inNew Mexico, and mostof its business was seasonal shipments of livestock, wool, and lumber, as well as mineral products from the Antonito area. Even after the D&RG acquired the link between Espanola and Santa Fe, traffic to and from the NewMexican capital rarelychose the D&RG route butpreferred the standard-gauged service oftheAT&SF bywayofLamy and Raton Pass. A third rail, installed between Alamosa and Antonito after 1900, per­ mitted some mixed trains, but on the whole service and equipment were below par, and the line below Antonito was dismantled in the 1940s. 11 By the time that rails reached Antonito, grading was already in progress for the San Juan extension, and track-laying began in early The Denver and Rio Grande reached Durango and the mining regions around Silverton by crossing Cumbres Pass, elevation 10,015 feet. The depot fell into disre­ pair when the D&RG anticipated abandoning the line.

A snowshed was needed on Cumbres Pass to protect the tracks for all-weather traffic between Durango and Antonito. Now the line is used in summer only, when the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad runs excursion trains. 166 The San Luis Valley

1881. The rush to complete this route overCumbres Pass was due to the importance of reaching Durango and the Silvertoncountry. The rightof way for the San Juan extension was south of the old Parkview and Conejos Toll Road, which also crossed Cumbres Pass. The road passed through Mogote and Mesitas, taking a much more direct route than could the railroad, forced to climb in and out of Colorado by way of WhiplashCurve and Toltec Gorge because ofthe grade. These obstacles to construction soonproved to have some compensation when tourists came to ride the narrow-gauge to see the spectacular scenery along the line. A lunch stop was provided at Osier before the train reached the station at Cumbres and began its slow descent to Lobato and Chama, New Mexico. Long after the mining bonanzas of southwesten Colorado had found other, more direct transportation, the Cumbres Pass line con­ tinued to serve local passengers, agriculture, and lumber operations. Not until 1951 did regular passenger service terminate. When tracks were about to be pulled up in the late 1960s, rail buffs ral1ied to save the line. The states of Colorado and New Mexico cooperated in pur­ chasing the line and leasing it as a tourist attraction, now called the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. Running between Antonito and Chama during the summer and early autumn, steam engines still huff and puff through at least one corner of the San Luis Valley. When the D&RG completed the New Mexico and San Juan ex­ tension, it turned its attention to building west from Alamosa to Del Norte in 1881 to pick up at last the lucrative traffic for the mines of that area. The railroad built along the Rio Grande and bypassed al­ ready existing villages as usual. A stationwas built at Del Norte oppo­ site the old plaza of La Lorna del Norte, and stations at SouthFork and Wagon Wheel Gap followed. The extensionfrom South Fork to Wagon Wheel Gap was abandoned in 1889 because of thehigh cost of mainte­ nance for the small amount of revenue it produced. Just two years later mining boomed at Creede beyond the gap, and the line had to be ex­ tended again. When tracks first were laid to Del Norte, a water tank was built at a point called Lariat. There was nothing else at Lariat besides the tank until a red-haired woman, Mrs. Lillian 1.. Taylor, stepped from the trainone dayin1881. She decided to set up a shantybeside the tank and to use it for a home and a store. A few days later, as the story goes, I Had a Dream 167

The D&RG's extension to North Creede followed the route of the Rio Grande through Wagon Wheel Gap, where tourists disembarked for holidays. a Mrs. Silsbee, mother ofMrs. Taylor, boarded the train atAlamosa and asked the conductor to let her off where the "red-haired woman" had disembarked.12 Thereafter they both ran the store. After Mrs. Taylor married Charles Fassett, a neighboring rancher and mine investor, the growingbusiness, whichbecame thelargest departmentstore in Monte Vista and for miles around, was called the L. L. FassettStore. For a time the mother-and-daughter team also ran a post office called Lariat. When a town was staked out at the water tankin 1884, itwas not a typical railroad town, for this enterprisewasbased on agriculture. The Empire Farm Company was building up its land holdings, while the Empire Canal Company was developing irrigation systems. The own­ ers of these operations platted the new town at Lariat. The place was renamed Henry in honor ofDenverite T. C. Henry, whowas at the head of the corporation developingthe area. T. C. Henry obviously intended thathisnamesakewould display more decorum than othernew towns along therailroad, for the town's first public event was a SundaySchool meeting, followed quickly by the organization of a public school that met in the same building used for religious gatherings. No saloons were allowed withinthe town. 168 The San Luis Valley

The good intentions of this outpost of civilization soon attracted the attention of the Travelers' Insurance Company, which invested in further development. The insurance company promoted an addition on the west side of Henry and donated land for a real school build­ ing, which was completed in 1886. When hotels, mills, and a railroad depot began going up there, the Fassetts decided to move their store into the new community, too. In 1886 the town was renamed Monte Vista, and it was incorporated that autumn. Its character remained unchanged. "No Eastern town," the D&RG boasted in a promotional booklet, "is more law-abiding or has a higher moral tone. No gam­ bling dens or liquor saloons have ever existed in Monte Vista." The railroad extension over Poncha Pass into the San Luis Valley also was forged in1881, a year ofgreat accomplishment for the D&RG. An early proposal had placed the railroad's route on the east side of San Luis Creek. This line was supposed to connect with the main route from La Veta Pass at a point just east of Washington Springs. By the time that work began on the Poncha Pass line, the D&RG's resources had been stretched to the limit, though. Consequently, the best that the railroad could do in 1881 was to reach the iron mines at Orient southeast of Villa Grove. To serve the ore trains crossing Poncha Pass, the railroad also put in a shop and water tank at Alder, on Round Hill as the railroad called it, about twelve miles north of Villa Grove. Only in 1890 did the D&RG continue building south from Villa Grove. Two developments prompted this rather belated extension­ agricultural promotion in the area and a problem in railroad opera­ tion. The D&RG had converted its main line south of Pueblo to standard-gauged tracks. As a result, the San Luis Valley's rails were stranded unless a link was made with the narrow-gauge line that came through the Royal Gorge. When the D&RG finally built south from Villa Grove, it ran down the west side of San Luis Creek and connected with the line from La Veta Pass atAlamosa. Much of this route consisted offifty-three miles of straight trackage-the fifth longest stretch of uncurved rails in the United States. Along this strip the D&RG anticipated large revenues from farm centers at a number of points. One of these was Moffat, a town named for one ofColorado's foremost citizens and railroad pro­ moters, who at the time was presidentof the D&RG. Moffat, whichalso Moffat was a rail center serving mines around Crestone to the east and farms around Saguache to the west.

"By jove! If the railroad raises its freight rates and the farmers raise the price of wheat, we'll raise our interest rates on loans, too." 170 The San Luis Valley

became a post office in 1890, was a stock-shipping center and a divi­ sion point for a branch to the Cottonwood mill and the Crestone Estate, formerly known as the Baca Grant Number Four. The station at Moffat had been promoted, in fact, by George H. Adams, president of the Crestone Estate, and by Otto Mears of Saguache. Adams operated a livery stable that conveyed passengers and freight from the railroad to either Crestone orSaguache across the valley. Latera railroad spur into Crestonebecame a logical addition when miningboomed there. South of Moffat the next stationwas La Garita, a confusing desig­ nation since this rail point lay on the east side of the valley while the old Mexican town of that name was almost due west on the opposite side of the valley. Gibson, or Dune as it was sometimes called, was south of La Garita station. Gibson, orDune,had a post office until 1895. South of this stationwas Hooper, which, until the D&RG took over, had been called Garrison, the name of a local merchant. This place had a post office with each name in succession. Supposedly, Garrison'sname was changed because it was easily confused with Gunnison, but the D&RG's passenger agent, Major Hooper, undoubtedly preferred the new designation. South of Garrison, orHooper, was Mosca, orStreator as it formerly was called. Mosca became a post office in 1890. And southof Mosca, orStreator, wasAlamosa, the hub of the D&RG's tracks and influence in the San Luis Valley. To complete the story of railroad building in the valley, one must include two lines of a later period, neither of which belonged to the D&RG system. One was the San Luis Southern, later called the San Luis Valley Southern. This road operated betweenBlanca and agricul­ tural areas developed on the Costilla Estate. Completed in 1910 to San Acacio, the San Luis Valley Southern was planned to reach Taos and even Santa Fe, but an extension through Mesita to Jarosa was its limit, and even the line betweenSan Acacio and Jarosa was short-lived. The other independent line was the San Luis Central, built from Monte Visa to Center in 1913. Popularly known as the "Peavine;' this shortline hauled sugar beets, lettuce, and other produce from the agri­ cultural"center" of the valley to the D&RG's tracks atMonteVista. The San Luis Central still operates seasonally, but the other line's rails were removed in 1958 with the exception of a mile and a half of track be­ tween the D&RG and a shipping facility at Blanca. I Had a Dream 171

Spring's warming sun shines down on a weathered bam near Moffat, but winter still hovers over the jagged peaks of the Sangre de Cristos.

Thus, the San Luis Valley became laced with a network of rail­ road tracks, almost but not quite entirely the projects of the Denver and Rio Grande. One extension that perhaps should have run through the valley, but did not, was the D&RG line to theGunnison area from the Arkansas River Valley. This line was constructed over Marshall Pass, northwest of Poncha Pass, a route that proved to be too high for efficient all-season use, and it was dismantled ultimately. The oft-touted choice ofa route via Cochetopa Pass, an option never taken up by any railroad, might have been, after all, a more satisfactory location for a transcontinental railroad through Colorado. But this is a matter for hindsight. What did occur was a gradual need to standard-gauge the D&RG trackage. The line over La Veta Pass, where lumbering and a box factory helped perpetuate a town for several years, was rerouted over Veta Pass and standard-gauged to Alamosa and North Creede. The line to Antonito was double-gauged, too. Finally the narrow-gauge tracks were removed from La Veta Pass, and the Poncha Pass line was dismantled. Although the narrow-gauge scenic railroad overCumbres Pass re­ mains as a nostalgic reminder of a former time, change escapes no one, Rolling stock and chamiso vie for their claims to the San Luis Valley Southern's right of way, near Blanca.

The San Luis Valley Southern's station at San Acacio was photographed in 1910 by O. T. Davis of Alamosa, a well-known photographer who recorded the valley's life diligently. I Had a Dream 173 notevenrailroad builders with dreams ofempire in their heads. Mean­ while, dreams ofempire created from mineral wealthwere dancingin the heads of other men around the San Luis Valley. On South Mountain the Summitville District boomed in the 1870s and 1880s, and the reverberations were felt twenty-seven miles down the mountain in Del Norte. This pho­ tograph of Summitville was made in 1938, when the camp still was active. Chapter XIII

"Thirty-six Saloons and Seven Dance-Halls"

From the first conquistadores looking for Cibola and Quivera to the last tattered miners working for wages, the silvery mountains ringing the San Luis Valley have beckoned and often taunted those who sought minerals there. The stubborn hope of striking pay dirt has survived for nearly four hundred years through the fact that a few did find gold. And if not gold, silver. Or if not silver, maybe lead~ iron, copper, or even uranium. When early Spanish explorers carne seeking mines in the Sangre de Cristos, they reported finding some gold between Culebra and Trinchera creeks. Much later William Gilpin was sure that the Culebra Range would yield a bonanza. Although some gold-bearing ore was located near Rita SeeD, east of San Luis, this area's only commer­ cially important mineral was galena. The district, in fact, was called Plomo, which is the Spanish word for lead. I A little farther north soldiers stationed at Fort Massachusetts and Fort Garland had heard and repeated legends about Spanish gold, and the men often spent their time off poking around the slopes of Blanca Peak andpanning thegravelinthe streambeds. With the opening of the 176 The San Luis Valley

rush to the Rockies, the soldierswerejoinedby a few prospectors, such as the unsuccessful Reeder expedition in the spring of 1861. After Hayden's optimistic report was published in 1869, the soldiers began to take their pastimes even more seriously, concentrating on a placer called "Officers' Bar" at the confluence ofPlacer and Grayback creeks. A little settlement called Placer grew up near the workings, and itwas joinedby another town called Russell, which had a postoffice by 1876. In 1877 the owners of the Trinchera Estate, hoping that at last they might recoup some oftheirlosses in theproperty, ordered the squatters out of the area and surveyed claims for future development of the Grayback Mountain Mining District.' The town of Russel1 survived as a station on the D&RG, and eventually a short spur ran from the railroad at Russell to Grayback.' Placer's life also continued, for it was only two miles from a large mine that opened up in the early 1880s on Grayback Mountain, or Iron Mountain as it was renamed. Owned by the Colorado Coal and Iron Company, this mine produced iron and some silver, and the Trinchera Estate received royalties from the operation. For a while there was a smelter furnace at Placer, but activity died after only two or three years. Only a little gold was taken from the district, despite the working of a few mines with such legend-provoking names as the "Hidden Treasure.'" Although the Culebra Range and Blanca Peak never fulfilled the exaggerated promises of either the Spaniards or William Gilpin, their prophesies for the San Juans materialized. After a few preliminary expeditions in the early 1860s, prospecting in the San Juans was thwarted by Indian troubles and Indian treaties. By the late 1860s, after the first big discoveries around Silverton, the tide of prospec­ tors no longer could be stemmed. The first major strike near the San Luis Val1ey carne shortly on South Mountain at Summit, or the Summitville District as it became known. As mining developed in this area, most of the metal was gold, but silver and copper also were produced. The story of the strike here was like many of the other booms in the mountains ofColorado. After the first discoveries in the summer of 187D-madebyJames and William Wightman, SylvesterReese, E. Baker, and Cary French-most ofthe prospectors who joined them left in the fall, because thedistrict, lying atan elevation overeleventhousand feet, Thirty-six Saloons and Seven Dance-Halls 177 wastoo high andinaccessible for working inthe winter. With the spring thaws came waves of new prospectors. In 1873 the richest mine, the Little Annie, was discovered, and it produced anywhere from $80 to $2,000 per ton for several years. As other mines also opened, a stamp mill wentinto operation in1875.5 By 1876 the permanent population of Summit was about five hundred, and the town could boast of having plenty ofstores and saloons, as well as a post office, the name of which was changed to Summitville in 1880. The rough toll road from Del Norte, twenty-seven miles away, couldbe negotiated by a hack in sum­ mer, butin the winter mail and other suppliescame inby saddlehorses, pack trains, or skis. In the summer of 1886 a mine superintendent set off on this road with a gold brick for shipment to the Denver mint. Two gunmen, a miner and an accomplice from Monte Vista, waylaid the rig. A shot was fired and the team bolted, upsetting the carriage. The man with the gold brick played dead and saved his valuable cargo as a result. Later one of the gunmen was tracked down and arrested, but he escaped from jail. When a posse found him hiding in the mountains, he was shot.6 Always locations in a good district were claimed quickly, and latecomers or those who had lost out fanned into the surrounding area in search of other promising sites. The first new camp near the Summitville District sprang up in 1874 atJasper, at an elevation about two thousand feet lower than Summit. The new camp was on the Alamosa River. The principal mine here was the Miser, which pro­ duced gold, although the original strike was at a silver mine, called the Perry. A partner in the development of the Perry Mine was Alva Adams, who became governor of Colorado.' Both of these mines were on Cornwall Mountain. The area, in fact, was called the Jasper-Cornwall District. A miner named John Cornwall ran a post office, called Cornwall, from 1879 until 1882, when it was moved to nearby Jasper and renamed. Production at Jasper warranted a stamp mill quite early. Despite the bad name the district earned when the developers of the Sanger Mine swindled their investors, the camp survived longer than many others. The post office at Jasper operated until 1910, for example, although a branch of the L. L. Fassett Store of Monte Vista, which opened at Jasper in 1900, pulled out by 1905.8 178 The San Luis Valley

Another important camp in this region was at Stunner. Stunner was above Jasper on the Alamosa River and about six miles below Summit, or Summitville as it now was called. Actually Stunner was preceded by a nearby camp called Blainvale, which had postal ser­ vice in 1882 and 1884, but this post office moved to Loyton in the fall of 1884 for one month. That this post office closed after only one month indicates that the mines probably were not very active at that time. When service resumed in 1886, the place was called Stunner. This time the post office remained open until 1894 with a brief re­ sumption in 1913-1914.9 Four miles south of Stunner was Platoro, taking its name from the rich silver and gold ores found there. Although the first mines are said to have been opened up in the early 1880s, no postal service was initiated before 1888. The first mine in this district, called the Mammoth Mine, has continued to produce in recent years, but the best mines were those that opened about 1890. These were very rich silver producers. The success of these finds resulted in the building of a toll road via the Conejos River in 1891 to permit all-weather shipments.lO However, the silver soon played out. A rich body of gold was discovered at the Gilmore Mine on Klondyke Mountain in 191311 Although this operation, too, lasted only a couple of years, it inspired a brief renewal of mining at Stunner and Jasper, as well as the revival of Platoro. While miningin the 1880s and 1890s was keeping the camps lively northwest of Antonito, mineral production amounted to little in the SanJuans to the south. The one exception was the Good Hope Mining District about thirty miles southwest of Antonito. Crofutt's Gripsack Guide reported that this camp was producing a little low-grade gold and had two stamp mills. The discovery of gold and silver in the Summitville District had stimulated prospecting all around the San Luis Valley, but much more significant were the new silver mines at Leadville, which drew thou­ sands of people to Colorado in the late 1870s. Prospectors spilled over Poncha Pass from the UpperArkansas River into the SanLuis Valley in the wake of this invasion. Prospecting around Kerber Creek west of Villa Grove resulted in the discovery of a good mine at Exchequer in 1880. This initiated the discovery of a number ofother mines that com­ prised the Kerber Creek Mining District. Mining boomed at Creede after 1889 and continued for nearly a century. 180 The San Luis Valley

WhenCaptainCharlesKerber homesteaded near Villa Grove in the 1860s, he bestowed his name on Kerber Creek, which flowed past his horne near the end ofits journeyfrom the Cochetopa Hills to San Luis Creek. A few other homesteads were taken up along the creek in the 1870s, and, inevitably, a little prospecting was done. Miners heading for the Gunnison area noticed a few traces of minerals, but no claims were actually filed. The most important of these omissions was the bypassing of the Rawley float. The first strike in the Kerber Creek area to prompt a stampede of prospectors into the region was the Exchequer, located in 1880. The next discovery was about a mile below it at the Bonanza Mine, which kicked off a boom all along Kerber Creek. South of the instant townof Bonanza, which sprang up sixteen miles west of Villa Grove, another strikewas made atwhatbecame known as Sedgwick. Sedgwick's fame soon escalated when the only brewery in the area was built there, and the streamsohonoredbyits presence wascalled BreweryCreek. Kerber City, which appeared on the north side of Kerber Creek, opposite Sedgwick, was a mere collection of tents and cabins, compared to Bo­ nanza and Sedgwick, both of which got post offices in 1880.12 One mile above Bonanza, Rawley Creek flows into Kerber Creek, and just above that junction Squirrel Creek flows into Kerber Creek. Exchequer was on Squirrel Creek and spread into Sawmill Creek. Its population, too, called for a post office by 1881. Beyond Exchequer was a little silver-mining camp called Bonito that bloomedjust long enough to have its ownpost office also from 1881 to 1883, and two miles farther was Spook City. To the southwest of Bonanza a few miles lay a handful of mines onFord Creek. The hub of all these camps was Bonanza with a population of nearly fifteen hundred in the flush ofits youth. However, asAnne Ellis commented inherclassic bookThe Life ofan Ordinary Woman, UIn speak­ ing of population you didn't count people, anyway, you counted sa­ loons and dance-halls. There were thirty-six saloons and seven dance-halls.u13 For that matter, Sedgwick was holding its own as an entertainment capital. With a population of only 650, it had a billiard hall, a bowlingalley, two hotels, and two dance halls-plus thebrewery. Mining camps such as these, crowded into narrow mountain gulches, had a readybut much-abused source ofwater. In fact, the liv­ ery stable at Bonanza straddled Copper Creek so that watering the Thirty-six Saloons and Seven Dance~Halls 181 stock was a simple task. Various small gulches in the district also pro­ vided the only convenient place to dispose of mine tailings and mill wastes. As a result of this pollution, disputes arose between miners and the ranchers who lived below, both in the early days and more recently, regarding the poisoningofKerber Creek. Anne Ellis, who lived in Exchequer as a child, also recalled warnings about drinking the creek water. She was told that it would give her "lyford fever" and that dead cattle had been found in the creek downstream." She also could remember, years later, only three bathtubs in Bonanza, regardless ofits proximity to water. One of these was in the back room of Billy Hannigan'sbarber shop, where onlymen or"fancy women" ever went. The second was a sitz bath,belonging to a saloon keeper who occasion­ ally lent it out to his special friends. The third was a Turkish bath that sometimes was pressed into service to sober up a miner who had over­ indulged. Despite the absence of the finer things such as bathtubs or even a church, Bonanza had a newspaper, the Enterprise, later replaced by the Bee. The town was incorporated and had a justice of the peace court, presided over by an English accountant, Hubert Pool, who also dispensed free legal advice to his neighbors. Oxford-educated though he was, Pool found Bonanza to his liking and remained there until his death during the influenza epidemic in 1918. Both he and Anne Ellis are buried in the Exchequer cemetery. Transportation to and from the booming district was improved when the Denver and Rio Grande crossed Poncha Pass to Villa Grove in 1881. A stage line and ore wagons from the mines connected with the railroad via a toll road, which Otto Mears built as soon as mining took hold at Bonanza. Although some people coming in from the north used a short cut to the camp from Alder, the vast majority used the toll road. The residents seem not to have resented the fee they had to pay to get in and out of town but were grateful to Mears for their good road. Mears built another road above Bonanza across the mountains to reach Shirley on the D&RG's Marshall Pass line, but this operation did not survive long. IS Bonanza itself was situated at about ten thousand feet above sea level, and the route across the mountains was too high for successful use. Nevertheless, an aerial tramway carried ore from the Rawley Mine to the railroad at Shirley, seven miles north of Bonanza, in the 1920s and 1930s.16 182 The San Luis Valley

Among the speculators who rushed to see Bonanza was former President Ulysses S. Grant. When he toured the mines of Colorado in 1880, looking for promising investments, his party camped at Sedgwick for several days. Mrs. Ellis reports, "Grant offered fort) thousand dollars for the Bonanza Mine, which was promptly re­ fused-for by now the owners were charging one dollar per head just to look at this hole down only a few feet. Grant also offered one hundred and sixty thousand for the Exchequer."17 The Exchequer's appeal was some very rich silver-copper ore, but the Bonanza turned out to be a producer of only low-grade silver-bearing lead ore. While not good enough to make fortunes, the Bonanza worked for many years and was promising enough to attract leasers. About the tum of the century it was leased by Mark Biedell, one of the Fort Garland veterans who had remained in the valley. He built a concen­ trating mill in Bonanza for the mine. In the first half century ten times as much value in silver as in gold was produced by the Kerber Creek Mining District, but the gold mines often kept the camp going. After the price of silver dropped in 1882, most of Bonanza's miners drifted away, and the devaluation in 1893 was a devastating blow to all silver camps. In the meantime the Empress Josephine Mine, located in 1880, and the St. Louis Mine, which

Bonanza, the home of thirty-six saloons and seven dance-halls. Thirty-six Saloons and Seven Dance-Halls 183 is thoughtto strikethe samebodyofgold ore, keptminers employed for many years when most silver mines were closed. A supervisor who became known as the "father of Bonanza" because of his concern for his neighbors' welfare was John E. Ashley of the St. Louis Mine. Despite the benefits to the community of the Empress Josephine and the St. Louis mines, in the long run the silver-bearing Rawley Mine has outstripped all others in the camp. Having been bypassed by its first discoverer, the Rawley was filed on in 1880, and it went into production in 1882. After the turn of the century it was devel­ oped extensively by a series of leasers representing eastern compa­ nies. One of these built a large concentrating mill, an aerial tramway, and electric facilities with power lines coming from Alamosa ninety miles away. For a few years ore concentrated in this mill was shipped out over the tramway to the D&RG, which freighted the ore to Leadville for smelting. Primarily because of the expansion of the Rawley Mine, Bonanza's population was large enough to require a school. In the same decade a fire destroyed most of the town, and it never was rebuilt. The Rawley Mine, however, kept going, and others in the area, such as the Empress Josephine, have worked from time to time since World War n. The quietness which has descended on Kerber Creek belies the scale of operations still going on underground, where elec­ tric locomotives move ore trains that once required dozens of men and burros. To all appearances Bonanza, which once had nineteen mills and four smelters and hundreds of families, is now little more than a ghost town. As might be expected, the mountains lying between the Summitville and Kerber Creek Mining districts received their share of hopeful attention, but no major districts developed here. Mark Biedell promoted some of the activity in this area. When Summitville boomed, he had given up farming and moved to Del Norte where he could make faster money as a merchant in the supply town. He prob­ ably grub-staked some of the prospectors who located some mines in the 1880s southwest of Saguache around Biedell and Camero creeks. The principal mines were the Esperanza, which has been worked off and on for nearly a century since its discovery in 1883, and the Buckhorn mines. For a year activity at the latter warranted a post office, called Biedell, which moved to Camero in 1884 for a two-year 184 The San Luis Valley

tenure. Mail came in from Green, as the La Garita post office then was called.18 Camero also had a few small mines, but its chief reason for being a ripple in the mining boom was that it lay on the stage route between Saguache and Del Norte. Also in this area was a camp called Belleview, which mayhave lasted only for a year-1883-when ithad a newspaper called the Crystal Hill Pilot. In the more remote mountains to the west, where the ghosts of the Fremont expedition lingered, a few prospects in the Embargo and Wannamaker Creek areas resulted in the establishment of a gold camp called Sky City. The Sky City Mine was a mile and a half up­ stream on Wannamaker Creek from its junction with the South Fork of Saguache Creek19 The owner of this mine was Senator Thomas Bowen, who kept it working into the 1900s and built a mill for pro­ cessing ore. Bowen had obtained the LittleAnnie Mine at Summitville and invested in various other mining properties. A post office called Bowenton, operating in Rio Grande County from 1881 until 1884, may havebeen another camp in which he was interested. To the north of these mines in the La Garita Mountains a camp called Iris was located near Cochetopa Pass. One can imagine the frustration of William Gilpin when the San Juan mines revealed the riches he had prophesied, while the Sangre de Cristos in which he was involved financially refused to yield min­ erals in significant quantity. During the years, squatters gradually had entered the Baca Grant Number Four. By 1872 there were post offices at San Isabel, RitoAlto, and Cristonie (Crestone). In the mid-1870s the D&RG group leased the grant to investors, one of whom, George H. Adams, became man­ ager of the estate. Thereafter settlement was more systematic, but farming and ranching, not mining, were the chief activities. The town of Cottonwood was established on Cotton Creek in 1876, and irri­ gation ditches were dug." As events turned out, Gilpin's luck was changing. In 1877 he bought the Baca Grant from the financially straitened D&RG group. Although the grant still was leased, he owned the mineral rights and was to receive royalties on profits from mining on the grant. In the spring of 1880 gold in paying quantities at last was found on the west side of the Sangre de Cristos. The area around Burnt Creek was the scene of the first big discoveries. Prospectors flocked in, investors in Thirty-six Saloons and Seven Dance-Halls 185

Philadelphia built a concentrating mill, George Adams and A. H. Ma­ jor opened a store in an old adobe building, and Crestone received a postoffice. The town also had a bar, of course. At the grand opening free drinks and lunches drew a crowd, and a grateful sheepherder par­ took so freely of this bounty that he died. The next day Windy Bill, a local dignitary, delivered a eulogy for the sheepherder: "To Juan's veracity, all bear testimony; to his capacity, sad to relate, there was a limit. "21 A short-lived camp with a post office called Tetons existed north ofCrestone in 1880 and 1881. The name came from three jagged peaks north of Music Peak. These summits and a stream that flowed from them were called Trois Tetons by early settlers." The names probably were bestowed by trappers who left several French titles on land­ marks. In this case the suggestive French words were replaced with proper, English names-Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle, and Kit Carson Peak. During the mining boom the little town of Cottonwood also blos­ somed into a sizeable camp. Its mines produced gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron. For a while a stamp mill owned by Tom Bowen oper­ ated here. For Gilpin the good news was that he was able to sell the Baca Grant to GeorgeAdams and others for $350,000 in 1886. Not so lucky were the squatters and miners on the grant, all of whom were evicted by the new owners. In the territories of the West when mines were discovered, the rights of their owners were protected by a system that had evolved. Mining distriels were created to facilitate the re­ cording of mine claims, to provide local laws and justice, and to administer civil needs of the miners in the districts. After Colorado achieved statehood, the legality of mine ownership in such districts was confirmed. However, on a land grant an entirely different con­ dition existed. Mining distriels were not legal there unless a grant's owners organized them. As a result, miners on the Baca Grant had no legal choice but to leave. About 1890 the new owners of the grant attempted additional mining on the property, taking advantage of workings and equipment developed by the evieled miners. Cottonwood's population again swelled to about one thousand, and smaller camps sprang up along 186 The San Luis Valley

the edge of the towering mountains atJulia City, Spanish, Lucky, Pole Creek, and Music City. A thriving new town in 1892 was Duncan, which grew to about four thousand when miners thronged to gold camps after the col­ lapse of silver in 1893. Some investors in Duncan's mines were Alamosa businessmen. Duncan had all the amenities-a school and a store, a tavern and telephones, a barber and a post office--every­ thing, in short, except George Adams's permission to stay there. Af­ ter much litigation and another sale of the grant, questions about titles and rights were settled in favor of the grant's owners, and Duncan closed shop in 1900.23 When the people of Duncan left the grant, they set up a new town called, symbolically, Liberty. Liberty was just outside the grant at the north end of the sand dunes. Although this camp had a stamp mill, its hopes exceeded production. Still, the town struggled along, as evidenced by the presence of a post office from 1900 until 1919 and sporadically thereafter. When miners at Crestone also received Adams's eviction notices in the late 1880s, they set up another camp, Wilcox, just north of Crestone. About 1890 Crestone again boomed, following new gold discoveries, which repopulated the town. The chief operation was the Cleveland Mine. The building of the D&RG line from Villa Grove to Alamosa facilitated movement of freight between Crestone and the outside world via the new railroad station at Moffat. About 1900 another wave of expansion occurred at the mines, and a rail spur was laid into Crestone from Moffat. During this peak of activity a hotel was built in Crestone, and the neighborhood became a short-lived center of real estate development-a recurring condition in the San Luis Valley. With a slightly better record for endurance, mining continued off and on for many decades in Crestone. While gold and silver mines in the twenty-five-mile strip of the mountains around Crestone perenniallyopened and closed, ironmin­ ing nearby proved to be a venture more stable if less glamorous. Near Blanca Peak iron in the Grayback District had attracted the Colorado Coal and Iron Company to invest in mining on the Trinchera Estate. Toward the northern end of the San Luis Valley an­ other source of ironpromised an abundance of ore without the neces­ sity ofpaying royalties to the owners of a land grant. In contrast to the ethereal appearance of the valley below, the concrete foundations of the Orient Mine's buildings appear solid and permanent, but the mine closed more than a half century ago.

Iron-bearing limonite ore was shipped to CF&I smelters in Pueblo and Durango by rail with a spur between Villa Grove and Orient City facilitating freight. 188 The San Luis Valley

Limonite deposits in the Sangre de Cristos southeast of Villa Grove had failed to capture the attention of prospectors looking for gold in the 1870s, at what was called the Blake Mining District. No mining was done here until about 1880, when the Colorado Coal and Fuel Company boughtaboutonehundredacres just northofthe Valley View HotSprings and opened the Orient Mine to extract the iron-bearing limonite ore from limestone. By 1880 the town of Orient City had sprung up with two restaurants, a saloon, and other places of business.24 Two years later the mine was able to produce 30,000 tons of ore, and after a brief slump in the mid-1880s, its capacity reached over 200,000 tons annually. The ore was shipped to smelters in both Pueblo and Durango.25 In 1881 the D&RG built a spur from Villa Grove to Hot Springs, the name used by the railroad for its station near Orient. Orient City grew to about four hundred people with company houses, a school, and even a library officiated over by the barber. The miners themselves represented a cosmopolitan background, includ­ ing Italian, Northern European, Irish, and, the largest group, Hispanic. A resort for the pleasure of the residents ofOrientand the general neigh­ borhood developed atValley View Hot Springs, thencalled Haumann, apparently a variation of spelling for Homan. Haumann was a post office from 1882 until 1885. Activity at Orient and Bonanza combined to make Villa Grove a thriving center, a role that continued in dwindling degree as long as trains operated between Salida and Alamosa. In tribute to the railroad's importance, when Villa Grove published its first newspa­ per in 1891, it was called The Headlight. Its owner was a local attor­ ney, S. E. Van Noorden, just as the local saddlery and boot shop was run by the justice of the peace, A. H. Schwackenberg. Under the control of the Colorado Coal and Iron Company's new organization, the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, the Orient Mine and Orient City survived until 1919, when new mines in Wyoming made the Orient operation obsolete. After its demise the northern end of the valley settled down to a quiet pace with the remnants of mining at Bonanza, ranching, railroading, and occasional outings to Valley View and Mineral Hot Springs. As each of these discoveries, influxes ofpopulation, and, too often, abandonments took place, the valley as a whole was affected by the excitement and the disappointments. In already-existing towns near The soothing waters ofValley View Hot Springs once gave comfort to miners, worn out eitherby work or by revelry or by both. 190 The San Luis Valley

the mineral districts a wave of prosperity would spark local busi­ nesses and create a surplus of jobs, often filled by transient young men or out-of-luck miners. Farmers and ranchers, eager to sell food to the nearby camps, would bristle with energetic ideas about market­ able crops and livestock. Road builders and freighters carved deep scars into the mountains, which did not heal when activity in a dis­ trict ceased. Nothing in the first two decades of mining in and around the San Luis Valley prepared the local people for Creede, however. Creede was in a class by itself. This camp lay some distance northwest of the San Luis Valley on Willow Creek near the headwaters of the Rio Grande, but, since much of the traffic to and from this camp carne by way of Del Norte and Wagon Wheel Gap, Creede's tumultuous life yeas ofconsid­ erable interest in the valley. Creedeblossomed late in Colorado mining history, and one might assume from its legends that no mining was done at Creede until Nicholas Creede discovered the Holy Moses Mine in 1889. In fact, prospecting had taken place there in the 1870s and a few claims, in­ cluding the Bachelor Mine that later developed into a bonanza, were recorded then. In the mid-1880s a few new prospectors also worked the area. The discovery of the Holy Moses Mine led to the rapid loca­ tion of several more very rich mines, and by 1890 Creede was boom­ ing. Every load ofore corning down the narrow gulches seemed richer than the previous one. The boom town and its rustic suburbs were jammed into any available niche in the rugged terrain. To keep up with the growth of the mines and the town, a new railroad hauled in trainloads of tim­ bers and lumber as soon as the Denver and Rio Grande, seeing a wind­ fall, completed a line into Creede in 1891. Soon false-fronted stores, false-fronted hotels, and false-fronted saloons replaced the tents that had housed local businesses, includingSoapy Smith's well-publicized gambling tables and Bob Ford's bar. Crowded down in the bottom of the valley, the town's one main street was a hive, vibrating with ore wagons, burro trains, muleskinners and miners (relaxing in or taking apart the dance halls according to a moment's mood), painted ladies strolling the board­ walk, children playing on their way from school, housewives trying to cross the muddy street, and a few people even going to the First Congregational Church. Thirty-six Saloons and Seven Dance-Halls 191

Tiny cottages at Valley View Hot Springs still can be rented by visitors with a taste for history and economy.

Cy Warman was publishing a newspaper, and in it he printed his well-known lines about the boisterous camp:

It's day all day in the daytime, And there is no night in Creede.

Many investors in the mines wereoutsidebusinessmenwith capi­ tal for ambitious development. David Moffat of Denver was notable in attracting such backers. Thomas Bowen was one of the local inves­ tors. Ores from Creede were silver, gold, copper, lead, and zinc, a diversity which enabled the mines to survive vacillations in market prices. Mineral production in the Creede Mining District totaled $69.5 million from 1891 through 1966 and another $11.5 million in the next four years alone.26 Creede may have learned the difference between day and night since Cy Warman's time, but its mines were far from asleep. In recent years the mines of Creede and the Rawley Mine at Bo­ nanza have been significant sources of precious metals that still pro­ vide jobs and income in the San Luis Valley. Otherwise, only brief 192 The San Luis Valley

flurries, such as a short-lived rush at Orean northeast of Zapata and another nearby at the Commodore Mine on Blanca Peak, both about the tum of the century, have kept alive the hope of striking pay dirt." More often now, such unglamorous materials as sand and gravel or soda are the products of the valley. Volcanic slag from a cinder cone near Mesita and tuff from the Del Norte area also have been removed, but most important of the volcanic materials has been per­ lite, mined by Johns-Manville south of Antonito since 1959. Other minerals have been manganese ores from Saguache County, and ura­ nium from that county as well as from the Culebra Range. 28 Although not a major economic factor, turquoise mines have de­ lighted lovers of Southwestern jewelry with some stones of excep­ tional quality. Copper miners northwest of Villa Grove discovered the turquoise deposits there in the 1890s, and the Hall Mine became a sporadic but important source of gem-quality material. Closed now, this mine still yielded several hundred pounds of turquoise annually as late as the 1950s. East of Manassa the ancient Indian workings were rediscovered by Israel Pervine King in the 1890s. The King Mine revealed one of the world's largest pockets of turquoise in the 1940s, and one blue-green nugget of superior quality weighed nearly nine pounds. For several years a large portion of Manassa's population owed their livelihoods to mining or cutting turquoise. The Kings con­ tinue to work this mine from time to time, shipping material to New Mexico, where members of the same family are dealers. Probably few residents of the San Luis Valley today would wel­ come a revisitation by the often hungry, disgruntled prospectors who straggled through the area in the 1860s or by the rowdy miners and muleskinners who infested it in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s. Most people even have forgotten the profound effect that mining exerted on the valley, but the patterns of the region's life changed irrevocably during that period, and the results still are evident today. Chapter XIV

"Significant Little Evidences ofRefinement"

Shortly after Cary French and his companions found gold on South Mountain in 1870, one of them, who was taking out his rifle to shoot a beaver, accidentally shattered French's leg with a stray bul­ let. French was taken down to old Lorna, where a Mexican woman, Juanita Lobato, cared for him for about three months, but the wound did not heal. Finally Juanita had her son take French to Fort Garland, where the army surgeon took over. From there the recovering pros­ pector went horne to Kansas for the winter, but he returned in the early summer of 1871 to rejoin his mining partners. When autumn arrived again, French stayed in the area and promoted the idea of building a new town below the mines as a permanent base for the miners and their families. This town on the south side of the Rio Grande del Norte was to be called Del Norte.! Early the next year Del Norte's development began in earnest with the promise that anyone who built there by May could be a stockholder in the town company. A plat was filed late in 1872, and French, who was elected preSident of the town company, sent for his family the following year.' Meanwhile, George Ingersoll built a much 194 The San Luis Valley

needed bridge across the river, and the post office that had operated three miles downstream at Lorna de SanJose since 1867 moved to Del Norte. A new town called Lorna was platted across the river from Del Norte, and illoo had a post office from 1873 to 1875. Mark Biedell came down from the La Garita area to opena general store, while Alva Adams, who already hadhardware businesses inColoradoSprings and Pueblo, started a branch in Del Norte. By 1875 the United States Land Office was established to keep track of claims which were filed by hundreds of prospectors who milled through the town. As French had hoped, many of them set up permanent homes in Del Norte and its rival addi­ tions on the west side and across the river. The settled population grew to 1,500 by 1875, although the town of Del Norte was not incorporated for another ten years. With freighters and miners thronging to Lake City and Silverton, an improved road was needed. This route was surveyed in 1875 by members of the U.s. Corps of Engineers, who were part of a large program of exploration and surveying directed by Lieutenant George M. Wheeler. The new road from Del Norte was surveyed on the south side of the Rio Grande to Wagon Wheel Gap. At the gap and above it traffic was to cross the river in several places by bridge. A road com­ pany took over construction with costs repaid by tolls. A toll gate was maintained at Antelope Park, where this portion of the road ended. Another section was then built to Lake City with separate tolls being collected for it. When rancher Martin Van Buren Wason added yet another pay gate near the entrance to Creede in 1891, he infuriated miners who could not get in and out of town without pay­ ing his tolls. Despite such irritating charges, toll roads gave access to remote portions of Colorado for many years, and the old Antelope Park road remained a principal route to San Juan country until 1916, when the Wolf Creek highway opened to automobile traffic. What everyone needed even more than a toll road in the mid-1870s, however, was the construction of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway line into the San Luis Valley and Del Norte, but the railroad was hamstrung east of the mountains. In the meantime, the task of hauling tons of mining equipment, supplies, and ore in and out of the San Juan mines became a bonanza for freighters. Although some of this load reached the southwest mining country via Saguache and Cochetopa Pass, Del Norte's streets, billowing with dust in the Before the railroad was completed, wagon trains like this one at Del Norte carried tons of cargo to and from the mines and nearby supply towns.

When mines opened in the San Juan Mountains, stage stations needed all the hay that the San Luis Valley could produce. This large bam was near a stage station on the Alamosa River route to Jasper and Cornwall. 196 The San Luis Valley

summer and mucking with mud in the winter, received the majority of the rowdy teamsters. When the Whitsitt Hotel opened in 1875, travelers had their first adequate inn at Del Norte, and just in time, for Barlow and Sanderson established a stage station in town the next year, adding their share of horse-scented confusion to the streets. Forty-some head of horses were pastured in the area to keep the stages rolling. At Wagon Wheel Gap another stage station and a hotel of sorts opened. In 1878 the more commodious Hot Springs Hotel was built nearby, and it continued to operate for many years as a resort of muscle-sore miners and tourists. In the late 18805 it belonged to the Denver and Rio Grande.' Events of the entire region were reported by the San Juan Prospec­ tor, a weekly that began publication in 1874 and has continued to keep its presses rolling ever since, although its first owner, Nicholas Lambert, soon found prospecting more enticing than writing about it and sold out. As subsequent newspapers appeared in Del Norte, they were either absorbed into the Prospector or left town. Even Summitville had a newspaper in the 1880s, but it lasted only for a year. 4 To handle the burgeoning amount ofcountybusiness, Rio Grande County had been created in 1874 with Del Norte as its county seat. With heavy influxes of people and activity elsewhere in the SanJuans, other county reorganizations took place, with each new county striv­ ing to serve its own economic and political needs, often to the detri­ ment of counties from which the new ones were carved. Rio Grande, Hinsdale, and La Plata counties all were sliced from Conejos County in the same year. At the same time Gunnison County lost a little ground to Hinsdale and Saguache counties. In 1879 a northern prong of Rio Grande County was yielded to Saguache County, but in 1893 both Saguache and Rio Grande as well as Hinsdale lost portions of their jurisdiction~and revenue~to the newly created Mineral County, which had Creede as its county seat. Politics were importantto the towns spawnedby the miningboom, especially inDel Norte. Jealousy had existedbetweenadvocates ofmines around Denver and mines in the San Juans as early as 1860. When the southwestern partof the territory finally proved its worth in the 1870s, a demand arose for a government separate from the control of Denver, Significant Little Evidences of Refinement 197 and a state to be called San Juan was vociferously promoted. Pueblo joined the campaign in hopes of becoming the capital, but Del Norte, never deterred by modesty, was the leading contender for this honor. A conspicuous leader in this scheme for statehood was Thomas M. Bowen. Bowen was a man ofexceptional talent and energy, as demon­ stratedbyhis admission to the bar in Iowa whenhe was only eighteen and his election to the legislature there whenhewas twenty-one. After a move to Kansas and service in the UnionArmy during the Civil War, he went to Arkansas, where he became a state supreme court justice. Next, PresidentGrantappointed him governoroftheTerritory ofIdaho. In 1875, at the ripe old age offorty, he settled inDel Norte, opened a law practice, and espoused the cause of the State of San Juan.' Perhaps he evenhad aspirations to become its governor. The desire to establish the separate state was frustrated whenColo­ rado was admitted to the Union as a state in 1876, and the majority of its first congressmen and state officials hailed from the northernpartof Colorado. The San Juan campaign soon lost some of its momentum when the citizens and the press ofSaguache defected. Complete defeat was acknowledged whenPueblo also rejected the scheme. Inthe mean­ time, Del Norte's political leaders had gained enoughpopular support to propeltheirfuture careers. Thomas Bowen soon became a state sena­ tor and in 1883 was elected to the United States Senate, interrupting his San Juan mining activities for one term of six years in Washington. Democrat Alva Adams also got his start inpolitics whenhe went to the state house of representatives in 1876. He was to become governor of Colorado in 1887 when he was only thirty-seven, and he served an­ other term in the same office in the 1890s. Another influential political figure wasCharles H. Toll, anattorney from NewYork State, whomoved to Del Norte in 1875. Hebecame countyjudge the next year, state repre­ sentative in 1879, and Colorado's attorney general in 1881. His descen­ dants havebeen some ofColorado's prominent politicians. In addition to regional politics another issue occupying attention was women's suffrage. Hoping to establish their right to vote in the new state, suffragettes campaigned to win the vote in 1877. When it failed to pass, opposition from the southern counties was singled out as a major cause, the heavy conservative Mexican population there having rejected the issue, it was claimed. Although it is true that these counties voted negatively, the issue would have been defeated by other 198 The San Luis Valley

counties anyway.6 Perhaps one of the revealing results of this election was the polarization of progressive and conservative elements in the state. In this regard the miners and Spanish-speaking people within the San Luis Valley found themselves in opposing political camps, too. Along with statehood and regional politics came district courts, which for many years were served by elected judges in Colorado. Thomas Bowen was elected district judge in 1876 for the Fourth Ju­ dicial District, then encompassing all of the San Luis Valley and the southwestern quarter of the state. To hold court in this far-reaching district, the judge moved his sessions from town to town. Occasion­ ally court met in a large tent when no suitable building was avail­ able, as at San Luis. Even a district court, which provided trial by jury, failed to put an end to the well-established practice among some citizens of taking law into their own hands. Vigilantes around Del Norte were especially eager to settle scores with stage robbers or cattle rustlers in frontier style, even after the district court was estab­ lished. Nevertheless, it was evident early in Del Norte's life that many uf th~ retiidents wbhed to cultivate a law-abiding, sober way of life. Churches were part of that evidence. As early as 1872 a Catholic church was organized in Del Norte, and in later years the headquar­ ters for a parish located there. In 1874 the Methodists built a log structure between Del Norte and West Del Norte to serve as a meeting place for their brethren in the rival parts of town. When this building was replaced by a stone church in 1876, Susan B. Anthony gave an address at the dedication ceremony, indicating how the Methodists felt about women's suf­ frage in Del Norte, at least. The Episcopal bishop for Colorado and Wyoming was the ener­ getic Reverend Franklin Spaulding, who traveled to many towns and mining camps organizing churches in the 1870s. In 1874 he arrived in Del Norte and held services at the little adobe building that housed the county offices. Two years later an Episcopal church in Del Norte was built. Undiscouraged about denominational competition, the Reverend Alexander Darley arrived in Del Norte in 1876 to organize another Protestant church, the Presbyterian, with the supervision of Sheldon Jackson, Spaulding's counterpart in authority and vigor. Darley not The PresbyterianCollege of the Southwest, never prosperousenough to constructa class­ room building, met at Del Norte's Presbyterian church until it burned. 200 The San Luis Vall"]!

only served Del Norte's congregation for the next few years but also energetically organized other groups around the San Luis Valley. In 1882 with the assistance of the Reverend George Darley, Alexander's brother, a handsome church was completed inDel Norte. Senator Tho­ mas Bowen donated a bell for the steeple, and itwas generally agreed that this was the most beautiful church in the entire Rocky Mountains, although some might have argued that the little church which George Darley, a skilled carpenter, had built in Lake City was even prettier.' The D&RG's tracks finally had been laid into Del Norte and be­ yond to Wagon Wheel Gap and Del Norte's city fathers were in an expansive mood when the Presbyterian state synod met there in 1883. George Darley, who had become the pastor at Del Norte, presented a petition to have a Presbyterian college located in this town, which promised to become the center of commerce and culture for the en­ tire San Juan country. The mayor of Del Norte reported that the citi­ zens wanted the college, and local businessmen pledged land and money for it. The Presbyterian parishioners offered their beautiful new church for the school's use. As a result of this barrage of dona­ tions and arguments, Del Norte did become the horne of the school called the Presbyterian College of the Southwest, which the synod had been expecting to locate in Denver or at least on the Eastern Slope.' By 1884 the institution opened its doors to thirty students, some of whomwere Spanish-speaking seminarians training to become mis­ sionaries among their own people. A dormitory had been built, an addition for classrooms was attached to the church, and three fac­ ulty members arrived from Ohio. However, the ambitions of the school's promoters were greater than the resources actually avail­ able for such a project. A main college building, designed on an im­ pressive scale, never was built, although an observatory was set up on Mount Lookout behind town. Under pressure George Darley suf­ fered a nervous breakdown, and in 1893 the uninsured church and college burned, despite the heroic efforts of Del Norte's three fire brigades. By the turn of the century the school had to accept defeat and closed, but the observatoryclung to the summitof MountLookout until 1940, when it blew away in a windstorm. Despite this ill-starred venture and despite a slump in mining in the mid-1880s, Del Norte's economy had become relatively stable, in Significant Little Evidences of Refinement 201

The college's observatory on Mt. Lookout was a landmark at Del Norte until the 19405. large partbecause of agriculture inthe surrounding area. Farming and ranching were encouraged by the markets found in mining camps,es­ pecially in Creede in the 1890s. Although two banks moved to Alamosa after the railroad arrived there, two others remained in Del Norte. One of these was Asa Middaugh's Bank of Del Norte that opened in 1881 and became a reliable fixture in town. Middaugh also operated a mercantile company, while the New York Cash Store ran competition. Despite the acute disapproval of some citizens, a large brewery operated onSan Francisco Creek, and across the Rio Grande from the freight yards the inevitable red-light district appeared. At the depot, where Del Norte's town offices now are located, Don Haywood was the agent who kept tons of freight moving. His name was given to a siding between Monte Vista and Del Norte. When Del Norte was born as a supply point for the San Juan mines, the town's closest rival was Saguache. Already a county seat and post office by 1867, the town quickly established itself as the prin­ cipal settlement in the northern end of the valley. Although another community called Milton was located on the south side of Saguache Creek with a school, a church, a hotel, and a store, the land was too Saguache's first flour mill ground wheat with Spanish-type stones, but another mill soon was producing real American flour.

Saguache's first house had undergone numerous improvements, such as the addition of a tin roof, when the whole family lined up to have their picture taken. Several prosperous ranches were located along Saguache Creek toward Cochetopa Pass. 204 The San Luis Valley

marshy and the residents decided to join Saguache onhigher ground. Otto Mears was boosting the area's farms, selling supplies to the Los Pinos IndianAgency, and acting as an arbitrator in opening up the Ute reservation to mining development. After the Brunot Agreement of 1873, events quickened for both Mears and his town. He instigated the publication of the Saguache Chronicle to boom the region, and he and Enos Hotchkiss built a toll road to Lake City. The next year, 1875, Mears established another news­ paper atLake City, whichhe also had platted, to further his promotion of the area. Itwas a promising tale of hope and riches, interrupted only momentarily by such events as Alferd Packer's alleged cannibalism. Packer was brought down to Saguache for safekeeping in the new jail, which today is part of a historical museum. Saguache was a closely knit community. In 1874 the town com­ pany was organized by Mears, David Heimberger, Isaac Gotthelf, Nathan Russell, and others in anticipation of the growth whichwould accompany developments to the west. Heimberger, the first presi­ dent of the town company, was the county physician, and in later years he owned the Chronicle. Gotthelf, who was justice of the peace, ran a mercantile company that he had opened in 1867 and that still exists in Saguache. He also raised cattle and operated a branch of his store at the Los Pinos Agency, at one time in partnership with Mears. After a few years as a state legislator, Gotthelf founded the Saguache County Bank, with Leopold Mayer as a partner. Mears continued in the retail business for a while after the In­ dian agency moved to the Uncompahgre River. Occasionally Indians still carne down to his store to trade for tobacco and whiskey at Saguache. Whiskey seems to have been one of the important items at the store, for the local women singled out Mears's establishment on one occasion when their husbands had been overindulging. In Car­ rie Nation style, the ladies smashed Mears's whiskey barrels, but the wily businessman had the last word. He simply charged the cost of the liquor on their nextmonthlybills.' For several years Mears'shorne remained inSaguache at the site of the present courthouse, which was built in 1910. In 1877 he became a naturalized citizen, DistrictJudge Thomas Bowen signing the papers, and in the ensuing decade Mears served in the state house and senate. Increasingly, the building of toll roads and railroads dominated his Significant Little Evidences of Refinement 205

The Fourth of July always was a big event inSaguache, and 1912 was no exception. business life and gave hima legendary reputation as the "pathfinder of the SanJuan." Later he retired to California, where he died. By the time thatrailroads were cutting into staging and freighting, Saguache, like Del Norte, had developed a firm economic base as a supply town for the agricultural neighborhood. Hotels at Saguache provided lodging for travelers heading down the valley toward Del Norte or over Cochetopa Pass for several more years, however. The Fairview was the first, and the cornerstone of the Saguache Hotel was laid in1910, aeontradiction to stories thatPresidentGrantstayed there. Grantdid visitSaguache in 1879, however, when anexuberant celebra­ tion was staged in his honor. Saguache was no slacker at enjoying itself, but on the Fourth of July 1879, merriment turned to Widespread sorrow. A horse race was staged to highlight the holiday, and the whole town bet heavily on a local favorite that had never lost a race. The winner turned out to be a horse belonging to a traveling man from Kansas, who rode out of Saguache with most of the town's ready cash and a few Indian po­ nies besides. On the whole, though, Saguache had a stable character. Small irrigation ditches ran along each street and encouraged cottonwoods to grow quickly, giving the shady streets a settled appearance. There Reflections of the past. Several ofSaguache's handsome buildings were constructed with brick. 208 The San Luis Valley

were several churches-Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Bap­ tist. Baptist evangelizing in the mining camps around Bonanza was carried on with headquarters for the mission in Saguache. Appar­ ently Unitarian meetings also were held here, for Otto Mears's infant daughter was baptized in that church in Saguache in 1880. Fraternal organizations, such as the Masonic Lodge and Odd Fellows, and la­ dies' literary groups were active. If Del Norte had a college of which to boast, Saguache County's schools were a source of considerable pride, too. A public school was organized in Saguache in 1874, Milton already had one previously, and others soon appeared in farm communities, mining camps, and ranch areas throughout the county. A third contender for importance in the upper half of the San Luis Valley was Alamosa. Difficulty in crossing the Rio Grande kept traffic that was destined south and west concentrated in locations served by ferries-near the Culebra, at La Sauses, and at Lorna. Fording the river elsewhere was a tricky affair for heavily loaded wagons because of quicksand and mud. WhenAlexander Hunt preceded the Denver and Rio Grande into Alamosa, he first set up camp on the east bank of the river and estab­ lished a ferry large enough to transport two wagons and their teams. With the arrival of rails into Alamosa in 1878, the Rio Grande ceased being an obstacle to efficient movement of freight. When a small steamboat was launched at Alamosa, it did little either to assist in transportation or to compete with the railroad. While the railhead remained atAlamosa, an immense quantity of freight was transferred there daily. From the railroad yards ox-drawn wagons rolled south to Santa Fe and west to Del Norte and the San Juans. In 1878 another wagon road was approved by Congress to give access to the Pagosa Springs area without the long haul by way of Cumbres Pass, which was the customary route for freighters. The new road ran from Fort Garland andAlamosa to Gato Creek, across the mountains to intersectwith the road from TierraAmarilla, and thence to Pagosa Springs and the southwestern comer of the state. It was a difficult. lonely crossing, little used byfreighters. Since Alamosa owed its inception to the railroad, it was onlynatu­ ral that theeconomyduring the first years dependedheavily on freight­ ing. Even after rails extended beyond Alamosa and the forwarding of Significant Little Evidences of Refinement 209 supplies and are no longer was so important, the D&RG's division offices and shops still contributed in a major way to the local welfare. Offices for telegraph service were here, too, as wires and poles had entered the valley along with rails and ties. The depotnow standingin

By 1912 Alamosa's Main Street, then called Fifth Street, was the center of the Valley's commerce. Author's collection.

Alamosa is a comparatively recent addition, which was preceded by two others that burned. The rapidity in which Alamosa became established as a trade center and residential community resulted in the publication of sev­ eral newspapers during the first few decades of its life. Churches also quickly arrived, the first when the untiring ReverendAlexander Darley sent a building for the Presbyterian church transported on a flatcar from Garland City. Alva Adams set up a hardware store, and two banks moved in from Del Norte. Alva Adams's cousin, William H. Adams, clerked in the new hardware store, later becoming a rancher in the La Jara area. Billy, as he usually was called, early showed an interest in local politics and became the town treasurerat the age oftwenty-two. Nexthe wasmayor 210 The San Luis Valley

for two terms and then a commissioner of Conejos County, until, with all this experience behind him, hemoved to the statehouse of represen­ tatives and to the state senate. Before his career was finished he served three terms as governor and was recognized as the elder statesman of Colorado politics. In tribute to his service to the San Luis Valley, his name was given to the state normal school that was established in Alamosa in the 19205. For more than three decades Alamosa chafed under the time-consuming inconvenience of handling its county business in Conejos. The northernportion of the valley hadbecome populated pri­ marily by Anglos in the 1870s and 18805, and the valley'S economy had shifted from south to north. Saguache and Del Norte were county seats, so why should not Alamosa enjoy the same status, the local citi­ zens argued. Only after a strenuous political and legal battle was Alamosa County finally created in 1913 from portions ofConejos and Costilla counties. The last of Colorado's sixty-three present counties, Alamosa County was not dignified with its handsome courthouse un­ til another quarter century had passed, because the new county was required to share for several years the bonded indebtedness ofConejos County. Today Alamosa, the "cottonwood grove," is the San Luis Valley's largest city. While greatprogress was taking place elsewhere in the valley, one anachronistic symbol of frontier days was crumbling in a lingering twilight. FortGarland, always out ofstep with the life of the rest of the valley, had been living on borrowed time after the Ute agency moved west to the Uncompahgre River. In the early 18805 it closed. For a few years after the Civil War, the facility was staffed again with regular troops and appearances ofa military operation were kept up, although a certain amount of hospitable neighborliness was ex­ tended to local people in need ofassistance. Enroute to the mines sev­ eral veterans of the war found a kind welcome at the fort in the early 18705. But in exchange for a warm bed, the guests were expected to comport themselves in a manner befitting a military post. When one ill-advised prospector smuggled in some whiskey for himself and the soldiers, he was shackled with irons in the guardhouse with rations of bread and water and thenordered to leave the fort and the entire vicin­ ity as well. Significant Little Evidences of Refinement 211

The offending whiskey probably was purchased just south of the fort at the store owned by F. W. Posthoff ofCostilla. This establishment did a thriving business in whiskey since it could not be stocked at the fort's commissary. For that matter, Posthoff also ran the commissary and later turned the operation over to his partner Ferd Meyer. In addi­ tion to other indispensables, the sutler's store carried a remarkable variety of goods, from patent medicines to buffalo robes, according to William Rideing, who visited Fort Garland with the Wheeler Survey. From the time of the Beale expedition in 1853, mappers, surveyors, and others under army sponsorship had used first Fort Massachusetts and then Fort Garland as a post at which to rest, reorganize, or resup­ ply. An exception among them was the Hayden parties, because their work was undertaken as civilian operations. When Hayden came to the San Luis Valley in the late 1860s his project was sponsored in part as a government geological survey and in part as a privately financed report, but none of his backing came through the army, unlike most pre-Civil War surveys. When several divisions of Hayden's surveys worked in Colorado again in the 1870s, he had an increased appro­ priation from Congress to support his work, but it still was entirely civilian. Hayden's topographic crews were in the mountains around the San Luis Valley in 1874, a year when several large forest fires hin­ dered work. Haydenparties did not use Fort Garland. Onthe other hand, the surveywith which Rideing traveled in 1875 whenhe stopped at FortGarland was sponsored by the Corps of Engi­ neers. This vastproject was called the United States Geographical Sur­ veys West of the Hundredth Meridian, better known as the Wheeler Survey. Although mapping of topographic features and surveying of roads was included in this program, its great achievements were the determination oflatitude, longitude, and altitude by triangulation and other methodical procedures. A Wheeler party came through the San Luis Valley in1873 enroute to the SanJuans, andanotherpassed through the Conejos area in 1874. A journalist who joined the 1875 project at Pueblo, Rideing de­ scribed Fort Garland as "a rectangular group of adobe buildings, flat-roofed, squat, and altogether dispiriting in their unmitigated ug­ liness.... [The] buildings are increasingly diiapidated."lO Despite the stultifying effect of the fort's appearance and isolation, Rideing acknowledged thatgood discipline was maintained withmili- 212 The San Luis Valley

tary pomp accompanying even the dullestroutines. Moreover, "the of­ ficers contrive to crowd many significantlittle evidences of refinement into their incommodious quarters, notwithstanding the difficulty of obtaining anythingexcept the necessaries oflife. The rooms are insome instances carpeted with buffalo-robes and bearskins, while the walls are adorned with guns and relics of the chase. To members ofour expe­ dition comingoutofthe field, this revelation ofdomesticity andcomfort proved a grateful change from the hardships of an American ex­ plorers'camp."l1 When this division of the survey left Fort Garland, it proceeded southwest to Conejos and thence to the Tierra Amarilla region and the SanJuans. Meanwhile, another division worked around the head­ waters of Saguache and La Garita creeks. To commemorate the work of these military men and the scientists affiliated with the enterprise, a group of unusual geologic formations northeast of Wagon Wheel Gap, high in the La Garitas, was designated Wheeler National Monu­ ment in 1908. It was one of the first areas in the nation set aside as a national monument. Because of its inaccessibility its status later was changed to that of a Geologic Area under the administration of the U.S. Forest Service. The departure of the Wheeler party from Fort Garland in 1875 marked the close of the fort's role in the exploration of the West. Life at the post quickly resumed its humdrum routine, broken chiefly by the comings and goings of wagon traffic past its gates. With the construction of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, the soldiers had a new diversion from the usual monotony. The sutler's store and the little settlement of adobe houses outside the fort also shared in this stir of excitement, one of the houses achieving the status of a hotel when it erected a sign over the front door to that effect. When Helen Hunt Jackson saw the post in 1878, she wrote, "It is not a fort which could resist a siege-not even an attack from a few mounted Indians; it must have been intended simply for barracks."12 Within a few months even the barracks proved inadequate, when the regular garrison, which usually consisted only of a company of infantry and a troop ofcavalry, was increased to nearly fifteen hundred after the Meeker Massacre in northwestern Colorado. Most of these new troops were encamped outside the fort proper. Duringthe negotia- Significant Little Evidences of Refinement 213 tions of a new treaty withthe Utes, which resulted in their removal from the Uncompahgre area, a large number of these soldiers moved to the Uncompahgre River, FortGarland's chief function thenbeing a supply depot guardedby a small garrison. Even that role became unnecessary when the Utes were removed; and, as a result, the fort was abandoned in 1883. The remaining troops were transferred to Fort Lewis near Durango, Colorado, and the mili­ tary cemetery was moved elsewhere, also. The land reverted to the Trinchera Estate. Until this abandonment only civilians associated with the fort could live on the military reservation. In adobes near the post after 1883 a few families set up housekeeping. People who had worked in the mess hall stayed and took jobs on the railroad's section gang or tried their hands at farming. A few former soldiers stayed around, some with their Mexican or Indian wives and one running Ferd Meyer's store and the post office. The fort itself was owned privately and used as a ranch home and headquarters until 1928, when a group of San Luis Valley resi­ dentsbought it for the purpose of preserving it. This group, organized as the Fort Garland Historical Fair Association, presented the prop­ erty in 1945 to the State Historical Society of Colorado, which re­ stored the fort and opened it as a museum to the public. Although the fort's prime is recaptured now in the museum like a moment suspended in time, the fort was, figuratively speaking, a museum piece long before the army abandoned it. When the flag was lowered in the parade ground in 1883, the adobe buildings had been crumbling for several years just as persistently as the old fron­ tier had been disappearing elsewhere in the San Luis Valley. The boom years of the 1870s had altered the way of life as irrevocably as a bachelor's life is changed when his bride decides to start moving the furniture around a little bit. Clearly, the San Luis Valley was becoming domesticated.

Chapter XV

"Manassa Was Strong on Religion"

Miner and merchant, road builder and teamster, banker and preacher, soldier and suffragette-these and many more played roles in the changing scene of the San Luis Valley during the 1870s. How­ ever, the main characters proved to be not these but the undramatic farmers and ranchers who settled in the valley during this and the ensuing decades. Development of agriculture progressed rapidly in the San Luis Valley during the 1870s for several reasons. The Homestead Act had encouraged settlement of public lands. The end of the Civil War had provided both the opportunity and the necessity for war veterans and people from ravaged parts of the nation to relocate in the West. National economic distress in the rnid-1870s and immigration from Europe swelled the stream of people seeking new beginnings on the frontier. Meanwhile, Colorado's miningboom and urban growthboth presented unfilled markets for agricultural products. The San Luis Valley contained land suitable for farms and ranches near some of the mines and towns. Men like Otto Mears and General William Jack- 216 The San Luis Valley

son Palmer would overcome the problems of transportation to the more distant markets. Perhaps when some families arrived in.the 1860s they intended merely to create self-sustaining farms, but men like John Lawrence and Nathan Russell with their ranches west of Saguache and Otto Mears with his new-fangled threshing machine clearly had some­ thing bigger in mind. At first their Mexican neighbors failed to grasp the implications of the changes going on around them and regarded such things as the threshing machine as foolish because it was waste­ ful of grain. Although the first mill built in the Saguache area-the Robertson Mill of about 1870 or 1871-was a Spanish type, it soon was succeeded by the Saguache Mill, which could produce the finer flour preferred in the mining communities and in Denver. Flour was not the only product soon being shipped from the Saguache area. Hay was sold to the mining camps for feed, and many head of cattle, sheep, and horses were raised for sale in these mar­ kets. Hogs were fed on locally grown peas, and a dairy ranch, called Rockcliff, operated about fifteen miles west of Saguache. This farm, where a post office was located from 1874 to 1880, and Samuel Hoagland's inn nearby were prominent ranches on the road to Cochetopa Pass.' Although land along Saguache Creek west of the town of Saguache was taken up quickly, newcomers in the 1870s found other locations in the county to the north and east. Villa Grove, called Garibaldi in the early 1870s, was laid out to serve farms and ranches in Homan's Park and along Kerber Creek. Near Bismark, about eight miles southeast of Villa Grove, there were enough settlers to warrant a post office by 1872. A couple of miles south of Bismark another post office known as Cotton Creek opened in 1875 but moved to Mirage in 1895. One of the farmers in this vicinity, DeWitt C. Travis, produced 70,000 pounds of potatoes in 1875 and became the first commercial grower of potatoes in the valley. Farther south on RitoAlto and Sangre de Cristo Creekmost of thesettlers wereSpanish-speaking, engaged in raising sheep and cattle. In 1877 Saguache County's first fair was organized after a group of local people acquired a piece of land at Saguache for their agricul­ tural exhibition. Among the winners in the horse show, which was staged as part of the fair, was stock belonging to Otto Mears.' Manassa Was Strong on Religion 217

Another section of the San Luis Valley that attracted farmers and ranchers was the fertile region above Del Norte. One of the earliest settlers here was an Englishman named Alden, who had acquired the land atAntelope Springs before 1872. At the junction ofWillow Creek and the Rio Grande, Martin Van Buren Wason established a ranch in 1871, also. He became an important supplier of horses with his live­ stock ranging throughout the area above Wagon Wheel Gap. Creede later was located onpart of Wason's range, a geographical coincidence that accounted for Wason's determination to collect tolls from those entering the camp. In1877 Wason, who had earned a reputationamong his neighbors as the most rugged of individuals, was married to an English poetess in a ceremony performedbyJudge Thomas Bowen. The Wasons reigned over their comer of Colorado for a quarterofa century. West of Del Norte about two hundred German immigrants under­ took a cooperative colony in 1872, but its members became indepen­ dent farmers within the decade. In this area one of the best-known families was that of Edwin Shaw, who arrived in Del Norte in 1873. After operating a hotel there briefly and living on various ranches in the neighborhood, they settled onShaw Creek twelve miles west of Del Norte, where they ran an inn on the stage line along with their ranch activities. Northwestof Monte Vista Swedishimmigrants took up fanns inan area called Swedes' Lane about 1875. North of here on La Garita Creek ranches were acquired by Englishmen, while southbetween Del Norte and Conejos land was settled during the early 1870s byMidwesterners from Iowa and Illinois for the most part. Post offices were established during this decade at La Jara, Piedra, and Rio Grande, a town at the junction of La Jara Creekwith the Rio Grande. On Rock Creek some of these early settlers were Dunkards from Iowa. The Strip, as the land around Piedra (Rock) Creek and La Jara Creek was called, previously had been known to the Spanish-speaking residents there as Llano Blanco, or the "White Plain," perhaps because of alkaline seeps in the area. Mexican settlement in the area was confined primarily to the neighborhood around Capulin, but these people who considered the land as part ofthe Conejos Grant also cut hay along La Jara Creek and elsewhere. Despite their futile objections, titles were conveyed to the Anglo homesteaders. Before long several ofthenewcomers were per­ suaded to sell their land to an eastern investment group called the 218 The San Luis Valley

Philadelphia Cattle Company, which ran several thousand head of cattle on the combined holding.' Most of the cattle raised atthis time were longhorns from Texas, but few homesteaders attempted to raise cattle ontheir original tracts, which were too small for grazing. At first several raised wheat, which had been selling for three to six dollars a bushel, butafter prices declined in the mid-1870s many of the homesteaders diversified, raising vegetables and poultry and selling milkandbutter and eggs. Some sold outto the larger ranchers. Across the valley on the Sangre de Cristo Grant similar changes were forestalled by legal and financial difficulties whichhandicapped the u.s. Freehold Land and Emigration Company's sale of land, al­ though the Trinchera Ranch on the northern half of the grant was being developed by the Blackmore family. A few small farmers and ranchers who had sold livestock, hay, and vegetables to Fort Gar­ land also could be found north of the Costilla Estate-Tom Tobin a few miles south of the fort, Charles Newton on Ute Creek, John Wil­ liams, and later Kit Carson's son William. North of the Trinchera Estate in the Zapata area several Mexican families had small farms. They were joined in 1870 by a German immigrant, William H. Meyer, and shortly thereafter byAnglo settlers who arrived on Medano Creek with a herd of Texas longhorns. The Mexican settlers contested the rights of the newcomers by claiming that the land involved was a Mexican grant, dating back to 1820-21 and known as the Springs of the Medano and the Zapato' Papers to support this contention were submitted to the surveyor general in 1874, but the documents were declared to be forgeries and the matter was tabled, allowing a group of investors to obtain title to the Zapata Ranch in 1876. The purchase was made from one of the professed owners of the grant. By 1879 a post office was operating at Zapata. William Meyer, meanwhile, had established himself in county politics, was elected to the state senate, and became lieutenant gov­ ernor in 1882. Shortly afterward he bought the abandoned Fort Gar­ land and converted it into a horne, office, and warehouse for his sheep and cattle enterprises. Through the purchase of Mexican farms, the Medano Ranch de­ veloped graduallyinto a largeoperationbelonging to the Dickey broth- Manassa Was Strong on Religion 219 ers. In 1882 their 130,000 acres of fenced range was sold to New York investors, Adee and Durkee, who developed the largest cattle operation in the valley with cattle grazing from Poncha Pass to the Rio Grande and south ofit.5 Beginning in 1874 a store and post office called Medano Springs were located at what also became the ranch headquarters. This prop­ erty had been a homestead occupied by the Herard family. They and their neighbors had raised horses near the sand dunes, and their strays may have been the inspiration of legends about wild horses seen on the dunes.' Small ranchers, who remained in the neighborhood and who needed more grazing land than was available after the Medano out­ fit fenced its property, occasionally rearranged matters by clipping a wire fence here and there. During the 1870s and 1880s cattle rustling was commonplace in the valley, and the Medano and Zapata ranches were especially vulnerable because they were so far from a sheriff's office. These ranches were in Costilla County with the county seat in San Luis and in Saguache County with the county seat in Saguache. Consequently, the town marshal of Alamosa sometimes was sum­ moned to deal with trouble on these big spreads. North of the Medano Ranch and the sand dunes lay the Baca Grant. During the period from 1878 until 1885, when George H. Adams leased the property from William Gilpin, extensive improve­ ments such as fencing, irrigation ditches, and ranch buildings ap­ peared on the grant. It has been claimed that Adams put in the first barbed-wire fence in the San Luis Valley. Eventually the grant had 150 miles of irrigation ditches and dozens of artesian wells, and the range was stocked with registered Herefords.'With mining and ranch­ ing combined on the grant, this property became a major asset to its owners, encouraging the sale in 1885 that finally gave Gilpin some profit in his real estate investments. Adams's interests eventually included the ranches south of the grant, an occurrence that was linked with Mormon colonizing in the San Luis Valley. Prior to the arrival of Mormons around Blanca Peak, enough people had settled in Uracca Canyon south of Zapata Creek to warrant the opening of a school by 1887. Most of the men in these families were tie-cutters for the railroad.' In 1889 the Mormon Church bought part of the Zapata Ranch and the following year the Medano 220 The San Luis Valley

The focal point of social as well as religious life in several towns in Conejos County is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Ranch together withthe rest ofthe Zapata Ranch, including the Uracca area. For the next few years this holding was known officially as the Blanca Branch of the Manassa Ward but unofficially as the Uracca Mormon Church. Construction began on irrigation canals to tap streams from Medano Creek to South Zapata Creek, but water rights could not be cleared and work on this project stopped. The destitute Mormons, many of whom were impoverished tenant farmers from the South­ eastern states, became timber-cutters and sold firewood in Alamosa to feed their families. The enterprise declared bankruptcy, and George Adams was named receiver of the property. In 1900 both the former Mormon land and the Baca Grant were sold to E. L. Sylvester.9 Mormons had begun to settle in the valley in the late 1870s and, unlike the Uracca experience, were successful for the most part in establishing farms and communities, although not without overcom­ ing many obstacles. Manassa Was Strong on Religion 221

In 1877 John Morgan, president of the Southern States Mission, arrived with seventymembers of the Latter-day Saints ChurchinPueblo, Colorado. His flock, mostofwhomwereconverts from theSouth, set up camp on an island in the Arkansas River, while church leaders from Utah sought suitable land in the San Luis Valley which could be pur­ chased for a colony. InMay 1878 the group thathad wintered at Pueblo moved to their new home, where missionaries from Utah helped in establishing the settlement. One of these, Lawrence M. Peterson, previ­ ously had lived at Los Cerritos and had evangelized among the Spanish-speaking people there. lO The site awaiting the emigrants consisted of two ranches pur­ chased from Hispanos on the south side of the Conejos River-across from Los Cerritos. Buildings, farming, and irrigation were begun at once, and meetings were held in a rented schoolhouse. The Mormons received a hospitable welcome from Lafayette Head and some of the prominent Hispanos. By the next spring, 1879, the group had decided to lease state mineral lands about three miles northwest of Los Cerritos and to establish a town called Manassa, the name of a son of the Israelite Josephll In the selection of this land for a permanent colony, church leaders were assured that the railroad, which already had reached Alamosa, soon would provide rail transportation through the south­ western portion of the valley. This service, in fact, began a year later with tracks passing three miles west of Manassa. Additions from Utah and Arizona arrived, and Mormon settlers soon numbered nearly four hundred. Despite the inexperience of the Southern members in farming irrigated land and despite the short growing season to which these farmers were unaccustomed, the project soon showed evidence of success-at least, enough to arouse the hostility of some non-Mormon neighbors and Colorado's Repub­ lican newspapers. First, Hispanos dammed the Conejos River to pre­ vent the Mormons from withdraWing water for irrigation, but this interference stopped when the Mormons boldly knocked out the dams. Next, a committee of stockmen from the Strip paid a call to share their advice that the land being cultivated by the Mormons was better suited to raising cattle. The usual rumors were bandied about to the effect that the Mormons were polygamists, thieves, or worse, while Denver's newspapers campaigned against permitting 222 The San Luis Valley

the Mormons to settle in the state. !t was even claimed that the Mor­ mons intended to set up bases all the way across Colorado and to take over the state. Nevertheless, the law-abiding colony in the San Luis Valley persisted and eventually earned the respect oftheirneighbors. In addition to field peas, oats, and alfalfa, the early Mormon set­ tlers grew soft, spring Sonora wheat, a type that had been introduced by Spanish colonists and was favored by Hispanic farmers in the val­ ley. Later this variety was replaced by another soft wheat, Australian Club, which had larger heads and producedbetter flour. !twas grown extensively throughout the valley for a few years12 The first public buildings in Manassa were a school and a church, quickly followed by a cooperative store and a flour mill. This was the pattern of priorities in other Mormon towns as well. Manassa's post office opened in 1879. As additional converts arrived from the Southeastern states, one of the groups from Virginia included the family of Hiram Dempsey. Of his eleven children, the ninth was William Harrison Dempsey, born in 1895 in Manassa. He was called "Harry" by his family, but he became known as Jack Dempsey or the "Manassa Mauler," world heavyweight boxing champion. Hiram Dempsey had more of a roving spirit in him than did most of his neighbors, and, as Jack Dempsey recalled in his autobi­ ography Round by Round, teachers from the church visited the Dempsey home regularly to exhort Hiram "to do right." "Manassa was strong on religion," Jack Dempsey admitted, but it also was a typical pioneer town, "tough and ready for anything." As a schoolboy he had plenty of opportunities to learn firsthand how to fight on Manassa's wide, dusty streets. In 1881 Mormon newcomers began another settlement four miles from Manassa. The new town was Ephraim, named for another of the Israelite Joseph's sons. Here canals brought water for agricul­ ture, but the drainage was poor and the 150 residents of Ephraim moved from the waterlogged location between 1886 and 1888. Some of them went to nearby Richfield, which first was settled in 1882. Richfield's irrigation caused the water table to rise there, too, and the people moved from this site also. The next move was to Morgan, about fifteen miles northwest of Manassa. Land for Morganwas acquired throughhomesteading. First Manassa Was Strong on Religion 223 located in 1886, the town grew with additional families arriving from Utah. A unique feature in this Mormon settlement were the artesian wells that were drilled to provide nearly every family with a domestic water supply. As inother towns, the Mormons lived within the commu­ nity and farmed their individual fenced plots, each of which received water from the main ditch. Here the principal feeder was the Morgan Ditch. Other Mormon ditches were the Little Manassa, Ephraim, Richfield, Sanford, and Miller. Also, the Mormonsbought one-third of the rights to the water of the old Guadalupe Ditch.13 By 1888 Sanford, only a half mile from Ephraim, was becoming the most prosperous community in the area. The new town was sur­ veyed in 1885, and the majority of people from both Ephraim and Richfield gradually moved here. Ephraim's post office, which had opened in 1881, moved to Sanford in 1888, following the migration of houses, barns, cooperative store, and schoo!. The residents of Sanford may have been religious, but they also enjoyed their social life. The upper floor of the store was used for a dance hall. Another building served not only for church meetings but also for social gath­ erings, while the citizens painstakingly constructed a stone church, which finally was completed in 1907. 14 An academy also opened at about the same time. Zebulon Pike would have had difficulty imagining that a reli­ gious colony and pioneer farms would be located a half-dozen miles west of his stockade only eighty years after his arrest there by Span­ ish dragoons. The site of the stockade, part of Governor Albert W. McIntire's property, was purchased in 1924 by the state, and in 1952 a log fort was completed there to commemorate the site. During the growth of settlements around Manassa and La Jara, Mormons also continued to take up land around the Conejos River, until Los Cerritos warranted a post office by 1889. As irrigable land between the Conejos River and La Jara Creek became scarce, though, additional acreage was sought for Mormons who still were arriVing in the valley. One of the last Mormon towns on the west side of the Rio Grande was Mountain View, where Romeo now is located. In 1888 and 1889 the Uracca venture had been undertaken near Blanca Peak. In 1890 the church began a settlement called Eastdale on the Costilla drainage southwest of San Luis. Separated from their fellow churchmenbythe Rio Grande, the people of Eastdale could reach 224 The San Luis Valley

Manassa and Sanford only by the inconvenient and unscheduled ser­ vice of the ferry located east of Antonito. This crossing was called vari­ ously Myers' orConlon's or Costilla Ferry. Eastdale also was separated from rail service exceptby the long road to FortGarland. The Eastdale colony built a canal and reservoir and raised wheat, and they purchased the St. Vrain and Easterday flour mill at San Luis to process it." They fired bricks to build a church, and they had a school, a store, and a post office. Despite their enterprise, the Eastdale Mormons could not meet their land payments, especially as a result of competition for sufficient irrigation water. As a result, the Eastdale settlement was abandoned in 1909, and the residents moved to the west side of the Rio Grande.After the failure ofthis colony andUracca, the Latter-day Saints in the San Luis Valley confined their activities to the well-established area around Manassa, Sanford, and La Jara. The new townof La Jara, settled in the late 1870s bynon-Mormons, quickly became a marketing and supply center for the Strip and for the neighboring Mormon towns. A railroad station encouraged the town's growth.A Presbyterian churchwas organized as early as 1879, but some of the other accoutrements of a well-established commu­ nity were slow in appearing. The town company's plat was not filed until 1887, and the first newspaper in the area, La lara Tribune, ap­ peared only in 1888. The town was not incorporated until 1895, the same year when one of its citizens became the governor of the state. Albert W. McIntire came from Pittsburgh to Denver and finally to La Jara in 1880. Here he became one of the stockmen of the Strip, developing a herd of Black Angus cattle. He also served as county judge and district judge before he was elected governor on the Re­ publican ticket. Several other non-Mormons had large-scale ranches in the area by this time, although Hispanos still outnumbered the newcomers by a large majority. John Harvey of LeadvillebredPercheron horses on 3,300 acres near La Jara. The horses were used for freighting ore, coal, hay, I and grain. ' As with the introduction of purebred cattle, these horses were a vast improvement over the livestock previously raised in the valley. Until then many horse herds consisted merely of range horses that were rounded up once a year, branded, and sold for two dollars a head. It was popularly believed that these wild horses derived from Spanish caballos. Manassa Was Strong on Religion 225

A prominent cattleman from La Jara was William A. Braiden, a native of Ohio who arrived in Conejos County in 1887 trailing a small herd of Shorthorn cattle. After selling the herd, he went to work for various dairy farmers and ranchers until, having acquired his own small herd of horses, he opened the Pioneer Livery Barn in La Jara. He also became a dealer in livestock, owned a retail store, operated a stage line, and had enterprises in Creede, too. Eventually he became a major Hereford cattle raiser and landowner in Conejos County with a large ranch east of Antonito.17 This property, called the T-Bone Ranch, was at the old town of Cenicero, which became known as Lobatos when the post office there adopted the name of a local fam­ ily in 1902. In recent years the T-Bone Ranch has been owned by John Hamilton, a founder of the Continental Oil Company. Billy Adams also raised cattle in the area of La Jara, and Dan Newcomb had one of the largest dairy farms in the state. When the post office closed at old La Jara in 1884, it was moved to the Newcomb farm for a couple of years and was given the name of Newcomb. On

Manassa's museum is proud of the town's pioneers, especially of the boy who became known as the "Manassa Mauler." 226 The San Luis Valley

Gato Creek stock raisers were served by a post office called Vadner, which was the name of a ranch west of Bowen. The area around Bowen was settled by Presbyterians, attracted by an Iowan, F. W. Williams, who advertised the land for sale to people of his own religious background. Williams also named the neighborhood for Thomas M. Bowen, another stalwart Presbyterian. The church at Bowen has continued religious and educational func­ tions in that area. Nearby Rock Creek ranchers also organized a Pres­ byterian church in 1881 to serve both their own neighborhood and Lariat on the railroad. This congregation soon became known as the Henry Presbyterian Church and then the Monte Vista church. In communities suchas Capulin and Los Sauces there were Catho­ lic churches attended by the predominantly Spanish-speaking resi­ dents. Los Sauces remained active for severalyears while some wagon traffic from the Fort Garland area still used the ferry at Stewart's Crossing. The post office at the sloughs of the Rio Grande was called La Sauses. In the late 1880s the Sunflower post office opened at what be­ came Romeo at the tum of the century. Romeo was developed by a real estate promoter from Denver. With its railroad siding, grain el­ evator, and potato exchange, Romeo became a shipping center for the Manassa region. In fact, wherever a siding was located-Estrella, Henry, La Jara, Bountiful, or Romeo-local farmers and ranchers shipped cattle and crops from this productive part of the San Luis Valley. On the Denver and Rio Grande's line west of Alamosa, Lariat Siding had started its life in 1881 as a small shipping point for cattle, as its name implies. When Theodore C. Henry platted the town of Henry at this location in 1884, a shift from ranching to farming took place. Henry, originally from New York State, had met with success in real estate promotion and in wheat farming before he moved to Den­ ver in the early 1880s. There he immediately entered Colorado poli­ tics and evenwas a candidate for governor. He boughtthe DenverTri­ bune and organized the Colorado Loan and Trust Company, through which he invested about two million dollars in land and irrigation projects, much of his capital being borrowed from the Travelers' Insur­ ance Company. His undertakings extended all thewayfrom the Platte Midwesterners who settled around Bowen built themselves a pretty church that would remind them of home. 228 The San Luis Valley

and Arkansas rivers in eastern Colorado to the Uncompahgre country and the Grand Valley, where he founded the town of Fruita."In the San Luis Valley he developed irrigation and real estate around Monte Vista, or Henry as it was then called, and the Mosca area. Shortlybefore the arrival ofT. C. Henry's projects, two large irriga­ tion canals had been built in the valley-the Rio Grande and Piedra Valley Ditch, which served ranches around Rock Creek, and the Excel­ sior Ditch, which served ranches northwest of Alamosa. In addition, there were many older and smaller ditches in the area, several ofwhich dated back to colonization of the Conejos Grant. Another noteworthy ditch provided water for a German gristmill at Del Norte, while the Enterprise Ditch fed water into the La Garita area. T. C. Henry's first move whenheentered theSanLuis Valley was to entice the insurance company to lend enough money to buy state land in the name of the Del Norte Land and Canal Company. Next he built four major canals that incorporated many old ditch systems. The new network included the Rio Grande Canal, the San Luis Valley Canal, Citizen's Ditch (later called Monte Vista Canal), and Empire CanaP' These four canals alone totaled about 140 miles in length, and they supplied water to a complex oflaterals which, it was claimed, wouldbe able to irrigate about 500,000 acres.20 Henry's land acquisitions were equally enormous. They were di­ vided into two principal farms, the North Farm consisting of about seven thousand acres north ofMonteVista and the SouthFarmconsist­ ing ofabout three thousand acres south oftheRio Grande. These were subdivided into fourteen smallercompanyfarms wherewheatandcattle were raised while the land wasbeing sold off atthree tofive dollars per acre. The show piece of the operationwas the 2,000acre La Garita Farm, which had been purchased from the titled Englishmen who had been raising sheep there for the past decade. Out of the entire project T. C. Henry soon controlled only the Em­ pire Canal and the Alamosa, Empire, and Excelsior farms, these having been financed in part by businessmen from Alamosa. The rest of the property passed into the hands of the Travelers' Insurance Company when Henry was unable to repay his loan due in 1885. The town of Henry, faced with unpaid wages and bills, in disgust changed its name to Monte Vista in 1886. Manassa Was Strong on Religion 229

According to this map, T. C. Henry's agricultural projects would become the center of the universe, or of the San Luis Valley, at least.

Nevertheless, Monte Vista benefitted greatly by the undertakings of T. C. Henry, as itbecame headquarters for the larger partofthe irrigated farmland in the region and became a prosperous agricultural center. During the first years ofdevelopmenta handfulof smallfarm commu­ nities also appeared in the area. One of these was Parma, east of Monte Vista, with a post office in 1886, although its name changed to Liberty for one yearin 1887. A short-lived colony called Rieckstadt wasfounded in 1885 by German Catholics about twenty miles northwest of Monte Vista. As Monte Vista itself grew, the rather staid citizens rebuffed the sort of ruffians who set a lively pace in Del Norte and Alamosa dur­ ing their early years. Monte Vista encouraged solid building-a three-story hotel, the Blanca, owned by the Hartford and Trust Com­ pany; a roller mill and an elevator; warehouses; a machine shop; creameries; banks; newspapers; a public library; six churches. The town also had electric lights and a Prohibition Club. A state experi­ mental farm was located between Monte Vista and Del Norte in the early 1890s, and the State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, now called the Colorado State Veterans' Center, was authorized in 1890 and began operation at Homelake near Monte Vista in 1893 or 1894. 230 The San Luis Valley

Growth continued in the twentieth century. In 1915 a sugar beet factory wasbuilt in Monte Vista, and four years later the Ski-Hi Stam­ pede presented its first rodeo, whichbecame an annual event eagerly attended by the entire valley. But still, ifanyone sold liquor anywhere in town, the deed to his propertywouldbe forfeited. With the support of boosters and creditors in Alamosa, some of T. C. Henry's developments continued despite his setbacks elsewhere. Work in the Waverly district south of Alamosa proved unsuccessful, however, when irrigation caused seepage and alkaline residues. Thereafter the Henry operations concentrated on the Empire and Excelsior farms. Offices for their management were in Alamosa. In response to promotions, settlersbegan tobuy inexpensive land from the canal companies. Others took up government land tluough homesteading, pre-emption, or even by timber claims if the owner planted trees. The first of the irrigation canals in this area was Henry's San Luis Valley Canal. Between 1886 and 1890 two cooperative projects­ the Prairie Ditch and the Farmers' Union Canal-were constructed, bringing additional land under irrigation. In the meantime, many new arrivals struggled to start their farms without water. In the Closed Basin, which lacks drainage to the Rio Grande, McGinty, Streator, Goudy, andCoryell were the first communitiesnorth ofAlamosa. Streator was assigned a post office in 1888, the name cho­ sen by settlers who had come from Streator, Illinois. The designation changed to Mosca in 1890, when a vigorous campaign to develop the area began in the wake of the railroad extension from Villa Grove to Alamosa. The D&RG built a depot at Mosca, and large numbers of cattle and sheep from the area of Zapata and Medano were brought here to be shipped by freight.'! It even was suggested that a railroad over Mosca Pass would transform Mosca into an important rail junc­ tion. The Mosca Land and Farm Company boomed land sales and set up a tenant farm to attract labor with insufficient capital to buy their own land. By 1891 Mosca had the largest flour mill in the valley, two elevators, two lumberyards, two hotels, two blacksmiths, two bar­ bers, two druggists, two churches, but only one saloon. The town's first newspaper, theHerald, was joined later byanother, andbothfolded during the first decade of the 1900s. Manassa Was Strong on Religion 231

Goudy was a nearby ranch community about eight miles south­ west of Garrison, or Hooper. Goudy's namewas changed to Garnettin 1888 when a post office opened. This postal service continued into the 1920s. At one time this hamlet boasted a school, the Hilltop, and a handful of crossroads businesses as well as a newspaper, the Costilla News, which was published at Garnett from 1888 until 1894 when it became Mosca's second journal. Coryell was about five miles west of Mosca. A newspaper was published there for about a year. Apparently, an aspiring newspa­ perman with a case of lead type and a press existed for every new village with a promoter. And often the same man and press turned up in several different towns, in hopes that one of them would last. Coryell's name was changed to Stanley a few years later. West of Coryell and Goudy was Lockett, while to the north of Hooper were La Garita station and Veteran. Veteran first had a post office in 1888. Several of the farmers around La Garita station and Veteran came from Michigan and Minnesota. Of the numerous small towns in this vicinity Hooper proved to be most durable. This community was organized as Garrison in 1890, when Mosca also was being promoted. Besides Garrison and Howard's mercantile store, the town had a branch of the Bank of Monte Vista, called the Bank of Garrison. The citizens supported a newspaper, a school, a Methodist church served by Mosca's preacher, but, like Monte Vista, no saloons were allowed. When the railroad built a siding, depot, and water tank fed by a large artesian well, the town's role as a shipping point for the surrounding agricultural area was assured. The most productive acreage north of Alamosa at this time was in the region lying north and west of Garrison, the chief crop being wheat. In 1892 a flour mill was built, and a second joined it in a short time. Alamosa also milled flour from wheat grown around Garrison. Sun Light Flour was synonymous with Garrison. This initial assurance of success was short-lived, for the financial panic of 1893 was disastrous not only to Colorado's mines but also to businesses indirectly dependent on them. Wheat prices dropped, and coinCidentally a severe drought began. During this period of depres­ sion Garrison's bank failed, farmers gave up and left the area, and many of the small communities in the area disappeared. 232 The San Luis Valley

Although several other towns also had elevators and mills, Monte Vista became the agricultural center of the valley.

However, encouraged by improved economic conditionsandprom­ ises of advantageousrates from the railroad, the townofGarrisonbegan a comeback in 1896. Signifying this fresh start, the town changed its name to Hooper. While its originalnewspaper remained and also began to serve the less fortunate townofMosca, a second news sheet appeared in Hooper. Lodges were organized, and Hooper settled in for two more decades ofprosperitybefore water againspelled its doom. Whereas the water problem in 1893 had been a shortage, now it was a surplus. The water table had been breaking through the valley floor in the Mosca-Hooper district for several years because of irrigation practices unsuited to land that had a high water table and no natural drainage. The procedurewas to introduce enough irrigationwaterto raise the water table to a level where roots of crops could draw up water by capillary attraction. Although this method sounded good in theoIY- it also drew up salts that ruined the soil. By the middle of the second decade of the 1900s manyacres hadbecome either waterlogged oralkaline orbothand hadtobeabandoned to greasewood and rabbitbrush. Many farmers had failed to survive the drought and low prices of the 1890s; now others departed and the few remainingcommunities inthe area dwindled. Manassa Was Strong on Religion 233

Between 1911 and 1921 several drainage systems were attempted, but these reclamation efforts resulted in damaged land elsewhere. In the 1980s the Closed Basin Water Project was constructed. Itis designed to pump water from an underground aquifer and to channel it in a canal, which in tum carries it to the Rio Grande. Built and adminis­ tered by the Bureau of Reclamation, the project delivers water down­ stream to New Mexico and Texas. During the first few years after T. C. Henry entered the San Luis Valley, such problems were far from anyone's minds, and land un­ der cultivation had doubled. Difficulties attending drought and seep­ age were already becoming apparent, however, when 350 Dutch im­ migrants, called the Holland American Land and Immigration Com­ pany, arrived to settle on land a few miles north of Alamosa in the winter of1892-93. An agent hadbought 15,000 acres from T. C. Henry, and two uncomfortable frame buildings had been built as temporary housing when the colonists arrived in Alamosa. Miserably cold and crowded, the immigrants came down with scarlet fever and diph­ theria. Their plight captured the sympathy of Colorado's press, and the D&RG lent railroad cars for quarantine facilities during the emergency. Even before this tragedy struck, the colony had felt that their new home was not going to be all that their agent had promised. The land company also was under public pressure to ensure the welfare of the group. As a result, land was offered on the South Platte River in northeastern Colorado, where many of the members of the colony settled, although a few remained in the valley, accepting other tracts of T. C. Henry's land in substitution for the originallocation.22 Farms in the Alamosa area were not alone in facing predicaments caused by water and difficult soil conditions during the 1890s. Ac­ cording to Colorado's system of prior appropriation, the valley's farms could use all the water they could get from canals tapping the Rio Grande. As cultivation in the valley increased, farmers in New Mexico, who also used water from the Rio Grande, were experienc­ ing a shortage of water by 1890. When the drought of 1893 began, the riverbed at El Paso was dry, and the Juarez Valley suffered the loss of crops that usually were irrigated with Rio Grande water. Evenfarms in the San Luis Valley dried up as no water was available in any of the canals except the Rio Grande Canal, which took almost the entire flow. Hooper may not need Yellow Pages today, but it still has a town hall and a real park to serve its small population. In the 1880s Mosca had high hopes for the future, but drought and poor soil conditions caused the area's defeat as a farm center. Denver Public Library, Western History Department photo.

Hooper was a thriving business town as long as the railroad lasted, but removal of rail service in the Poncha Pass extension made milling and other farm-related enterprises unprofitable here. 236 The San Luis Valley

Consequently, anInternational Boundary Commission met in 1896 to determine how in the future water couldbe distributed equitably to Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico. Henceforth water of the Rio Grande was to be used in accord with controls agreed upon by this commission, and a series of dams were built in New Mexico by the United States for this allocation. Courtbattles continued for years after­ ward, and an embargo on building reservoirs and other diversion projects existed around the watershed of the Rio Grande until 1906.23 An alternative to divertingwater through the canals was the drill­ ing of artesian wells. The first of these in the SanLuis Valley was at the Empire Farmin 1887, andwithinthe nextdecade about three thousand were drilled. With the underflow at only one hundred to two hundred feet, such wells were inexpensive. Although some were used for irriga­ tion, most provided domestic water supplies. Since 1950 a large num­ ber of wells have been drilled southwest of Alamosa, also. The San Luis Valley has capitalized on its being Colorado's major artesian basin. Even in the case ofartesian water, there can be too much ofa good thing. When it was noticed that some of these wells gave off a gas, it was hoped that oil mightbe found beneath the valley floor, and an "oil well" was drilled near Hooper. All that came in was more water-in this instance, hot water. Iteventually was used for a swimming pool. Although the San Luis Valley has an annual precipitation of only eight to sixteen inches, an abundance of subsurface and spring water exists. Added to the thousands ofartesian wells, several natural springs occur in the northern halfof the valley where various cures once were promised to imbibers and bathers. Shaw's Magnetic Springs near Del Norte had marvelous qualities verified by a judge of the U.S. Circuit Court, a physician from New York, and Thomas M. Bowen himself. Numerous springs bubbled from volcanic formations around Saguache-Mishak Lakes, Russell Lakes, Hunt Springs, and O'Neil HotSprings. Bathhouses were builtfor visitors at most of the hotsprings. A resort called ChamberlinSprings became known later as either Val­ ley View Hot Springs or Fairview Hot Springs, and what once was called San Luis Hot Springs may have become the latter-day Mineral Hot Springs. With many streams flowing from the mountains that surround the north end of the valley, much ofSaguache County employed irrigation withoutusing water from the Rio Grande, thereby avoiding some of the In the late 18005 and early 19005 thousands of wells were drilled in the San Luis Valley, Colorado's major artesian basin. 238 The San Luis Valley

problems experienced elsewhere in the valley. Also, drainage was ade­ quate. Inthis partof the valley Moffat wasestablished during the boom that accompanied the extension of the D&RG. Its livelihood derived from shipping cattle and occasionally ore from the Crestone Estate, as the old Baca Grantwas called now. Moffat also was a junctionpointfor freight to the town of Saguache, which had been cut off from rail ser­ vice. With a depot, three hotels, a large school, and a series of newspa­ pers from 1891 until 1918, Moffat was a center for this area for several years. Its neighbors were Gibson, Dune (or La Garita) to the south, Mirage to the north, and the mining camps around Crestone to the east. In 1910 a short-lived land boom took place near La Garita station when the Oklahoma Land Company sponsored a promotion called the Oklahoma Lottery, foreshadowing other similar real estate ven­ tures of recent years. Mineral Hot Springs also received attention from developers early in the twentieth century and attracted local postal service in 1911. This resort had a cottage camp and an en­ closed pool. By 1948 activity had declined to a point that the post office was closed. Saguache County enjoyed successful agriculture in the region of Saguache and Homan's Park despite the cooler climate experienced in this higher part of the valley. Because of its elevation the most successful products from this area were cattle, sheep, and hay. How­ ever, some vegetables were raised in the Kerber Creek area to sell in the mining camps around Bonanza during the boom years. As ranch­ ing became the dominant actiVity in northern Saguache County, most of the original homesteads were consolidated intolarge enough hold­ ings to support grazing. In the central part of the valley diversified farming was prac­ ticed after the devastating events of the 1890s. Large-scale cultiva­ tion of vegetables began in this area in the first decades of the twen­ tieth century, and truck gardening developed around Center. Center, platted in 1898 as Center View, was organized by James L. Hurt, who had raised Percheronhorses and Angus cattle in the region. A newspa­ percalled theCenterPost appeared,and the postoffice, previouslycalled Centerview, changed its name to Center in 1899. For the raising of vegetables a plentiful supplyoflabor was as vital as water. Around Center, Alamosa, Monte Vista, Del Norte, and Fort Garland farmers beganto hire local Spanish-Americans andimmigrants Manassa Was Strong on Religion 239 from Mexico for daylaborers as the vegetable industryexpanded. These workers builtsmall adobehomes near the townswhere theyworked.24 Within a few years another group of "foreigners" arrived to farm in the southeasternpart of the valley. In 1909 the Costilla Estate Develop­ ment Company began to develop the high land around Culebra and Costilla creeks. Since this followed the moratorium of building water diversions, the companybuilt Sanchez Reservoir and others to supple­ ment Eastdale Reservoir and laid out the towns ofSan Acacio, Mesita, and Jarosa, using the names ofearlier Hispanic settlements.25 Japanese farmers settled at San Acacio. Before the Costilla Estate Development Company induced Japa­ nese to farm in the area, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was per­ suaded to establish a colony at Jarosa. They operated a cooperative farm and established in 1910 an academy specializing in agricultural training. A post office opened in 1911. Encouraged by the construc­ tion ofthe San Luis Southern Railroad, businesshouses were erected in a solid, permanent fashion, but the townbegan to resemble a deserted village after the depression years of the 1930s. Mesita, briefly called Hamburg by newcomers from a town of that name in Iowa, was north of Jarosa. It witnessed much activity on the part of the development company and had a depot for the railroad at one time, but today, as at Jarosa, most of its buildings, including its bank and school and stores, are empty. Of these three towns San Acacio was the most promising. Here the Costilla Estate Development Company and the Sanchez Ditch and Reservoir Company located their offices, and a post office was established in 1909. In 1910 the San Luis Southern Railroad arrived, and a two-story depot and other facilities were constructed. To en­ able shipment of agricultural produce from San Acacio to Blanca and D&RG rails, a vegetable warehouse operated at SanAcacio until about 1950. San Acacio also had a hotel (the Beaubien) and a bank. Some residents in the region must have assumed that major amounts of cash passed through the bank, for it was robbed in 1922. The bandits, from Sunshine Valley in nearby northern New Mexico, carried off about $4,000, some ofwhich they hid in an inner tube and the rest in a mitten. The sheriff of Costilla County, a well-known sheepshearernamedJ. C. Lobato, received a tip from a bootlegger about the whereabouts of the thieves and their loot. The money, minus only 240 The San Luis Valley

five dollars, which probably had been spent on bootlegged liquor, was restored to thebank. During the 1920s the developmentcompany encouragedJapanese, who wished to emigrate from Californiabecause of adverse land laws there, to work the farms on the estate. Some came as tenant farmers, while others moved into a cooperative colony called Culebra Village. These Japanese perfected the practice oftruck farming in the San Luis Valley. Amongthe vegetable crops cultivated was spinach, whichproved so successful that the area became a major producer for the nation. When World War II broke out and Japanese were forced to leave their homes on the West Coast, many settled in the San Luis Valley, where some had relatives in the neighborhood ofSan Acacio. Some of the newcomers occupied abandonedbuildings atEastdale andWaverly, but most settled around Blanca and Fort Garland. Another relocation of farmers had occurred at Waverly in the late 1930s when the FarmSecurity Administrationmoved nearly one hun­ dred families from easternColorado's dustbowl toWaverly southwest ofAlamosa, where T. C. Henry's experiments had found the soil and drainage unsuitable for irrigated farming. The San Luis Valley Farm­ ers' Project, as the federal program was called, provided farmers with eighty-acre tracts and small houses thatcouldbe leased with an option to buy. The plots quickly proved to be too small, and some were com­ bined. Whenmost of the farmers left, some ofthe buildings, including a community hall, were sold. Blanca at the northend oftheSanLuis SouthernRailroad got off to a spectacular start in 1908 as part of a land developer's scheme, drawing hundreds of people who camped out in the area to await a lottery. An earlierBlanca atthe westernfoot ofBlanca Peakhadbeenthe location of a post office in the 1890s, but that hamlet was long forgotten when the sweepstakestook placeatnew Blanca. Purchasers of five-acre tracts took a chance onwinninglarger pieces ofland. Those wholost quicklylearned that they could grow nothingonfive acres, especially whenwater rights wereunavailable. Nevertheless, the townitself took root, largelybecause of railroad facilities, including a shop. Blanca soonhad a hotel, newspa­ per, churches, and a school, although Blanca's school now is consoli­ dated with Fort Garland's and the hotel and newspaper are defunct. Nevertheless, Blanca remains animportantshippingpointfor vegetables whicharegrownin the vicinity and for volcanic scoria whichis mined at Mesita and around San Antonio Mountain. Manassa Was Strong on Religion 241

During the 1920s the vegetable industry expanded from its origi­ nal centers in Alamosa and Costilla counties to Rio Grande and Saguache counties. Lettuce, spinach, peas, and cauliflower were im­ portant vegetable crops being shipped from the valley, while barley, beans, oats, and hay also were produced extensively. In recent years Rio Grande County has grown more potatoes than any other county in Colorado, and Alamosa and Saguache counties are not far behind Rio Grande's output. A few years after DeWitt C. Travis raised the first commercial crop of potatoes in the valley, other farmers in Saguache and Rio Grande counties began to produce them for resale in Leadville and in other mining centers. In 1886 a Del Norte farmer, Peter Barkley, planted a crop of Barkley's Prolifics, which he started from six tubers obtained in Canada. From this variety Brown Beauty potatoes were developed, and these became the type most commonly grown in the valley for several years. When the Travelers' Insurance Company farms seeded vast numbers of acres with Brown Beauties, their fame was assured, although they were not grown outside the San Luis Valley, strangely enough.26 In 1925 a bumper crop yielded more than seven thousand carloads of potatoes.27 By the 1930s Brown Beauties were being replaced by Red McClures as the principal variety. Production and shipping were managed efficiently by the grow­ ers who organized into four local cooperative units with one selling agency, later called the Colorado Potato Growers' Exchange when it grew to include other agricultural areas of the state. This exchange also incorporated a warehousing cooperative for grading and pack­ ing. Inthe San Luis Valley early warehouses were located at Del Norte, Center, Monte Vista, Hooper, and La Jara. Recently Monte Vista has been chosen the location of a large processing plant for conversion to frozen food products. During the early years of rural settlement in the San Luis Valley, schooling presented handicaps for children in small villages and on farms. One-room schoolhouses appeared on many ranches, where a teacher was hired by a group of neighbors to educate their offspring. Sometimes in small towns, as in Hooper for example, school met in an empty room in a business building. Teachers themselves often had little more than an eighth-grade education. In order to upgrade the quality of instruction, teachers' institutes were held in various towns When the valley produced a bumper crop ofpotatoes, bumper-to-bumper wagons cre­ ated a traffic jam in Monte Vista, beside the L. L. Fassett store.

The schoolhouse at Estrella proudly wore a star, as well as the Stars and Stripes. Manassa Was Strong on Religion 243

such asAntonito and Monte Vista, and trainees had to pass a teachers' examinationto become certified. As rural schools struggled to provide opportunities comparable to those routinely offered in large school systems, the advantages of consolidation ofschools became apparent. The advent of motor trans­ portation made this transition practical. In 1914 the districts near La Jara consolidated, and others followed at Hooper, Center, Del Norte, and Monte Vista. More than four hundred inadequate school build­ ings were abandoned as pupils arrived at their new schools by free auto bus, although a few horse-drawn vehicles helped out for sev­ eral years. For the first time many young people in these districts had the opportunity of four-year high school educations. The most remarkable example of this new trend in public educa­ tion occurred at Sargent in 1918. Between Center and Monte Vista, the Sargent Consolidated School was built where there had been only a one-room schoolhouse previously." As part of this project homes for teachers and a community center were constructed. Even reli­ gious activities, were integrated in the all-inclusive undertaking, which attracted the attention of educators not only in Colorado but elsewhere as a model for rural schools. As consolidation of schools has gone on, the location of the Sargent school in open country has been typical of recent districts, but the attempt to provide everything from homes to churches has been dropped. The Sargent district itself encountered some public disapproval of this omnifariousness. A progressive outlook on education, exemplified by consolida­ tion in the second decade of the 1900s, took on another dimension when the Adams State Normal School, now known as Adams State College, opened inAlamosa in1925. Billy Adams, himself theproduct ofan eighth-grade education, had introduced a bill in the state legisla­ ture as early as 1893 to have a teacher's training school located in the valley. For more than a half-century the college hasprovided aninunea­ surable service to the San Luis Valley. Despite several ruinous setbacks agriculture became established as the principal industry of the San Luis Valley through the tenacity and courage of hundreds of rural settlers from all parts of the United States andfrom manyforeign lands as well. Throughtheirhomes, towns, churches, and schools these newcomers transformed the face of the valley and many of the habits of the valley, and with these people the 244 The San Luis Valley

valley crossed the threshold from pioneerlife to modemlife. Ifthepeople of Manassa were "strong onreligion," so too were they strong on edu­ cation and other cultural values characteristic ofagricultural commu­ nities at the turn of the century. And so too were their neighbors in scores of other towns of the San Luis Valley.

La Garita once was the headquarters for a large Catholic mission, and a convent wasbuilt of adobe brick near the church. This photograph shows the second church at the site. Chapter XVI

"They Do It in Good Faith"

In the short time that Spanish-speaking people lived in the valley before newcomers of different heritage arrived, the earliest colonizers attempted to establish their lives according to patterns they had known previously. They gave the names of their former homes to their new settlements, and they lived intraditional ways, thoughwitheven fewer amenities. Most, though not all, of the Hispanos were poor and unpre­ pared to compete with the more progressive agricultural and commer­ cial practices of Anglo newcomers, when they arrived within only a decade ortwo. Forexample, the Hispanic farmers still were tilling their small plots with oxen and with sharpened sticks for plows, cutting their crops byhand, and grindingsome of their grain with stone manos and metates. Not only did Hispanos differ from others in material ways, but they also had different religious beliefs and customs. Their Roman Catholic Churchbecame evenmore firmly fixed whenin 1871 energetic Jesuits came as their resident priests, administering to a far-flung par­ ish out of Conejos, and with them came parochial education. 248 The San Luis Valley

Until then schools had been almost nonexistent among Spanish­ speaking Catholics, for education was a luxury enjoyed by a privi­ leged minority who could afford to hire a tutor for their own chil­ dren or for a select group offamilies. In 1875 Catholics around Conejos requested the Jesuits to provide a school. In response, the Sisters of Loretto arrived in 1877. Each placita participating in the school con­ tributed to building an adobe convent and school building at Conejos. Two separate programs were initiated, first one for girls, followed by another for boys.! These parochial schools were handicappedby the poverty of the people who supported them andby divisions within the church caused by restrictions against families of Penitentes. In the 1930s, when economic conditions forced the closing of Antonito's public schools, Benedictine sisters assumed teaching re­ sponsibilities there. They continued until the 1970s, when widely publicized complaints changed the school system's employment prac­ tices. Ironically, at a time when women were rebelling against unfair employment opportunities, a male applicant at Antonito charged that the district discriminated against him on the basis of sex and religion.' Until about 1920 Penitentes were a powerful influence in commu­ nity life, despite the fact that the Catholic Church had been denying them the sacraments and, thus, had driven the brotherhood under­ ground after the 1880s, primarily as a result of the extreme penitential customs during Holy Week. Earlier one of the more sympathetic priests had remarked, "Some of them count onbuying heaven with suchindis­ cretions, and maybe they do, because they do it in good faith." But he also commented, "The chiefs do it for political reasons. They use these simple brethren for theirvotes in the elections.'" In fact, the majority of men in the settlements were Penitentes, the majority of voters were Penitentes, and the majority of Penitentes voted for the conservative party Infact, Lafayette Head, the "fatherofConejos" and first lieutenant governor of the State ofColorado, perhaps for this reason, belonged to a lodge, or morada. However, by the turn of the century, when political differences split this cohesiveness, new moradas were created by dissenters, so some areas had more than one morada. The real powerof the Penitentes resulted from the responsible roles they fulfilled in their communities. Not only did they take care ofspiri­ tual functions whenresidentclergy were nonexistent or infrequent visi­ tors, but they also had taken care of charitable and economic needs They Do It in Good Faith 249 amount their neighbors. Widows received contributions of food, fire­ wood, and money if necessary. Orphans were adopted. The sick re­ ceived care. Miscreants were judged and dealtpunishment. The members' roles were clearly defined and dulyaccepted, witha hermano mayor serving as principal religious leader and presidingjudge when necessary. Hermanos, orbrothers, couldbe counted on to respond for wakes, funerals, burials, assistance to neighbors, and other crises that arose, even during the long years of suppression. Their wives, the hermanas or sisters, comprised an auxiliary to perform tasks such as cleaning the morada, cooking meals for special occasions, and caring for the ill. Among the benefits of membership was the opportunity to en­ roll in an insurance plan to provide small amounts of money for ser­ vices of priests and funeral directors after they began to perform their more modern functions. The fact that the SPMDTU, or La Sociedad Proteccion Mutua de Trabajadores Unida, also offered and still does sell insurance policies has led to some confusion, but the moradas were not part of the SPMDTU. Moradas in the San Luis Valley occasionally have been marked with the letters FPNPJN orSNPJN, Signifying the namesLa Fraternidad Piadoso de Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno or Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno. In any case, all of the brotherhoods descend from the medieval Third Order of Saint Francis in Europe, and spiritual objec­ tives have always been paramount. With changes in lifestyle and movement out of the villages for wage labor, beginning in the early 1900s, and during World War 11, the influence of the moradas waned. By the late 1940s, when the Catholic Church lifted its ban on participation in the brotherhood, membership had dwindled severely. Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s activity renewed, but the small number of brothers consisted chiefly of middle-aged or elderly men whose chief activities were meeting for prayers during Holy Week and walking in occasional processions. By the 1990s there were only about a half dozen active morandas, less than a quarter the original number in the valley, and member­ ship in them was vastly reduced from the era when three hundred belonged to San Francisco's morada alone. Besides Saint Francis, other saints of the Church were the object of special devotion, and images of them occupied altars and niches 250 The San Luis Valley

not only in moradas but also in homes. These paintings (retablos) and carvings (bullos), collectively called santos, were a unique form of religious folk art of northern New Mexico, reaching their peak in the late 1700s and lasting into the last half of the 1800s, by which time they also were part of southern Colorado's traditions. Altar screens, or reredos, found in many chapels in New Mexico, were related to this art form, but they were not found in the San Luis valley. Although many of the valley's santos were brought from north­ ern New Mexico when settlers moved north in the mid-1800s, simi­ lar pieces were fashioned by local santeros, "saint makers," whose exemplary personal behavior was believed to empower their cre­ ations. If a santero failed to meet high standards of conduct, his prod­ ucts were removed or even destroyed, as occurred when onesantero in San Luis converted to a different church. Such precautions ensured, it was believed, that the efficacy of the images would be strong in re­ sponse to petitions for good crops, the return oflost livestock or other objects, or the curing ofailments, for instance. The best known of local santeros was Antonio Herrera of Viejo San Acacio. He produced bullos plus a carreta de la muerta (a small death cart) that was pulled in Penitente processions at Costilla. The death cart, carrying a wooden skeleton that was armed with bow and arrow, warned the people that their souls should be prepared for the moment when death would strike, perhaps without warning. Bullas usually were carved from cottonwood root and sometimes were painted with gesso and pigments coming from natural materi­ als. Often the figures were embellished with shocks of hair, marbles for eyes, and cloth garments. Retablos ordinarily were painted on slabs of pine, also with gesso and natural pigments. TIny retablos could be worn on a thong, but the majority were medium-sized, large enough to hold a place of honor on an altar or wall. The images included symbols that are identified with specific saints of the Church. Fig­ ures of Christ Crucified were of importance both in churches and moradas, and these bullos usually featured graphic details of Christ's suffering. Because santos often were placed near candles, it is common to find them scorched or darkened by smoke. And because they were moved from place to place in processions or to sick rooms, breakage and loss occurred. Santeros repaired some of them, but the majority of the old They Do It in Good Faith 251 pieces are gone. Unfortunately, many were stolen by collectors or sold to them by thoughtless owners or neighbors of moradas. It was not uncommon to barter such items, as happened when a sewing machine salesman from Taos made his circuit in the early 1900s. A few pieces from the valley have made theirway into museum collections in Den­ ver and Colorado Springs, but thesantos in the excellent Woodard Col­ lection atAdams StateCollege's Luther Bean Museum are from outside the valley. The art form never died out entirely in the valley, with a few pieces being produced well into the twentieth century in the area west of Antonito. Since the 1980s a revival of santo-making has taken place, with a number ofcarvers creatingbultos inboth traditional and modem styles. Contrary to the appearance that all Spanish-speakingpeople were Catholic, Protestants also were involved in efforts to save the souls of Catholics in general and Penitentes in particular, with proselytizing taking place during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In 1876 a Presbyterian church, which still exists as the Antonito congrega­ tion, was organized. Later another Presbyterian church was built at Mogote. This church, served by a Spanish-speaking graduate of the seminary at Del Norte, became an influential Protestant center in a predominantly Catholic part of the valley. An important part of its program was a mission school where English was taught. Meanwhile, the Reverend Alexander Darley was conducting a relentless crusade against the Penitentes and writing volatile tracts denouncing their excesses.4 In addition to the Hispanic life ways described above, the textile tradition of the San Luis Valley stands out as a distinctive cultural feature that demonstrates how the homes and villages of the first settlers were economically self-sufficient. Whereas Anglo newcom­ ers were accustomed to purchasing many goods, including cloth, Hispanic households produced most of their own necessities, includ­ ing woven goods as the following example will demonstrate. When Spaniards first arrived in New Mexico, they had brought sheep and goats, whose wool and hair were essential for textile pro­ duction. Rough-hewn looms with reeds make with split twigs or string were soon built and operating. These were horizontal looms, but they differed from European looms by normally having only two treadles 252 The San Luis Valley

to raise a pairofharnesses. The weaverstood on the treadles and shifted weight from one foot to the other to move the harnesses, a process still used by Hispanic weavers. Having only two harnesses, weavers were limited to plain weaves, horizontal stripes or bands, and finger-woven designs. The rare weavers who had four-harness looms could create twills and simple vertical designs. The people who emigrated into the San Luis Valley from northern New Mexico brought the same textile traditions but were limited by having fewer opportunities to produce and sell work offine quality. With occasional exceptions, women and children, whether fam­ ily members or Indian servants, had the tasks of sorting, washing, and carding the fleece the men sheared from their own flocks. Women and children also gathered vegetal dye materials, built fires under dye pots, spun warp and weft yarns, performed the weaving, and finally wound balls of rag strips to weave into utilitarian goods. In the few households that had no weaver, the yarn was taken to the village's production weaver, usually a man. Items that were woven included coarse sayal with natural, un­ dyed yams for rugs, camp blankets that could double as a herder's lean-to shelter if necessary, sacks for bundles, and even cloaks. Me­ dium-weight fabrics were for bedding, serapes, shawls, and trou­ sers. Lighter-weight sabanilla was used for sheets, shirts, skirts, mat­ tress covers, curtains, and strips of yardage to fasten to the ceiling, to prevent dirt from sifting down from the roof. Twill, woven in long lengths with a checked pattern, was called jerga, its strips being sewn together to form carpets, something of a luxury. With so many prac­ tical needs, it is not surprising to find that women in the valley rarely had enough idle hours to workcolcha embroidery onsabanilla to make bedspreads and table covers, such as New Mexican ladies treasured. Nothing waswasted. When somethingwas worn out, its fragments became bags or rags for rugs. Usually the horizontal warp yams frayed first, as they were not as tightly spun as the vertical weft yarns forming the foundation. Laundering at a stream by pounding soap suds into a rug or blanket laid over a log took a toll on the material, too, and sun faded the vegetal dyes. Besides normal wear and tear, the quality of the fibers themselves affected the original appearance and the durability of a textile, and the fibers depended on the kind of animals that were being raised and They Do It in Good Faith 253 sheared. Originally, colonists in New Mexico had may spindly, pecu­ liar-looking churro sheep as well as some angora goats, both produc­ ing exceedingly long fibers and, thus, superior yams. By the mid-1880s churros were largely displaced by merino sheep, which were favored by Anglo sheepmenbecause of their bettermeatyield. Merinos still had fairly long fiber with a silky sheen, though not on a par with churro. However, merinos gave way to rambouillet and, later, other breeds, which produced even more meatbut much shorter staple and greasier wool. With such changes, labor increased for workers ofwoolwhile the quality of end products deteriorated. Not surprisingly, some of the first items to be purchased or bar­ tered for at a store were analine dyes, to replace the time-consuming process of collecting flower petals, leaves, roots, and stems for home­ made dyes. Always expensive, imported indigo and cocchineal dis­ appeared. The new commercial dyes were easier, but they changed the appearance of textiles from subtle to brilliant or even garish. Cot­ ton warp thread and finally commercial wool yams also made their appearances, eliminating much of the labor-intensive work. With the old barter system gradually giving way to a cash economy, weavingtoo was giving way to fabrics purchased atstores by the early 1900s, but a few men in isolated parts of the valley continued to doproduction weaving. Thebest-knownexample wasLibrado Garcia at Canon, near Mogote, who persisted until the 1930s. By then, with many of the old skills forgotten, a WPA project was attempting to revive weaving as aneconomic development strategy in Costilla County. Fol­ lowing another hiatus, cottage industries again were fostered in the 1970s and 1980s in the valley, with support from private foundations. At this time weaving underwent a transition from traditional design types of the San Luis Valley to the style that has long been popular at the New Mexican weaving center of Chimayo. This shift came about largely because the projects' foremost teacher, world-renowned Eppie Archuleta, came from a family of award-winning weavers who had been working for the Chimayo marketfor a few generations. The presence of the railroad encouraged not onlythe development of Anglo cattle ranches in the county but also the expansion of His­ panic sheep raising. Sheep traditionally belonged to the Spanish­ speaking population, and sheep outnumbered cattle inConejos County for many years. Most farmers had small flocks that grazed around the 254 The San Luis Valley

plaza of Lado or San Rafael and other villages near Conejos. In the foothills to the west werefound the large flocks, and Mogote andnearby Las Mesitas prided themselves as the homes of several respected borregeros, the sheepherders. The valley southwestof Antonito also became a major sheep-raising area. In this pocket are the villages ofSan Antonio and Ortiz. Ortiz, one of the most prosperous Spanish-speaking communities, got its start when a veteran of the Civil War, Jose Maria Casias, took up a home­ stead there. In the early 1870s Nestor Ortiz joined him at this location, opened a store, and became a wool broker for his neighbors.' For an avocation he took up silversmithing. When a post office opened in1885 in Ortiz's store, the name of the community was established officially. Both Baptist and Presbyterian mission schools functioned in Ortiz in the early 1900s but soon succumbed to financial problems thatafflicted other schools in Ortiz. The railroad facilitated shipment of wool and animals to market in Denver and, thus, encouraged the development of sheep produc­ tion into a major industry. Osier, where the Cumbres Pass line had a station on Los Pinos Creek, became an important shipping point, but Antonito was the principal shipping center for the county. Many of the sheep raised were a mixed breed called Navajos, with comparatively poor wool and meat. These sold for about a dollar a head. As Merino and Cotswold rams were introduced to improve the stock during the 1880s, the price per head doubled. These improved sheep produced wool that was shipped chiefly to mills on the East Coast.' Althoughsome ofthebiggest sheep growers were Spanish-speaking ranchers, many smaller owners lost their flocks when they accepted financial assistance they could not repay. Some of these unsuccessful people then worked as sheepherders for bigger operations. A system that encouraged the growth of the industry on the one hand but the economic failure of small operators on the other hand was the partido system, a method common in northern New Mexico and the San Luis Valley atthat time?A sheepherder couldborrow ewes from a flock with no initial cost, but he was obligated to reimburse the owner with one-fourth of his spring lambs and one-fourth of the wool sheared. If the yield was poor, he could not survive financially. Then taxes orbank loans might become delinquent, too. They Do It in Good Faith 255

This vintage San Isidro bulto, with oxen and plow, is housed at Fort Garland Museum, a property of the Colorado Historical Society.

Two non-Spanish enterprises inAntonito-theJordan Sheep Com­ pany and Warshauer-McClure-became the major dealers inwool and sheep in Conejos County. Fred Warshauer, whoalso was a banker, built a fortune with high interest rates at his bank and skillful use of the partido system.8 A Polish immigrant who arrived in the valley in the 18805, Warshauer was a wealthy man by the early 1900s. After his homeburned in 1911, hebuiltaneleganthouse with murals, fine wood­ work, and expensive furniture. This showpiece ofAntonito, which later became a restaurant, was scarcely finished when the price of sheep dropped, in 1913, and Warshauer committed suicide. The home was occupied byhis family for several years and later belonged to a Catho­ licorder. Warshauer's family continued in Conejos County through his nieces, the Menke sisters. After a career as a traveling vaudeville team, the popular song-and-dance trio returned to Conejos County where they operated a mountain lodge and ran an abstract business.9 In the neighborhood of Capulin north of Antonito, sheep were in­ troduced by the original New Mexican settlers in the late 1860s. When In the 1930s, a weaver is making traditional jerga, which will be a narrow strip in a wider carpet. From WPA Scrapbook, Nielsen Library, Adams State College. They Do It in Good Faith 257

Anglo ranchers entered the Strip in the next decade, cattle took over most of the land eastof Capulin. AlthoughCapulin survived and even had a post office beginning in 1881, many Spanish-speaking families betweenCapulinand Del Norte lost their land. They formed the nucleus of a group of settlers on Ramon Creek northwest of Del Norte. When someof these peoplefailed to establish their ownfarms again, they took jobs on Anglo ranches. 1O Despite the failure of some Spanish-speaking settlers, others amassed much land and great flocks of sheep and enjoyed the privi­ leges of ricos. The Montoya family, for example, settled on Los Pinos Creek near the later site of Del Norte in the 1860s, bringing with them the usual flock of sheep. One member of this family, Luis Montoya, wandered around the West for several years, working as a buffalo hunter, interpreter, and freighter before he was persuaded to move to Los Pinos Creek to settle down. Only two miles east of his farm Del Norte was booming by then. Within a few years Luis Montoya built up his livestock interests to fifteen thousand head of sheep, and he was the leading sheepman in southern Colorado, al­ though his own ranch consisted of only 360 acres. In Saguache County, also, sheep were an important asset to Spanish-speaking ranchers. When Susana Trujillo and Domacio Espinoza settled near La Garita Creek in 1858, they had about three thousand sheep with them. Their flocks grazed in the nearby foothills, with the lower land reserved for farming and other livestockll When Mark Biedell took up land on the lower part of the creek, he too raised sheep, and it was one of his sheepherders who showed Biedell the unusual rocks north of La Garita that started the mining activity there. The sheepherder himself got a team and wagon and a little cash from his boss as a reward. So many Catholics were in the area around La Garita and Camero creeks by the 1870s that the Jesuits at Conejos decided to establish a separate parish with headquarters at what is now called La Garita, although the parish was called Camero. Catholics already had been meetinginhomes, and the Penitentes had an active morada in La Garita Canyon. Insuccession other moradaswerebuiltaround La Garita, and the last one still is standing. In 1879 the Church of SI. John the Baptist was builtabout a mile north of the old town ofLa Garita at the mouthof Camero Canyon. Nuns lived in anadobe conventjust east of the church West of the Anglo ranches on the Strip, Spanish-speaking Capulin supports an active church. Capulin's handsome stone church was built in 1912. They Do It in Good Faith 259 and were responsible for religious instruction. This parish covered a wide area, north to Bonanza and Villa Grove, east to Cotton Creek, south to Monte Vista, and west to include the entire San Juan mining country. In1889 the headquarters for this mission moved to Del Norte.12 The original church buildingburned and was replaced in the 1920s by another structure that served the area until the 1960s when pastoral duties were transferred to Center.13 Inthe cemetery between the church and the present town of La Garita are the brokenheadstones and cruci­ fixes where the pioneers of this district are buried. Today no records are kept, but the cemetery, overgrown with cacti and weeds, still is used.A bouquet of plastic roses or a religious picture framed in tin is the token left at a grave to signify that the past is honored, nonetheless. Originally La Garita's school met at the Torrez Trading Post at the mouth of the canyon. Later schools were located in both La Garita and Camero canyons. A grade school was built in the present town of La Garita nearby in 1932, but this districthas been consolidated with Center. In addition to farming and ranching, the people of this area supplemented their income with timber cutting. Over the years their wagon wheels wore deep ruts in the limestone of the hills west of town, as they hauled out firewood and railroad ties. A sawmill oper­ ated here for a while, also. At both La Garita and Camero post offices operated from the 1870s into the 1890s. Also, a post office served Los Mogotes onCamero Creek in the 1880s. A town called Plaza appears on some maps of the old stage road between Saguache and Del Norte, and this designa­ tion may have referred to La Garita. During these active decades in the district the interests of Trujillo and Espinoza were growing. Their bookkeeper, Jose Adolpha White, eventually became a full partner. In the 1890s he established ranches on La Garita Creek and in Camero Canyon and built up his sheep to three thousand head. He was a stockholder in the Bank of Del Norte and was president of the La Garita schoolboard.14 Building up a successful sheep operation was not without ob­ stacles. As early as the I880s range disputes were occurring in the San Luis Valley, and local enmity between sheep and cattle raisers was typical ofother areas of the old West. Inan attemptto compromise their differences, the ranchers on the west side ofthe valley agreed to parti- 260 The San Luis Valley

tion the range for grazing. Sheep were allowed betweenSaguache and La Garita creeks and cattle south of this range to the Rio Grande. Be­ tween the Rio Grande and San Francisco Creeksheep were permitted, while cattlemen used the land betweenSan Francisco and Rock creeks. In Del Norte during the fall shipping season, cowboys used one street while sheepherders used anotherto drive their livestock to the railroad yard. At first sheep grazed in the high mountains without muchcompe­ tition, but by 1900 these ranges were becoming overgrazed. Also, as cattle were driven to summer pastures in the mountainsby the tum of the century, conflicts between Anglo cattlemenandHispanic sheepmen became serious. From time to time there were beatings and murders or the scattering of livestock. In order to protect timber and watersheds in the public domain and to control their use, Congress authorized the creation of timber reserves in the 1890s. One of these, established in 1905, was the Cochetopa Timber Reserve. In 1907 timber reserves became national

A sweeping view of the San Luis Valley and the distant peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains is enjoyed from the hills behind La Garita, where the Indians had a lookout. They Do It in Good Faith 261 forests when Congress changed the terminology of the program and its responsibilities. At this time Rio Grande, Cochetopa, and San Isabel National Forests were among the areas around the San Luis Valley so designated. Because of its extensive use for grazing, Rio Grande Na­ tional Forest figured prominently in the establishment of practicable management ofgrazing rights. When the new forest supervisor called the opposing ranchers together, the meeting nearly degenerated into a physical battle be­ tween the two factions. Eventually it was agreed that sheep would be confined to the high pastures in the forest while cattle would use lower ones." Until the mid-thirties owners simply respected each other's areas without further regulation. Since then stricter manage­ ment practices have been in effect. Great bands of stock used the driveways through the forest to specified areas, where owners leased permits for summer grazing. As herders passed a gate at the foot of a driveway, they paid five to six cents per head for sheep or thirty-five cents per head for cattle and were assigned an area for grazing. At one time 100,000 sheep used La Garita Driveway alone. This route gave access to La Garita Mountains around Wheeler Geologic Area. From there a continuation of the trail led to Creede, Lake City, and the Silverton region.16 In Costilla County, where the livestock industry was of less eco­ nomic importance than in Conejos, Rio Grande, or Saguache coun­ ties, a few ranchers assembled large tracts of land and herds of live­ stock. Cristoval Lobato of San Pablo, became a wealthy sheepman with a large home that had a big sala for entertaining and carpets on the floors. When he died he was buried near the altar ofhis church, an honor accorded generous patrons ofCatholic churches. Anotherofthe valley's important sheepmen was from the Garcia family of Plaza de Los Manzanares. When the name of the plaza was changed to Garcia, the designation honored this prosperous rancher. Sheep belonging to him grazed as far away as Nevada. J. C. Lobato, later the intrepid sheriffofCostilla County, was one of Garcia's sheepshearers in Nevada before he moved to the San Luis Valley, where he continued to shear. This skill required stamina and speed, and Lobato calculated that he usually sheared 115 to 120 sheep per day, or 139,708 in his 42 years as a shearer. His prowess with clip­ pers, combined with his leadership with shearers, resulted in his be- 262 The San Luis Valley

coming captain of a crew of shearers. As he commented, a lot of them were just "wool trompers." According to his analysis, wool trompers could "shear sheep because they have a grip, buttheydo notknowhow to fix the sheep shears."" Although the old Plaza de Los Manzanares was closely linked with the town of Costilla, where a post office and a store and the Catholic Church were located, the smaller village had an independent character. They had their own flour mill, built by Pedro Manzanares, and the Penitentes maintained an active morada. In the 1880s the Methodist Church opened a mission, and the pastor, a converted Catholic priest, taught a night school for adults. A public school for the children of Plaza de Los Manzanares had met in the 1870s, toO. 18 Encouraged by these signs ofenlightenment, the Presl::yterians opened a church, also. Nevertheless, to the outsider today the plaza known as Garcia seems as thoroughly Spanish-oriented as any land-grant plaza.The slight realignment of the state line thatplaced Costilla in New Mexico butGarcia in Colorado seems inconsequential. Retarding the changes that would have accompanied an accel­ eration of settlement on the old Sangre de Cristo Grant was the ques­ tion of valid land titles. The machinations of William Gilpin and the United States Freehold Land and Emigration Company scarcely had altered the mode of day-to-day life in southern Costilla County. True, the shelves of the Salazar store were stocked with all sorts of things that Daria Gallegos only dreamed of-shoes for men, ladies, or chil­ dren; shawls and corsets and bustles; kettles; saddles; gunpowder; Arbuckles coffee as well as green coffee; whiskey orwine; sheep shears or sheepskins. Salazar even dealt in sheep and steers and land. San Luis had matured a bit, but ithad not changed. An evidence of reluctance to alter the traditional ways was the absence of schools. Although the Church of Most Precious Blood, a stone structure later used for the Jaquez grocery store, was built in the 1860s, a parochial school did not open until 1909, in contrast to the earlier school at Conejos.!9 Instead, at San Luis education remained the privilege of a few well-to-do families. Exceptions were day schools organized in San Luis and San Pablo through Presbyterian missions in 1889.20 Until 1955 the onlyhigh school in the area was Mercy Academy at San Luis. Since then Centennial Union High School has served the southernhalfof the county. A two-year college program and a four-year They Do It in Good Faith 263 vocational school called the San Luis Institute of Arts and Crafts also operated in the 1930s and 1940s at San Luis. Politics in Costilla County also reflected fixed traditions. While Anglo miners and farmers were settling elsewhere in the valley and voicing their political sentiments, Costilla County remained almost solidly Spanish-speaking Republican. A conspicuous exception was William Meyer of Zapata and Fort Garland who took over as head of the party in the county. When the small courthouse was built in 1883 in San Luis, it was considered adequate for the times. Later as the county's potential for growth dwindled and part of the county's ju­ risdiction was lost to Alamosa County, the same small courthouse continued to serve Costilla County's offices. Toward the end of the nineteenth century a few newcomers settled but scarcely altered the character of the county. A Frenchman,Armand Choury, who had been working around Medano Creek, moved to San Luis andbecamethe postmaster, bookkeeper, surveyor, and,eventually, teacher and superintendentofschools. TwoAnglo veterans of the Civil War set up a sawmill at EI Puertecito between San Luis and Vallejos. Louis Cohn, a stalwart Democrat, had his store in San Luis. To the north were the military post at Fort Garland for a few declining years and the railroad, and to the southwest were the Mormons at Eastdale. These were a minority, however, and little intermingling of cultures occurred around San Luis. Juniper smoke curling from the chimneys of Chama, Los Fuertes, San Pedro, San Pablo, or San Francisco, then as now, told the visitor that he was in Hispanic country. La Valley and San Pablo may have had United States post offices by the tum of the century, but most of the letters posted there would have beenwrittenin Spanish, and a Catholic layman in any of the villages was as likely to meet at a morada as at a church. On an autumn day in Costilla County, with a trickle of water gurgling through an irrigation ditch and cottonwood leaves rattling overhead, it is easy to recall that less than a century and a halfago this area was settled as a Mexican land grant. A small adobe building in San Luis, Chama, Costilla, or Capulin, ora white-washed structure inAntonito may catch theeyewith its bold letters "S.P.MoO.T.V." These buildings belong to the Sociedad Proteccion Mutua de Trabajadores Unidas, Society for the MutualProtection of United Workers, organized inAntonito in 1900 and soon included more than 264 The San Luis Valley

one thousand members, most of whom were from the southern part of the valley. Although this fraternal organization has benevolent and social functions, too, it provides direct benefits to its members through an insurance program.Yet, the primary motivation of this group when it first metwas to develop a cohesive organization to voice resistance to discrimination that already wasbeingexperienced bySpanish-speaking workers in thevalley. At that time inequity in opportunities was becoming recognized. No public high schools existed yet for Spanish-speaking residents, and in some towns such as Del Norte segregation existed between English­ and Spanish-speaking pupils. These conditions can be explained in part by the desire of many Catholic families to send their children to parochial school, and as late as 1949 the Benedictine Sisters opened a new school in Monte Vista. Health-care facilities for the Spanish­ speaking people of the family also were scarce ornonexistent, although the United Presbyterian Churchsupported a health center atSan Luis, the only clinic in the entire county. One might argue that Costilla Countyneeds few schools and doc­ tors since its population has dropped to aboutthree thousand, but the citizens who remain need more help, not less. More than four-fifths of the county's residents have poverty-level incomes, and seventy percent of the male population are unemployed. Similarly, in Conejos County ninety percent of the people received welfare assistance. In 1973 Costilla County expressed its wish, more or less facetiously, to secede from Colorado and to re-establish its ties with New Mexico. The legislature in Santa Fe, enjoying the compliment, said that both Costilla and Conejos counties wouldbewelcome. The governor inDen­ ver merely replied, "The best is yet to come."'! Probably the people in the southern end of the valley agreed, for things could scarcely get worse. In the central portion of the San Luis Valley a different set of cir­ cumstances has influenced the malcontent of the Spanish-speaking people. Here most came to the valley not as colonizers of land grants but as more recent migrants from Mexico, California, or Denver. These are the people who call themselves Chicanos. Many are products of mixed blood and impoverished backgrounds. As the number of Mexi­ cans crossing the border increased in the early twentieth century, their They Do it in Good Faith 265

The tradition of manufacturing adobe bricks was encouraged at San Luis through a project sponsored by the Office of Economic Opportunity. arrival was greeted as a qualified blessing that offered cheap labor in the fields but, too often, hostility among local residents. Around Monte Vista, Center, andAlamosa, many Chicanos found jobs where vegetables, which require a large labor force, were being raised. Whereas many Japanese who took similar work in the valley becameindependentfarmers, the Chicanos were less aptto break outof their role of farm laborers. This economically and socially oppressed group constitutes a somewhat homogeneous unit that has organized in the valley, the state, and thenation to voice its own needs, hopes, and protests. Instead ofpetitioning the legislature to secede from the state, these Spanish-speaking people of the valley carried placards and shout slogans. "Viva La Huelda!" "Long live the strike!" It may seem a long time ago that the Chicanos' predecessors, the land-grant colonizers, came to the San Luis Valley. Yet, it was only yesterdaycompared to the times when Utes, Navajos, and their ancient precursors roamed the vaHey. Even allowed centuries, no person or group or nation can hope to win, finally and irrevocably, the endless 266 The San Luis Valley

cycle ofstruggle to dominate land and goods. Nor is there any consola­ tion for those who lose what once was theirs. Ifthere is hope, it lies in the quality of the people who find themselves, bychoice or not, sharing a place for their briefmoment in history. As Thornton Wilder wrote in The Bridge ofSan Luis Rey: "We do what we can. It isn't for long, you know. Time keeps going by. You'll be surprised at the way time passes."

The six-armed cross of La Garita. Epilogue The Six-Armed Cross

On the churchatLa Garita is a cross. This is not the usual religious emblem with arms pointing in only two directions from the central support. The cross at La Garita has two additionalhorizontal arms, set at right angles to the others, so that one sees a complete cross from any side of the structure. One wooden arm extends toward the hazy hills and mountain passes beyond Saguache. Another points across the churchyard'spicket fence to the lonely cemeteryand the Sangre de Cristos, shimmering far across the valley. Southward pastures and potato fields are sighing in the wind. Behind the church rise La Garita Mountains and the trails of ill-fated explorers and solitary sheepherders. Upward the main staff beckons toward the impalpable,blue, Colorado sky, and downward it clings to the belfry and the alluvium oferoded earth. This six-armed cross seems symbolic ofa conceptofplace which is not indicated by the traditional points ofthe compassbutwhich is all­ embracing. Like the Indian concept ofspace, whichis unconfined and limitless, a place is neither two- nor three-dimensional but four. 270 The San Luis Valley

At what particular moment and at what particular spot did this valley and its story begin? When and where will it cease? Perhaps there is no beginning and no ending but a continuum of time and place to which all life belongs. In this valley finite concepts of time and place seem inadequate. The most recent occupant is brother of the earliest, and unknown feet will walk within the changing valley tomorrow. Appendix Hispanic Place Names ofthe San Luis Valley

The numerous settlements established bySpanish-speakingpeople in the San Luis Valley tell many different stories. Among them are the earliest, failed attempts to establish homes, followed by a rush onto the Sangre de Cristo and Conejos land grants in the 1850s, within a few years ofthe arrival ofa new United States governmentin New Mexico. Some of the earlysettlers themselves were, infact, Americans and Euro­ pean emigrants, often married to New Mexican women. However, all camebyway of New Mexico. Although populationwas sparse in the early years, the plazas and placitas proliferated. The reason for many small villages was that people neededto live nearneighbors for protection and for social contact while still having access to fields near their homes, but as the threat ofIndian raids abated and the populations of towns grew, some settlers chose to live in looser groups ofranches, called "poblacianos." Often suchneigh­ borhoods bore the names of prominent families. Such place names, where no village mayhave existed, cause some confusion for latter-day historians. Also, many plazas bore both secular and church names. Another source of confusion is the fixing of exact dates and dis­ cerning the accuracy of claims to being the 'first" town or ditch or church. Vying with places like Costilla, La Plaza de Los Manzanares, and the settlements on Culebra CreekinCostilla County are the locali­ ties along the Conejos River and the Rio SanAntonio inConejos County. Oralhistory pushes temporary occupation back to the early 1840s and

The text of the appendix appeared originally in The San Luis Valley Historian, volume 23, number 3 (1991). It is reprinted here with the permission ofthe San Luis Valley Historical Society. 272 Appendix

even to the 1830s, but one can safely assert thatrapidmigration into the southern end of the San Luis Valley took place in the early 1850s. This wave of permanent settlement was followed in the latter part of the same decade by the establishment ofhomes in the northernhalf of the Valley. Thus, in about one decade Hispanic ranches and villages were scattered throughout the San Luis Valley. This expansion ofsettlement was encouragedby the presence of U.S. military posts whichafforded protection from Indian raids. The following decade witnessed the arrival ofincreasing numbers of Anglos and other people of European background, many of whom were Civil War veterans. The HomesteadAct encouraged many of the newcomers. In the 1870s an influx ofranchers and farmers from Texas and the Midwest changed the settlement patterns in the San Luis Val­ ley profoundly, a trend further accelerated by Mormonimmigration in the late 1870s. Still, a small number of Hispanic settlements werebegun even after this period, especially as a result of pressures caused by the denial of rights to the Conejos Land Grant. _. i -•- Appendix 275

AGUA RAMON: Two miles north of US. 160 and five miles east of SouthFork. A creek and nearby mountainbear the same name. "Agua" means water, and Ramon wouldbe the name of an early settler. People are said to have moved here from the Capulin and La Jara area in the later part of the 1800s to find homes as well as employment after land was lost inConejos County. Inadditionto a Catholic church, there have been an active Penitente morada and a women's auxiliary, each with its ownbuilding. Early in this century, a school and a store operated at Agua Ramon, and a cemetery was established.

AGUITAS CALIENTAS: Near the Alamosa River and Gomez, west of Capulin. The name means small hot springs and could be another name for Hot Creek.

ALAMOSA: The name means cottonwood grove. Founded in 1878 when the Denver and Rio Grande Railway builtto this point,Alamosa soon attracted many Spanish-speaking people who worked for the railroad. Originally, many of these people resided in a barrio south of the railroad tracks and west of State Avenue. A Penitente morada existed in the Washington Addition, and a cemetery, called the Alamosa Spanish Cemetery, is located in the southwest edge of town. See also Rio Bravo.

ALAMOSO: On the north side oftheAlamosa River, aboutfour miles east of the present Terrace Reservoir. Gomez, where a school later was erected, was on the south side of the river near Alamoso. Alamoso's early residents arrived about 1870, a prominent family being that of Francisco Antonio Gomez. Alamoso had a school as well as a cemetery called La Luz. See also Gomez and Buena Vista.

ANTONIO: Northeast of Capulin and northwest of La Jara. No other data.

ANTONIO JUNCTION: A Denver and Rio Grande Railway junc­ tion south of Antonito a mile north of today's San Antonio.

ANTONITO: Founded when the Denver and Rio Grande Railway 276 Appendix

built south from Alamosa in 1880, Antonito was called San Antonio briefly, but the name soon was changed, apparently to avoid confu­ sion with the Hispanic village of the same name to the south. Only a mile from Conejos, the county seat, Antonito soon dominated, rap­ idly growing as a railroad town and commercial center. Large num­ bers of sheep from ranches in the southern part of the Valley were shipped from Antonito, and wool brokers also served the area. The SPMDTU (Sociedad Proteccion Mutua de Trabajadores Unidos) was started at Antonito in 1900, and a large headquarters building was built in 1925-26 for this organization that gained some influence in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. Two Spanish-language newspapers were being printed at Antonito about 1900. Until the 1970s Benedictine nuns taught the public school classes in this largely Catholic and impoverished town.

BERNALILLO: On the north side of the Conejos River, northwest of San Rafael (Paisaje), which is west of Antonito and Conejos. No fur­ ther data.

BRASO: This was the same location as El Brazo, south of Manassa on the north side of the Conejos River. "Brazo" means arm or branch, but one of the early settlers here was S. G. Brazo. He was listed with others at Braso in 1865 as one of the Indian slave owners of Conejos County. This neighborhood had other very early settlements. See also El Brazo.

BUENA VISTA: Eight miles west of Capulin and very close to Alamoso and Gomez. Jose Maria Valdez, who was listed as one of the early sheep owners at Alamoso, operated a flour mill at Buena Vista.

CANON: Two and a half miles southwest of Mogote, Cafton is east of the mouth of Conejos Canyon and on the south side of the Conejos River. The settlement existed before 1871, when it was listed in Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. A school was located here, and two com­ mercial weavers, Librado and Epimenio Garcia, lived at Canon in the early 1900s. Appendix 277

CAPULIN: Between theAlamosa River and La Jara Creek, eightmiles west of the present town of La Jara. The name means chokecherry. Although settlers from Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, led by Hipolito Romero, are said to have established this village in 1867, EI Viejo Ditchwas diverted from theAlamosa River as early as 1862 by Tomas Trujillo and others. Most of the early settlers were men, and they were followed later by their families. Some of Capulin's people soon moved with their livestock closer to the hills, arotmd Alamoso. By 1878 Capulin had an adobe church and a cemetery. A morada, later moved a few miles to the northwest, was located a mile north of the present townsite. A store and post office were operating by 1881. In 1909, Luis Rivera and others platted the present townsite, about a mile south of the original, and St. Joseph's Church was erected at the new location in 1912. The second in a series of schools at Capulin met at the church, and Benedictine nuns taught in the town for sev­ eral years. The SPMDTU's second chapter was in Capulin.

CARNERO: About sixteen miles northwest of Center, Camero, was on the south side of Camero Creek, east of Camero Canyon. Camero means sheep or mutton, an appropriate name since large numbers of sheep were brought to this area from EI Rito, New Mexico, in 1858 or 1859 by the Espinoza brothers and one Santiago Manchego. One of the Espinozas, Julian, was captain of a company of volunteers mus­ tered in the San Luis Valley to serve the Union Army in New Mexico during the Civil War. San Juan Bautista Church, built in 1872, was the center for Catholic missions in the neighborhood and beyond the San Juan Mountains to the west until 1878 when Del Norte took over this role. A post office opened in 1870. On a stage road between Del Norte and Poncha Pass, Camero had some importance for a few years. The church bumed in 1924 and was rebuilt in 1926, the newer struc­ ture becoming the San Juan Art Center in the 1980s. The only homes in the area now are at La Garita to the southeast.

CASILLAS: This location appears to havebeen the home ofJose Maria Casillas or Casias as the name more often was spelled. The Casias family settled in the 1860s at the village later known as Ortiz. Casillas was listed in Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in the early 1870s. See also Ortiz. 278 Appendix

CENICERO: Three miles east of Antonito on the road to Mesita. The name means ash heap, a description given to both a hill southeast of town and a mesa east of town. Settlers carne here from Cochiti, New Mexico, andbroughtwith themrules for the Penitentebrotherhood, La Hermandad (or La Cofradia) de Nuesto PadreJesus. The first morada in the San Luis Valley was just south of Cenicero. Cenicero, was sur­ rounded by an adobe wall in the early years to offer protection to the settlers, whobuilttheir homes inside the wall. The road passed through gates on thewest and east side. When the plaza was established in the mid-1850s, Indians still camped nearby, and skirmishes took place be­ tween different tribes as well as with settlers at Conejos and Costilla. Water was diverted from nearby Rio SanAntonio. The date of the orga­ nization ofHoly Family Catholic Churchat Cenicero is unknown, but Presbyterian missionaries are known to have arrived in 1860 and con­ verted the Valley's first Spanish-speaking Presbyterians at Cenicero. The first school was taughtby one of the missionaries, the Presbyterian churchbuilding itselfbeing used for the school, thoughlater it housed a Catholic church and still later the SPMDTU. Prominent families in­ cluded Jirons and Lobatos. Since a postmaster named Lobato had the name of the post office changed from Cenicero to Lobatos in 1902, the village hasbeen called by the latter name. See also Lobatos.

CHALFA, LA PLACITA DE: Anearly ranch settlementnorthofCostilla and Garcia, inpresent-day Colorado.

CHAMA: Four miles southeast of San Luis. On Culebra Creek, this village sometimes wascalled Culebra until about 1900. Settledbypeople from Chamita, New Mexico, Chamahad a chapel by 1864. Its feast day ofSantiago (St. James) was a major celebration drawingpeople from the entire area. The town has had a large Penitente morada, and there are two cemeteries, Catholic and Pentacostal. An SPMDTU building, post office, and school were located atChama at one time, the school build­ inghaving served as a cannery also for a time. Chama'sbaseball team was renowned. Prominent families included the Lobatos, Sanchezes, Ortegas,Jacqueses, and Villapandos.

CHICAGO-PHILADELPHIA: Five miles west ofSaguache in the val­ ley of Saguache Creek. Although the names have an obvious Anglo Appendix 279 source, Hispanic sheepmenwere in the area whenAnglo ranchers first arrived. A cemetery was started about 1860, and a Penitente morada was located near it.

COLONIAS: About six miles south ofSan Luis, at the junction where the road to San Francisco turns east and the road to Sanchez Reservoir continues south. Colonias was a small cluster of homes and had a school about 1950.

CONEJOS: One mile northwestof Antonito. The name means rabbits. Led by Lafayette Head, who was married to Dona Maria Martinez, people from Guadalupe moved across the Conejos River to the site of Conejos in 1855 because itwas onhigher, drier ground. Here in the new plaza, the Head household was a center of local activity, especially because Head was the Ute Indian agent in the early 1860s. The Heads' home, which included Indian slaves, was north of the present court­ house, and Head's flour mill was adjacent to it. Other Anglo settlers, such as James Woodson and Otto Mears, also settled at Conejos about 1860, and merchants Juan Chacon and Simon Garcia, among others, helped establish Conejos as the principal trading center for the area untilAntonito was founded nearby. Conejos's first chapel wasbuilt in 1857 when the first priest arrived to organize a Catholic parish, this being the first parish in what is now Colorado, though the chapel was not the first church structure. A much larger adobe church building was erected in 1860, and it witnessed major changes in subsequent years. This building burned in 1926, and the present Our Lady of Guadalupe Church was thenbuilt on the same site. Itremains the par­ ishchurch of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, although the residence is in Antonito. In 1861, the year when Colorado Territory was created, Conejos County was established with Conejos as the county seat. For only a few days the countyoriginally was called Guadalupe County. In the 1860s the county extended west to Utah, but a large, stone court­ house was not built to serve the county until 1890, by which time its jurisdiction was much smaller. This courthouse burned in 1980. The post office was established in1862 as one of Colorado's first. Bypassed by the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, Conejos lost much of its popu­ lationand tradeto Antonito. Schools included two Catholic academies, and nuns also taught in the public schools subsequently. 280 Appendix

CORDINAS, LA PLACITA DE LOS: An early ranch settlement be­ tweenGarcia andLa Placita deChalfa, oneofthe outriders ofthe Costilla area.

CORDON: North of San Antonio, on the west side of the Rio San Antonio. The word means cord or twist.

COSTILLA, N.M.: The name, meaning rib, was used by the earliest Spanish expeditions. Costilla, just south of the present state line, is included in this list of place names since the plaza was established on the Sangre de Cristo Grant, is physically part of the San Luis Val­ ley, and was in Colorado when Colorado Territory was created in 1861. In fact, Costilla was the largest, most important town in the area at that time, and the name Costilla, was given to the county created in 1861, taking in the east side and northern end of the San Luis Valley. The county seat was briefly designated San Miguel, the name of the church at Costilla. One of Colorado Territory's first post offices, established in 1862, was Costilla, Colorado. However, in 1869 the territorial boundary between New Mexico and Colorado was moved justnorthofCostilla following a new survey. The first people on the Sangre de Cristo Grant settled here in 1848, but they were evicted. Authorized colonizers arrived in 1849, and they established several small plazas and placitas in the neighborhood and began to use water from the Costilla River to irrigate crops. One of these outriders was La Plaza de Los Manzanares, established in 1849. Although its name later was changed to Garcia, this plaza has always been north of the boundary since the creation ofthe Territory and the State ofColorado and canjustifiablyclaim to be the oldest continuously inhabited settle­ ment in Colorado.

COTTON CREEK: About twelve miles southeast of Villa Grove and south of Valley View Hot Springs. Spanish-speaking settlers in the upper portion of Cotton Creek's drainage had a church and a cem­ etery. The settlers moved out after a flume was built to CF&I's Ori­ ent Mine and took water needed by the Hispanic agriculturists. See also San Luis de Cotton Creek.

CUBA: The name means tub or vat. Cuba is the north side ofSan Luis. Appendix 281

CULEBRA: The name means snake. Early settlements along Culebra Creek were called Upper Culebra or Plaza Arriba (or Arriva), Middle Culebra or Plaza de Medio, and LowerCulebra or Plaza Abajo. See San Pedro, San Luis, and Viejo San Acacio respectively. Chama also was called Culebra.

CUMBRES: The name means summit. This was a railroad station and post office on Cumbres Pass. Although there was no settlement, the Ortega-Gomez family homesteaded near the pass about 1880, and surrounding areas were used for sheep range by people from down along the Conejos River's settlements.

DEL NORTE: The name derives from that of the river, the Rio Grande del Norte. This area was visited in the early 1850s by Hispanics from the Conejos River settlements, and by the late 1850s several small plazas and ranches existed. The opening of mines in the San Juan Mountains brought a rush of Anglo newcomers. Del Norte was the first of the towns organized primarily by Anglos in Conejos County before the legal status of the Conejos Grant was finally determined to be void. The newcomers urged the creation of a new county, Rio Grande County, in 1870, and the town of Del Norte was platted shortly afterward. Businesses opened and land claims were officially filed at a U.s. Land Office which opened at Del Norte in 1875. Farmers as well as miners filed claims, a few of the claims for farming land being made by Spanish-speaking people. A cemetery on the south side of town was set aside on land donated by Candelario de Jesus Martinez. Holy Name of Mary Church began in 1872 in a building constructed with upright logs, a jaca!. It was replaced in 1899 by the present struc­ ture. Presbyterians also started a churchinthe 1870s, and the Presbyte­ rian College of the Southwest opened in an imposing churchbuilding of thatfaith in1888. This structureburned,butbefore the college ceased functioning in 1903 several Spanish-speaking students from the Val­ ley and northern New Mexico received their training as teachers or ministers.

EL ANCON DEL PLATA: East of Sanford. The word "ancon" means cove, and "plata" means silver. No informationabout the reason for the name is available. 282 Appendix

EL BRAZO: The name means arm or branch. This plaza was located northeast ofGuadalupe and Servieta, orServilleta, on the north side of theConejos River, three miles southof Manassa and onthe westside of the county road. El Brazo also was called Braso, for one of the original settlers in the 1860s. Manuel Lorenzo Romero and about two dozen others arrived from Chamita, N.M., in 1870. In 1871 the plaza was a mission of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. The village was on a road running in a northeast-southwest direction between Guadalupe and Fort Garland, and a number of plazas were scattered along the road in this area, which now is abandoned. See also Braso.

EL CEDRO REDONDO: The name means the round cedar, which marked a place about four or five miles west of Guadalupe. Men from Llanito, N.M., camped at El Cedro Redondo in 1854 and dug an irrigation ditch to Servieta, or Servilleta, on the north side of Conejos River, the ditch being about six miles long. The men then wentbacktoNew Mexico and returned with their families. Jose Maria Jaquez led the first group at El Cedro Redondo, and Lafayette Head came with the second group to settle at Guadalupe, just north of today's Conejos.

EL CENTRO: Two miles west of Capulin, El Centro was the"center" of a ranch area, a poblaciano. Passing through were roads to La Jara Creek, Jodero Canyon, Hot Creek, and the Jacob's Hill neighborhood. A two-story school, called Hot Creek School, was south of El Centro. The building still stands. Today the name El Centro usually refers only to the comer where the Gunbarrel Road starts north toward Monte Vista.

EL CODO, OR CODA: The name means bend or elbow. The loca­ tion is east of Ortiz in the area where Los Pinos River and Rio San Antonio join. El Codo Ditch decree dates from 1855 with original claimants being Martinez, Gallegos, Lovato, and Chavez. It is said that a right was filed earlier, in 1849, at Tierra Amarilla, N.M., also.

ELCUEVA, CUERVO, QUERVO, ORLA CUEVA: "Cueva" means cave,

whereas IIcuervo" or IIquervo" meanscrow. Thelocation,which is north­ eastacross a valley from Ortiz, is onthesouthside of a steep hill climbed Appendix 283 by the county roadbetweenOrtiz and San Antonio. This hill has a cave in the formation. Ranches are located below the hill on the edge of the meadow which extends toward El Codo and Ortiz.

EL DOCTORE: This settlement was up Old Woman's Creek, north­ west of Del Norte. About the tum of the century, there was a school at El Doctore. A LeBlanc family sought lost treasure nearby.

EL PORTON: The name means the gate. It was on the main eastwest route between Antonito and Costilla County which passed through Cenicero and crossed the Rio Grande at El Vadito ford and ferry, later known as Conlon's Ferry and Costilla Ferry, at the upper end of the Rio Grande Gorge. See also El Vadito.

EL PUERTECITO: The name means a small entrance, in this case possibly a small opening into the foothills or possibly a misspelling of Fuerticito, since it is said to have been near Vallejos Creek near San Luis. A sawmill operated at this place about 1890.

EL PUNCHE: This is a valley about a dozen miles southeast of Conejos where ranches were located and sheep were grazed. The name refers to a plant usedby Indians for tobacco, or it sometimes refers to an easy or low pass, as in the case of Poncha Pass, once called Punche Pass.

EL RITO DE SAN FRANCISCO, OR EL RITO: Settled by families closely associated with Amalia, nearby to the south in New Mexico, El Rito also is known as San Francisco and La Valley. It is southeast of San Luis. See La Valley and San Francisco.

EL TANQUE: This name, referring to a railroad water tank, was used for the point on the Denverand Rio Grande Railway where the present town of La Jara soon appeared after the railroad was constructed.

EL VADITO, OR DADITO: The name means a small ford. It was at the Rio Grande near the present Lobatos Bridge east of Antonito and Conejos. This ford presumably was the one used by Juan de Vargas's expedition in 1694 when an Indian showed the Spaniards the route across the river. The road between Conejos and Costilla passed 284 Appendix

through Lobatos, originally called Cenicero, and used the ford at El Vadito. Celedonio Valdez, an early prominent settler of the Conejos Grant at La Isla, operated a ferry at this crossing for a short time, but someone cut the cable, and the ferry floated away into the gorge be­ low. Later, Conlon's Ferry and Costilla Ferry were here.

ESPINOSA OR ESPINOZA: Located two and a half miles south of Manassa, this plaza was orginally called Los Fuerticitos (the "little fort") of Incarnacion Espinosa. It was built stoutly enough, probably of logs, to offer protection when Indians threatened the neighbor­ hood. Espinosa was a short distance northeast of EI Brazo and on the same road between Guadalupe and Fort Garland. A chapel, dedi­ cated to Santo Nino, was built in 1910 and is now abandoned. A school, dance hall, and store, all constructed of adobe, served a popu­ lation of about four hundred yet in 1940. In the 1930s dances at Espinosa still drew large numbers from the surrounding area.

FORT GARLAND: The army post built in 1858 replaced Fort Mas­ sachusetts, which was eight miles to the north. Fort Garland con­ sisted of a rectangular group of adobe structures, essentially like the restored fort which is now a state museum. Both Fort Massachusetts and Fort Garland were built for the purpose of affording settlers pro­ tection from Indian raids and for stationing personnel who could mount punitive expeditions, both purposes being fulfilled success­ fully. A sutler's store and post office at Fort Garland drew civilians who lived at nearby Hispanic ranches and settlements. The opportu­ nity to earn cash by selling garden produce and feed for the army's horses and mules also encouraged farmers to settle on land as near the six-mile-square military reservation as regulations permitted. Among early settlers were Charles Newton and his wife Maria de Los Reyes on Ute Creek; Antonio Baca on what later became the Ar­ rowhead Ranch; and Thomas Tobin and his wife Pasquela Bernal on Trinchera Creek though at the time the Tobins' permanent home was at Costilla. In the mid-1860s Kit Carson, whose wife was Maria Josepha Jaramillo of Taos, commanded the fort for a year. One of the Carsons' children, Billy, married the youngest daughter of the Tobins, and they and their descendants remained in the area. As the local vil­ lage grew, an adobe church was built. Dedicated to the Holy Family, Appendix 285 this structure was northof the present Catholic church. The old church was a mission of Del Norte Parish in the late 1800s. The arrival of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway in 1878 brought new people, com­ merce, and employment to the town. The fort was abandoned in 1883. See also Trinchera.

FORT MASSACHUSETTS: The predecessor of Fort Garland, Fort Massachusetts was built at Ute Creek north of Fort Garland in 1852. The presence of this first army post in the San Luis Valley encouraged about two hundred Hispanic families to move from New Mexico's settlements into the Valley in 1853. Nevertheless, in that year Costilla was raided, livestock was run off, and people were killed. In both 1854 and 1855 there were skirmishes with Indians near Guadalupe. Factors contributing to these episodes were the Indians' fear of intrusion on their land, their loss of game on the plains and elsewhere, diseases contracted from white people, and the ongoing practice of taking cap­ tivesbothfrom riva1Indian tribes and from the Spanish-speakingsettle­ ments. Following the massacre of people at a trading post at Pueblo in late 1854, Fort Massachusetts' troops were involved in punitive expe­ ditions which included Hispanic support personnel.

FUERTECITO, OR LOS FUERTECITOS OF INCARNACION ESPINOSA: In Conejos County, south of Manassa. This place was listed in 1871 in Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. The fortification, built for local residents, was a civilian effort. See Espinosa.

FUERTECITO, OR LOS FUERTES: In Costilla County, southeast of San Luis. Fuertecito was built like a small fort with logs. Also called Vallejos, the settlement began here about 1853, at a time when Indian menace still was acute. Indians were in the area, stripping tree bark to obtain food, medicine, or both, according to archaeologists. See also Vallejos and San Ysidro.

GARCIA: This plaza first was called La Plaza de Los Manzanares when its settlement began. Two brothers, Manuel and Pedro Manzanares, came with their families in 1849 according to descendant Olibama Lopez Tushar. They were among the first colonists oftheSangre de Cristo Grantand their plaza, nowcalled Garcia, was the first perma- 286 Appendix

nentsettlementwithin today's boundaries ofColorado. A decree for the Manzanares Ditch, taking water from the Costilla River, was dated 1854, and Pedro Manzanares operated a flour mill. With Ferd Meyer's store in Costilla providing postal service as well as a retail outlet, its neighbors a mile to the north at La Plaza de Los Manzanares did not obtaina separate postal facility until 1901. The postoffice atManzanares thenoperated in a store belonging to two Garcia brothers, and the name became Garcia with Jose Garcia as postmaster in 1915, and the town hasbeencalled Garcia since then. Catholic families inthe plaza contin­ ued to attend church in Costilla but had a separate chapel at Garcia, too. There was a Penitente morada at the plaza, and missions were operated by Presbyterian, Methodist, and pentacostal churches. The Presbyterians also conducted a school.

GOMEZ: The Gomez School wasbuilt ten miles northwest ofCapulin in 1918 on the south side of the Alamosa River, east of Terrace Reser­ voir. The school was about two miles west of Alamoso plaza. See also Alamoso and Buena Vista.

GUADALUPE: On the north side of the Conejos River, opposite Conejos. Guadalupe is said to have been named by a man who prom­ ised to build a church dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe if his obstreperous mule, which was balking, would just move on. A small chapel was built soon after the original settlement took place in Oc­ tober 1854. Settlers, includingJose Maria Jaquez and Vicente Velasquez, as well as Lafayette Head, were makingtheirsecondjourney of the year from El Llanito, New Mexico. (See El Cedro Redondo regarding the earlier visit.) The first homes were built in a rectangular plaza with upright logs, just west of the present homes at Guadalupe. Indian at­ tacks took place in 1854 and 1855, with all of the plaza's livestock being stolenin the second raid, so that the settlers had to travel back to New Mexico to obtain new stock. The Guadalupe Main Ditch decree was dated 1855 as the Conejos River's Priority No.1. This apparently is the ditch dug from El CedroRedondoin1854. A mill builtin 1856 by Jaquez utilized the river's water power. In 1855 Lafayette Head and several others moved across the river to the south and established Conejos because of flooding at Guadalupe. A bridge connecting the two communities was built in 1858, but it washed out in a flood. Appendix 287

Guadalupe continued to exist, was incorporated in 1869, and had the largest number of taxpayers of any town in Conejos County in 1870. Because parish headquarters established at Conejos was called Our Lady ofGuadalupe, the name Guadalupita appears to have been used sometimes in reference to Guadalupe.

HAYWOOD: This ranch area is south of the Rio Grande, six to seven miles northwest of Monte Vista on the old road which parallels U.S. 160. A railroad switchbore the name. This area received water for irri­ gation from the Silva Ditch with the first priority dated 1866 and be­ longing to Manuel and Primative Montoya. The Montoya Ranch later became knownas the Haywood Ranch, a propertywhichappears to be an example of speculation in the 1870s, for legal documents show the ranch passing through three ownerships in one year, 1877. Eventually it belonged to Dr. John McFadzean of Del Norte and next to Fred and Ruth Davie. Near the ranch there was a Penitente morada, and to the east are remains of adobes, a jacal built with upright posts, and an abandoned store.

JACOB'S HILL: See Ojitos.

JAROSO, OR JAROSA: Jarosa means brambled-covered. The year after the San Luis Southern Railway was built south from Blanca to serve this agricultural area, a post office calledJaroso, opened in 1911. Earlier the region hadbeen called El Bosque de Los Caballos, a wooded area where horses ranged. With homes of Spanish- speaking people scattered nearby, the town of Jaroso developed chiefly as a trade cen­ ter and shipping point for agricultural products. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church operated an academy and experimental farm as a mission project. Around 1930 the name of the town sometimes was spelled "Jarosa" in newspaper accounts and elsewhere.

KERBER CREEK: This area around Villa Grove was settled by Civil War veterans, somebeing ofGermanbackground, but the creek origi­ nally was called Rio de Los Abiquisenos, a name suggesting that there mayhavebeen earlier settlers who camefrom Abiquiu, New Mexico. It seems probable that the northward movementofthe 1858 period spread this far up the Valley. 288 Appendix

LA CORDILLERA: In Conejos County. Listed intax records in the 1870s with only eight taxpayers, this poblaciano was a row of houses along County Road E. 5, southwest of Las Mesitas. Until the 1940s this was the mainroad, replaced bythe presenthighwayColorado 17.

LA CORDILLERA, OR LA CORILLERA: In Costilla County. This was a poblaciano forming a row of houses along the road which leads from San Luis toward San Pedro and Chama. The row began at the bend beyond the vega, the public commons. La Corillera was the popular spelling and pronunciation in Costilla County.

LA CUEVA: See El Cueva.

LA FLORIDA: This name suggests many flowers in the area, which is east of Antonio and southeast of Lobatos, near thehills. In the 1890s a Presbyterian teacher was conducting school at La Florida.

LA GARITA: Originally located at the mouth of La Garita Canyon, the plaza was named for a hill with an Indian lookout, as was the stream with the same name. The hill may have been directly westof the Catho­ lic church near La Garita. Settlers from El Rito, New Mexico, arrived in 1858, and Crecencio Torrez established a trading post. Problems be­ tween Indians and Spanish-speaking people still were common, and in1861 or 1862 troops came from Fort Garland to La Garita to disperse the Indians. A post office opened at the trading post in 1874, as wagon traffic passed by on the road from Del Norte to Saguache and on a deeply rutted road to the west. The first churchwasbuiltnorthofold La Garita, near Camero, in 1872 on land belonging to Julian Espinoza. An adobeconventwasnearby. This church, dedicated toSanJuanBautista, burned in 1921, and the present structure wasbuilt in 1926. No longer used for church worship, the building was used as a craft studio by Artes del Valle beginninginthe 1980s. In the 1900s the postoffice moved a little east of the church, from its former location, established in the 1870s at the Torrez trading post, and a public school also opened near the new store-postoffice.

LA ISLA: An "island" of land lying between the Conejos River on the north and the Rio San Antonio on the south and east is the reason for Appendix 289 this area's naming. La Isla, in addition to being a general area, was a plaza with a chapel dedicated to San Jose, about five miles northeast of Antonito and about four miles southeast of Manassa. The San Jose Ditch served the area which numbered thirty-five taxpayers inthe early 1870s. Foremost among the landowners at La Isla was Celedonio, or Seledonio, Valdez, one of the petitioners for theConejos Grant. He came from New Mexico in 1854. Because of his large landholdings and local influence, La Isla was once called La Isla de Don Seledonio Valdez, and a legend persists that $60,000 worth of gold bars was found in the walls of his adobehousewhenitwas tom downin the 1930s. His home was west of the school building, now abandoned, on the road connect­ ing the Rincones-Los Cerritos area, on the north side of the Conejos River, with La Isla and the La Isla School serving both neighborhoods in the early 1900s.

LA JARA: The name refers to brambly thickets of wild roses com­ mon along the creek of the same name as this town. An old La Jara was about six miles west of the present town. The original place was on the south side of La Jara Creek and was on the old road between Conejos and Del Norte. In existence by 1870, the plaza had nine tax­ payers in 1874, the most common surnames being Valdez and Vigil. By 1875 the taxpayers' listings had grown to forty-one, with Anglo ranchers being added to the roster. The first post office was a stage station on the Mancil Garrett ranch and opened in 1875. It moved to the Newcomb ranch with a name change from La Jara to Newcomb and moved again in 1884 to the new town of La Jara. This present town of La Jara began as a point on the Denver and Rio Grande Rail­ way in 1880 with only a water tank. Until a new community grew up there, the spot was called El Tanque.

LAJOILLA, LAJOYA, OR LA JOLLA: This name is given to the area betweenCatCreek and HotCreekwestof the Gunbarrel Road and east of the foothills of theSan Juan Mountains. The term is said to refer to the prickly pear cacti which are common in the area.

LA LOMA DE SANJOSE, LA LOMA, LOMA, AND LA LOMA DEL NORTE: Although these neighboring Lomas, "hills," were separate plazas, they are grouped together here. All are near Del Norte. The first 290 Appendix

of these to be settled was La Lorna de San Jose, four miles east of today's Del Norte on an elevated benchofland.Juan Bautista Silva led fourteen families to this place from Santa Fe in 1859. This group, which in­ cluded a teacher and Indian slaves, was soon joined by several people from the Conejos River area. A church dedicated to San Jose and a store were located atthe plaza. Before long the residents began to fan out and established satellite plazas. Those to the east used water from the Silva Ditch, as did La Lorna de San Jose. Although the original plaza still was thriving when Del Norte was founded in the early 1870s, La Lorna de San Jose died out when water was taken by newcomers, it is said. The plaza called La Lorna is thought to have been either on the west side of today's Del Norte at Pinos Creek or on the south side of Del Norte. La Lorna started soon after La Lorna de San Jose. Lorna was on the north side of the river, near the gravel pit. Incorporated in 1873, it began earlier, for a post office called Lorna was operating in 1867 and continued at least through 1880. La Lorna del Norte was northeast of La Lorna de San Jose. Itdiffered from the nearbyHispanic plazas in that it was the location ofa river crossing, where Lafayette Head ofConejos and his business associates established a ferry, withauthorizationfrom Colorado's new territorial legislature in 1861. This crossing was of some importance for travelers between Conejos, La Lorna de SanJose, and the Camero-La Garita area, which connected in tum to Saguache and points beyond. The east-west road between Fort Garland and La Lorna de SanJose existed, too.

LA PLACITA DE LAS MEAS: A Colorado HistoricalSociety pamphlet of 1940 placed this small plaza near the mouth of the Conejos River on its south side, a location which would be in the vicinity of Canon. Probably the name shouldbespelled Maes rather than Meas. The placita belonged to DonQuirino Meas, or Maes, and was deserted long before 1940.

LA PLAZA DE DON HILARIO: This plaza was on the north side of the Rio Grande eastoftoday's Del Norte. Belonging to Hilario Atencio, the plaza originated about the same time as the Montoya Ranch at Haywood, which was a shortdistance to the southeast across the river. See also Seven Mile Plaza.

LA PLAZA DE LOS MANZANARES: See Garcia. Appendix 291

LARIAT: In 1881 this site became the location of a water tank for the Denver and Rio Grande Railway and was called Lariat. Spanish­ speaking people who lived near it worked for the railroad or tended livestock at loading pens located at Lariat. This site was the begin­ ning of today's Monte Vista. See also Monte Vista.

LAS MESITAS: Five miles west of Antonito on the west side of the Conejos River, this plaza lies in open, flat country with nearby hills on the north and the Conejos River on the south. Local people refer to this location as the mouth of Conejos Canyon. Indians camped in a small canyon in the hills at what is called El Pozo, "the hole." When troops came from Fort Garland to dispatch Apache Indians, one of their captive Ute women escaped and found refuge in a local home. Her descendants still live in Las Mesitas. The settlement had its first beginnings in 1856 whenJuan de Dio Ruybal came from Jacoma, New Mexico. The first shelters were "tijeras," upright posts leaning against each other at the top like a sawhorse. As adobe homes began to mul­ tiply, Las Mesitas had twenty-three taxpayers by 1870. Their church, dedicated to San Ysidro, was a little to the west of a later quite sub­ stantial building which was erected in 1919 but burned in 1975. This church is said to have had a silver bell, formerly used at Conejos, where parishioners donated household silver, jewelry, and coins for its casting. A fairly large public school has become private property. Prior to the public school at Las Mesitas, Presbyterians operated a mission school at Mogote to the east. Later, Seventh-Day Adventists had a school at the west end of La Cordillera. See La Cordillera, Conejos County.

LA VALLEY: La Valley is located along San Francisco Creek, seven miles southeastofSan Luis. The eastend of this settlementis called San Francisco, taking its name from the church there. The west end once was known as Colonias. The whole settlement also is called El Rito sometimes. A Penitente morada, a store, and a post office, operating from 1903 until 1918 and called La Valley, were located here. See also El Rito and San Francisco.

LLANO BLANCO: The name meanswhite plain. Itrefers to the white alkaline ground found northwest of today's La Jara. The entire area 292 Appendix

west of La Jara to Capulin has been better known by the Anglo name, the Strip.

LOBATOS: After the Cenicero post office name was changed to Lobatos in 1902, when members of the Lobatos family were serving as postmasters, Cenicero became known as Lobatos. It is three miles east of Antonito. Although the original adobe-walled plaza is gone, Holy Family Church marks the location. See also Cenicero.

LOS CERRITOS: The first settlers here, Juan Maria Garcia and Pablita Martinez, arrived in 1852, although Indian threats forced them to move to Servietta. The Luceros also are believed to have come in 1852 to this area of "little hills" a mile and a halfsoutheast of Manassa. By 1870 thirty-one taxpayers were at La Plaza de Los Serritos, as itwas called, and they were joined by Mormon neighbors in 1878. A few of these members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were Hispanic people. Los Cerritos had both a Catholic church and a Mor­ mon church as well as a school, store, post office, dance hall, and sa­ loon. A flour mill stood between Manassa and Los Cerritos. Only a cemetery and remnants offoundations remain at Los Cerritos.

LOS FUERTES: See Fuertecito (Costilla County), San Ysidro, and Vallejos.

LOS JACALES: The first shelters nearSan Luis werebuiltwith upright, chinked posts, orjacales. These structures stood abouttwo miles eastof the present town ofSan Luis on the vega, the public pasture land.

LOS MOGOTES: On Camero Creek, Los Mogotes had a postoffice in 1888-90 and was listed as a mission of Del Norte Parish in 1899. The name means clumps oftrees.

LOS PINOS, OR LA PLAZA DE LOS PINOS: In New Mexico since the resurvey of the state line, Los Pinos is south of Ortiz and on the south side of Los Pinos River. When first settled in1859 Los Pinos had some importance because it was on a road running between Conejos and TIerra Amarilla, New Mexico, a region from which many of the families on the Conejos Grant came. Los Pinos had a chapel in 1871 as Appendix 293 a mission of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. Because the name Los Pinos still was commonly used for the settlement north of the river at that time, tax rolls listed forty-six taxpayers there, and this group com­ prised the third largest number in Conejos County then. A Penitente morada was located east of the bridge. As the Ortiz family gained im­ portance in the village on the north side of the river, the name was changed to Ortiz, although the earlier name Los Pinos persisted on many maps into the 1890s. See also Ortiz.

LOS PINOS DE LA LaMA: This settlement was on Pinos Creek, west of Del Norte. Members of the Montoya family, includingAntonio Nerio and Luis, cameherein1864. Luis's home was northof U.S. 160. He was one of the region's most successful sheepmen.

LOS SAUCES: This settlement, a poblaciano, began as La Plaza de Los Sauses, a name referring to the willows along the sloughs of the Rio Grande which is east of the plaza. Its origins were in the early 1860s. It was on the diagonal road running between Conejos and Fort Garland, and the ferry at nearby Stewart's Crossing went into operation in 1863. An irrigation ditch dates from 1866. By 1871 there were twenty-three taxpayers listed. In the 1880s and 1890s a post office operated with the name being spelled as Los Sauses, La Sauses, and Lasauses in succession. Conejos County records now spell the place Los Sauces. The original adobe church, dedicated to San Anto­ nio de Padua, was built in 1880 and was replaced with a newer struc­ ture in 1928-30, after the first oneburned.AnAssembly ofGod church also served the village at one time.

LOS VALDEZES: This plaza was one of the satellites which spread eastward from La Loma de San Jose in the 1860s. It was on the north side of the Rio Grande between today's Del Norte and Monte Vista. The plaza was a little west of Seven Mile Plaza, and the entire neigh­ borhood became better known as Seven Mile Plaza in time. A church dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi is at the site of Los Valdezes.

LUCERO PLAZA: Manuel Lucero settled at this site, which is at the westend of today's Swede Lane, four miles west of Monte Vista on the south side of the Rio Grande. Lucero was a son of people who had been 294 Appendix

in the Los Cerritos-Rincones area earlier. Lucero Ditch provided water for Lucero Plaza, and a dance hall provided entertainment. Swedish farmers came into the area and acquired land in the 1870s. The newer name ofSwede Lane resulted.

MANZANARES: A ranch area between Seven Mile Plaza and U.S. 160, between Monte Vista and Del Norte.

MANZANARES, LA PLAZA DE LOS: See Garcia.

MEDANO SPRINGS: Medano means sand, an appropriate name for this area west and northwest of Great Sand Dunes. The land was used in the 1860s by people of San Luis for pasturing sheep. Texas cattlemen came into the area in the early 1870s and bought up farms at Zapata occupied by Spanish-speaking people. Teofilo Trujillo, who had come from SanPablo in1864 or 1865 and homesteaded at Medano Springs, where he raised cattle and sheep, was unwilling to sell to the Texans, until they intimidated him into doing so by doing dam­ age to his property and livestock. A Medano Springs post office op­ erated in the 1870s.

MESITA: North of Jaroso, Mesita is one of the communities devel­ oped as part of the Costilla Estate on the old Sangre de Cristo Grant in the early 1900s. Many of the settlers were Anglos, although a fam­ ily named Mondragon ran a store there.

MOGOTE: This name can mean a clump of trees, but in the 1930s local people told an interviewer that the village took its name from the nearby mountain with peaks that looked like stacks of corn, and this meaning still prevails commonly. Settled in 1856 by people led by JuanJaramillo from theChamaValley in New Mexico, the Mogote area had been visited previously by Juan de Dio Ruybal. After Ruybal re­ turned to New Mexico and came back to find other people occupying the Mogote site, he took up land at Las Mesitas across the Conejos River. Mogote originally was called San Juan in honor of its patron saint. In time, there were several stores, including a trading postbuilt like a fort on the road to Canon, and the population of the area grew to about 350. A Presbyterian church and mission school came to Mogote Appendix 295 in the 1880s, and the school operated until the 1920s. A post office opened in 1897. Many of Mogote's residents, as well as those atneigh­ boring Las Mesitas, were sheepherders. Crafts such as weaving and carving persisted in this area into the 1900s.

MONTE VISTA: The beginnings of Monte Vista consisted of a rail­ road water tank in 1881 called Lariat and next a land and irrigation promotion scheme called Henry. Primarily a community with its economybased on agriculture, Monte Vista also had a Hispanic quar­ ter. A Presbyterian mission school in the 1890s and a Catholic paro­ chial school in the mid-1900s served this minority.

OJITO, OR JACOB'S HILL: In Conejos County on Ojito Creek, eight miles west of Capulin. Ojito means small spring. Several buildings, including an adobe ruin, still exist along the creek where Hispanic ranchers lived. A weaver named Rebecca Ortiz was a resident in the early 1900s. A sawmill operated at Ojito. Between Ojito Creek and the Alamosa River lies a mountain called Jacob's Hill, the name of which also has been applied to the cluster of cabins on Ojito Creek where a hippie commune existed in the 1970s. The name of the moun­ tain probably derived from that of Francique Jacobs, who had a sum­ mer resort in the area in the early 1900s.

OJITO DE LA TRINCHERA: In Costilla County southeast of Fort Garland. This "little spring" was on Trinchera Creek. Trinchera means trench or ditch and probably referred to the little canyon south of Blanca. El Ojito, the site of a church by 1869, was upstream near the foothills. In1940 there still was a populationoffifty. See also Trinchera.

OJOS CALIENTE: Hot Creek is the English name for this creek and ranch area west ofCapulin and El Centro. The large Hot Creek school, now a home, is on the road to La Jara Reservoir. By the early 1970s Anglo ranchers were registered in a brand book along with earlier Spanishsurnames.A full-blooded Ute Indian, Crecencio Valdez, lived in this tri-cultural area.

ORTIZ:Six miles southeastofAntonito and two miles southeastofSan Antonio, Ortiz is a name given to the post office in 1885 at what once 296 Appendix

was called Los Pinos. Today the name Los Pinos is used for the settle­ ment less than a mile away on the south side of the state line. Ortiz-Los Pinos was on a trail that led southwest to Tierra Amarilla in New Mexico. Also a trail between EI Rita, New Mexico, and the San Luis Valley came around the west side of San Antonio Mountain, so this small valley surrounding Ortiz was not as isolated as it seems today. Although people didnotremain permanently at the time, theOrtiz area was visited as early as the 1840s, and a ditch right was filed at Tierra Amarilla in 1848. The Llano Ditch decree of 1855 includes the sur­ names Salazar, Martinez, Lopez, Montoya, Ortiz, Casis (Casias), and Durand. A chapel was built at Los Pinos in 1858. In the early 1870s Nestor Ortiz, who owned a store and a large number ofsheep, became a wool broker. The arrival of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway nearby in the 1880s, which provided a shipping point, encouraged not only Nestor Ortiz's business but also that of another store owner and sheepman at Ortiz, Damian Duran. A population of about five hun­ dred plus additional stores, bars, and even ladies of the night made Ortiz a thriving place. In 1885 the post office, which operated in Ortiz's store, was officially changed to the name Ortiz. Three schools-public, Baptist, and Presbyterian-held classes. Pablo Garcia was the best-known local weaver, and Nestor Ortiz fashioned silver filigree jew­ elry. A new chapel was built in 1895, and it was replaced in 1938 at a site a short distance to the south of the old one. The church is dedicated to Saints Cajetan and John Nepomucen, the latter being the patron of the Penitentes. See also Casillas and Los Pinos.

OSIER: On the Denver and Rio Grande's San Juan Extension, about forty miles west ofAntonito, Osier was a shipping point for sheep. A post office operated from time to time beginning in1882. A meal station for railroad passengers was located at Osier, and about fifty workers lived there when the railroad was in regular operation.

PAISAJE: Established about 1854-57 with the name San Rafael, Paisaje has been its post office name during the period of 1906-20 and on present-day official maps. Paisaje means landscape, referring perhaps to the open vistas at this location. The village is three miles west of Antonito. See San Rafael. Appendix 297

PASO DEL PUERTO: This crossing of the Rio Grande was at the mouth of Culebra Creek, east of the present town ofManassa. In 1861 the Colorado Territorial Legislature granted a charter to Joseph v. Garcia and Joseph M. Jaynes to operate a ferry and to construct a toll bridge there. The two men actually were Jose Victor Garcia and Jose Maria Jacquez. In the 1860s there were four toll crossings of the Rio Grande which linked Conejos to Costilla, Conejos to Fort Garland and points east, and Conejos to La Garita and points north.

PENASCITO: On the south side of the Rio Grande across from Los Valdezes on U.S.GS. map. No further information.

PIEDRA: Piedra Pintada means painted rock and refers to cliffs with Indian pictographs along Rock Creek or Piedra Pintada Creek, south of Monte Vista. The creek was called Rio de San Lorenzo by the Vargas expedition. From 1875 to 1878 Piedra was the name used by a post office near the creek and on the road between Conejos and Del Norte after homesteaders from the Midwest occupied the Rock Creek area. When these newcomers first arrived in late 1873, Spanish-speaking people had extensive holdings along the foothills and were raising many sheep and some cattle. The earlier occupants made itunpleasant for the newcomers, it was said.

PLACITA DE LOS CHALIFAS, PLACITA DE LOS CORDOVAS, AND PLACITA DE LOS MADRILES: These were three family en­ claves north of Costilla and La Plaza de Los Manzanares (Garcia).

PLANO VISTA: On the north side of theAlamosa River, northwest of present La Jara. No further information.

PLOMO: The name means lead, a mineral occurring in a galena deposit seven miles northeast of San Luis, up Rito Seco. Some gold with pyrite also has come from Plomo, and it is believed that this area may have been mined by Spaniards, probably with Indian la­ bor, long before settlement took place in the San Luis Valley. Battle Mountain Goldin the late 1900s undertooka cyanide recovery project atPlomo. 298 Appendix

PURA YLIMPIA: Meaningliterally clean and neat, this name refers to the Immaculate Conception. This small plaza, a little north ofCenicero (Lobatos), was listed in Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in 1871.

RINCONES: The name means corners and refers to land tucked into the hills three miles southeast of Manassa and east of the Conejos River. The history of this area is drawn largely from a memoir writteninSpan­ ish in 1866 by the son ofAtencio Trujillo, the original manuscriptbeing in WPA papers at the Colorado Historical Society in Denver. Since the account contains some errors, it mustbe used withsome caution. How­ ever, it recounts that Trujillo trapped at Rincones in 1847, and he with others returned to raise crops there in 1848. They came once againfrom their old homes in the area of El Rito, New Mexico, in 1849 and stayed at Rincones. By 1852 others settled near the placita. These newcomers established Los Cerritos and then moved nearer to Guadalupe for a period oftime when Indians threatened. Itis not known whether resi­ dents of Rincones also left temporarily at this time. By 1856 there was a stringofsettlementsfrom Rincones onthe east to Las Mesitas onthe west along the Conejos River. In 1870 Rincones had twenty-three taxpayers, and in 1871 an oratory was in existence. Antonio de Jesus Salazar's family, which came from Chamita, New Mexico, has descendants in the area today, butno town exists. Rincones had a Penitente morada.

RIO BRAVO: Sometimes the Rio Grande was called the Rio Bravo, the wild river, by Spaniards, and the portion north of El Paso, Texas, was called the Rio Bravo del Norte. By the 1700s the river often was called simply Rio del Norte, the river of the north, but by the time of settlement it was called either the Rio Grande del Norte or the Rio Grande. When the Denver and Rio Grande Railway projected its line into the San Luis Valley, former governor A. C. Hunt in 1877 pro­ posed a townsite at the river to be called Rio Bravo. Before tracks actually arrived in 1878, the name hadbeenchanged to Alamosa, how­ ever. It is said that Hispanic farmers already were living at the site of Alamosa. Ifso, one wonders if they called the place Rio Bravo. See also Alamosa.

RIO DE LOS ABIQUISENOS: This name applied to Kerber Creekbe­ fore Civil War veterans took up land near today'sVilla Grove. Itmight Appendix 299 be assumed that people from Abiquiu, New Mexico, were in the area, preceding the arrival of the veterans. See Kerber Creek.

RIO GRANDE: Located onthe west side of the Rio Grande and on the north side of the Alamosa River near their confluence, the settlement called Rio Grande had a post office by 1874. Its postmasters all had Anglo names, and it is unknownwhether Hispanic settlers werepresent either then or earlier.

RITO ALTO: This Spanish name, which means high creek, suggests that Hispanos were in the area, as they were along nearly every drain­ age prior to the arrival of homesteaders. The creek is northeast of Moffat. A post office called Rito Alto was established in 1872.

RITO DE LOS INDIOS: Indian Creek, east of Fort Garland, had a church in 1869, so one can assume that there were at least a few per­ manent settlers in addition to seasonal livestock herders. The graz­ ing land at Indian Creek, as in many outlying areas around the San Luis Valley, was used by the 1860s by sheepmen who lived during the winter in settlements such as Costilla or San Luis.

ROCK CREEK: See Piedra.

ROMEO: Originally this was not a Hispanic community. Romeo was platted in 1901 by a land developer named Zeph Felt. It is said that he intended to use water from the Romero Ditch and to call the townRomero, but there is no evidence to supportthis claim. When the postoffice first opened in 1901, itwas called Romeo, and nopostoffice in Colorado ever was called Romero. Inthearea previously there werea postoffice called Sunflower (1889-92) anda Mormon Branch called Mountain View which is said to have been two or tluee miles to the west of Romeo. Located adjacent to the Denverand Rio Grande right-of-way, Romeo had a siding by 1906 and canbe assumed to have become the home of railroad work­ ers. The Catholic church was built in 1912.

SAGUACHE: Derived from the Indian word Saguguachipa, the name is believed to meanblue earth, andatone time Saguache Creek's name was applied to the streamfrom its sources northwestof the town all the way 300 Appendix

down to San Luis Lake, which was sometimes called Saguache Lake, with variant spellings. Some Hispanic people were in the north end of the San Luis Valley by 1858, but the town of Saguache was primarily Anglo in its originswith a Spanish-speaking minority. The townbegan in1866 underthe aegis ofAnglo, German, andJewish entrepreneursand ranchers who created the new county of Saguache out of the northern part of Costilla County. Nathan Russell brought Spanish- speaking la­ borers,some ofwhomwere Navajoslaves, and convertedanarroyo into an irrigation ditch. Other prominent settlers included John Lawrence and James Woodson, who also brought Indians, and Otto Mears, who hadbeen a partner of Lafayette Head in Conejos.

SAN ACACIO (new): Seven miles west of San Luis on Colorado 142, this town was begun when the San Luis Southern Railway built south from Blanca to Jaroso in 1910-11. New San Acado, was an active center of agriculture and shipment of produce, while old San Acado (Viejo San Acado) three miles to the east and about a mile south of Colorado 142, remained a traditional Hispanic settlement. See Viejo San Acado.

SAN ANTONIO (Antonito!: The original name of Antonito and its post office in the winter of 1880-81 was San Antonio. The railroad junction on the south side of town was called San Antone junction and then Antonio junction.

SAN ANTONIO (east of Antonito): On a map printed in 1882 a place called SanAntonio appears about halfwaybetween Antonito and the Rio Grande directly east of Antonito. This pointwouldbenearCenicero (Lobatos) at the Rio San Antonio. No further information.

SANANTONIO(south ofAntonito):Aboutthreemiles southofAntonito, San Antonio originally was on the east side of the Rio San Antonio but spread to thewest side, where a school served the community. Another school on the east side became a Catholic church in 1954, succeeding a chapel, dedicated to San Antonio, which was a mission of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in 1871. A morada was on the east side of the river, also. The valley to thesouthwest,whereOrtiz lies, is called theSan Anto­ nio Valley, and the area's dominant landmark is SanAntonio Mountain. Appendix 301

SAN FRANCISCO (Conejos County): Probably correctly called San Antonio de Padua, this site was at the confluence of the Conejos River and Rio San Antonio, a location abouttwo miles northeast of Manassa. Itwas there that the Conejos Grant was revalidated in 1842 in a formal ceremony attended by the alcalde (mayor) from Taos. In the 1840s at­ tempts were made to raise crops, but Indian threats defeated perma­ nent settlement on the grant during that decade.

SAN FRANCISCO (Costilla County): This plaza, established in 1854, is at the east end of what often is called La Valley or EI Rito, although the name San Francisco is also used for the village near the church which is dedicated to San Francisco. Although the stream in this val­ ley is called San Francisco Creek, it originally was called EI Rito Gregorio and appeared thus on maps in the 1870s. When a post of­ fice opened in 1903, it was called La Vallay, or La Valley. The first chapel was built in 1856, and a Penitente morada has remained the most active and largest in Costilla County. The population has con­ tained a strong Pueblo Indian element, and in early years of settle­ ment brothers who lived at San Francisco were the principal slave traders for the county, bringing several Taos Pueblo Indian children to the area. See also EI Rito and La Valley.

SAN FRANCISCO (Rio Grande County): San Francisco Creek southof today's Del Norte was settled in 1858 when Spanish-speaking people moved into the area. La Lorna de San Jose was the chief plaza, a short distance to the eastof the creek. Among the peoplewho moved up San Francisco Creek was Luis Montoya, who brought with him 6,000 head of sheep and 100 head ofcattle. In the mid-1860s Luis and hisbrothers moved west to Los Pinos Creek. Among families who filed for home­ steads in the 1860s were the Chavez family, whobuilta grist mill, called the Blue Mill, variously attributed to the color ofits grinding stones and thecolor ofits cornmeal. This site sometimes is called Ojo de San Fran­ cisco. It was the lower of two plazas along the creek and was about three miles south of the Rio Grande.

SANJOSE (Conejos County): About five miles northeast ofConejos, this site was the plaza dedicated to San Jose at La Isla. See also La Isla. 302 Appendix

SANJOSE (Rio Grande County): See La Loma de San Jose.

SAN JUAN: The early name of Mogote. See Mogote.

SAN LUIS: A settlement wasbegun at SanLuis on theSangre de Cristo Grant in the autumn of 1850, but it was broken up by hostile Ute Indi­ ans. Itwas attempted again successfully in the spring of1851. Among early colonizers wereManuel Salazar, Dario Gallegos, Diego Gallegos, and others. The San Luis People's Ditch wasbegunin 1851. The decree is dated 1852 and is the first decree for Colorado though not the first ditch. Montez Ditch on Rito Seco is dated 1853. The original plaza was three-fourths ofa mile south of today's centerofSan Luis and was close to Culebra Creek. The plaza was called San Luis de Culebra or Plaza de Medio, or the Middle Village. (See San Pedro and Viejo SanAcacio for the upper and lower plazas of the Culebra.) The historic Gallegos store opened in 1857 and has been operated subsequently by Salazars and descendants who were related to DarioGallegos. Louis CohnofCostilla moved his store to San Luis soon. H. E. Easterday operated the first flour mill at San Luis in the 1860s. The post office opened in 1862. In 1863 a vega on the east side oftown was deeded ascommunally owned pasture. San Luis was designated the county seat of Costilla County, following a brief period when the seat was San Miguel (Costilla). In 1883 the courthouse was built. The first chapel, given by the Gallegos family in 1859, was followed by a structure in the 1860s which still stands northwest of the present church. The Sangre de Cristo (Most Precious Blood) Church waserected in 1886. A convent, now converted to an arts and crafts building and a bed-and-breakfast inn, followed. A morada, now abandoned, stands on Eighth Street. There also was a chapter of the SPMDTU in the early 1890s. Schools were taught in suc­ cession by a private tutor, Armand Choury, by a Presbyterian mission, by the Catholic MercyAcademy, and lastly by a public school district. A communitybuilding, builtby the WPA in the 1930s, housed the San Luis Institute of Arts and Crafts, operated as a branch of Adams State College in the 1940s. This renovated building now serves as the San Luis Museum,Cultural and Commercial Center, which opened in1980.

SAN LUIS DE COTTON CREEK: A chapel on Cotton Creek was a Catholic mission in 1899. See also Cotton Creek. Appendix 303

SAN LUIS DE COTTONWOOD: A Catholic mission was meeting in 1871 at a location which may have been near Russell Lakes.

SAN MARGARITA: Indians defeated an attempt by Spanish-speak­ ing people to establish homes at San Margarita in 1846. The location apparently was east of Manassa between the Conejos River and Rio San Antonio.

SAN MIGUEL: San Miguel was the name of the church at Costilla, which was within Colorado Territory when the boundary first was delineated. San Miguel was designated by the Colorado Territorial Leg­ islature to be the seat of Costilla County in 1861, but the legislature changed the seatvery quickly to San Luis. Costilla was in New Mexico after a resurvey of the territorial boundary in 1869.

SAN PABLO: About three miles southeast of San Luis, San Pablo is, strictly speaking, on the south side of Culebra Creek while San Pedro is on the north side, but the entire village is sometimes called San Pablo. A postoffice called SanPablo opened in1893, and ithasbeen on either side of the creek without a name change. Antonio Jose Vallejos and others attempted settlementat the site in 1849 butwere driven out by Indians. A second group, including the Esquibel brothers, came in 1851, the same year that San Luis was permanently settled. The first school was taught by Presbyterian missionaries after a church of that faith was established in 1889, and the church continues to meet.

SAN PEDRO: Settled in 1851 by people from the Taos area, the first structures werejacales, builtwithuprightposts forming a strongenclo­ sure. The fortification wassufficiently sturdyto offerprotection to people from San Luis when Indians threatened. San Pedro sometimes was called Plaza Arriba or Upper Culebra while San Luis was called Plaza de Medio. The San Pedro Ditch dates from 1852. It has been said that SanPedro was the home of the main church for the area before that role passed to San Luis. There was a private oratorio at San Pedro by 1853, followed by three subsequent churches, the first of these beingbuilt in 1859. Priests visited from Taos and laterfrom Costilla. Following a time when school was taught in a private home, the first school building was erected in 1890 to be followed by two others. A large room in the 304 Appendix

second school was often used for the community's dances, and the buildingburned down in 1936 after one such event.

SAN RAFAEL: Called Paisaje on maps butSan Rafael by local people, this village is two miles west of Antonito. The settlement was estab­ lished as a contemporary of Mogote and Las Mesitas about 1856 by Vicente Velasquez along with members of the Chacon, Romero, Gallegos, Trujillo, and other families. Espinozas were living at San Rafael in the 1860s when two of them went on a vengeful rampage and murdered up to thirty "gringos" in far-flung places such as the Wet Mountains, the Pikes Peak region, and South Park. By 1870 twenty-seven taxpayers were living at the plaza. Its first chapel in Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish was built in 1859 and was dedicated to San Rafael. It was replaced by the present church in 1929. Long the location of a Penitente morada, the original collapsed in the 1920s and was replaced by another building, now abandoned. The first school, held in the Rodriquez home, was followed by a Presbyterian mission school about 1890 and next by a public school. The post office was named San Rafael from 1890 to 1895, but the Paisaje name came into use in the early 1900s. See also Paisaje.

SAN YSIDRO, OR SAN ISIDRO: At a village that has been called Los Fuertes, Fuertecito, and mostcommonly Vallejos, SanYsidro is the site of a chapel dedicated to the patron saint of farmers. It is about six miles southeast ofSan Luis on Vallejos Creek. See also Fuertecito and Vallejos.

SANGRE DE CRISTO: In 1891 Crofutt's Grip-Sack Guide ofColorado described Sangre de Cristo as a site onthe headwaters of Cottonwood Creek, six miles from Crestone on the Luis Maria Baca Grant. This site is at the base of the Sangre deCristo Range. According to Crofutt, most of the settlers were Hispanic, and sheep and cattle were being raised there. The name means Blood of Christ, referring to the color of the range with afterglow.

SANTA CRUS: Listed as the residence of anownerofIndiancaptives in 1865, little else is knownaboutthis location. Since theIndians belonged to Ml. Cassias, it is thought that the site mighthavebeen at Ortiz. Appendix 305

SERVIETA, ORSERVILLETA: Servieta was in existence by 1852, and in the summer of 1854 a ditch was created on the north side of the Conejos River from El Cedro Redondo to Servieta, a distance of six miles. When Guadalupe was established later in the same year two miles westofServieta, Guadalupewith its fortified plazabecame domi­ nant, and manypeople moved to Guadalupe. Previously Servieta had been a haven for people from Los Cerritos when Indians threatened. The diagonal road from Conejos and Guadalupe to Fort Garland passed through Servieta. This village was still in existence in 1870 with nine­ teen taxpayers listed. Italso was listed inOur Lady of Guadalupe Par­ ish in 1871 and still appeared on a map printed in 1882. The long­ abandoned site is east of U.s. 285. The name recalled settlers' former home plaza in New Mexico.

SEVEN MILE PLAZA: On the north side of the Rio Grande, seven miles east of Del Norte, this plaza often is said to havebeen called Los Valdezes. A church dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi in 1881 was at Los Valdezes, however, and its location is about a mile west of the settlement called Seven Mile Plaza. The latter, situated on a rise above the river, was in existence by the late 1860s. By the 1870s, whenAnglo people were living in the area around Del Norte, the name Seven Mile Plaza was in current use. A photograph dated 1875 uses the name Seven Mile Plaza for a village which is clearly the eastern plaza. The photo shows an adobe church obviously predating the Saint Francis Church to the west. See also Los Valdezes.

SOUTH FORK: Owing its existence originally to the SanJuan mining boom in the 1870s and next to the building of the railroad branch to Wagon Wheel Gap and Creede, South Fork has had several Spanish­ surnamed families. Holy Family Church is located there.

SPANISH: Mining occurred onSpanish Creek south of Crestone as on most streams flowing from the Sangre de Cristo Range onto the Baca Grant in the 1870s and following years. The name suggests that Span­ ish mines may have been worked earlier or that Spanish-speaking people were living at Spanish when Anglo miners and tie-cutters ar­ rived. A post office called Spanish operated briefly in 1898. 306 Appendix

TORRES (Rio Grande County): A settler by the name of Guadalupe Torres moved from La Loma de San Jose to this location, three and half miles northwest of Monte Vista. A store at a railroad crossing bore the name ofTorres.

TORREZ (Saguache County): Crecencio Torrez established a trading post in 1858 at the mouth of La Garita Canyon, where settlers built a plaza fortified withlog buildings. A post office that opened at the trad­ ing post in 1874 was called La Garita. Later the store moved to the present site of La Garita and eventually was called Gaytown. See also La Garita.

TRINCHERA: Trinchera means trench or ditch, probably referring to the canyon carved by Trinchera Creek south of Blanca. The settle­ ment called Trinchera was south of Fort Garland. A well-known resi­ dent was Thomas Tate Tobin with his wife Pasquela Bernal from Ar­ royo Hondo. The Tobins moved from the Taos area to Costilla in 1861, and in 1863 they began to spend summer months on Trinchera Creek with their livestock. In 1872 the Tobins moved to Trinchera year round. The Trinchera Estate was the name given to the northern half of the Sangre de Cristo Grant when most of the grant was bought up by speculators in the 1870s, but clouded land titles and water rights prevented the anticipated development by capitalists, as did lack ofadequate inveshnent. The 240,000-acre Trinchera Ranch became the property ofone of the Estate's developers and subsequentlypassed into other hands including those of the late Malcolm Forbes. The south­ easternpart of the Sangrede Cristo Grant, also acquired by speculators, was called the Costilla Estate.

VALLEJOS: Vallejos is located onVallejOS Creek, about six miles south­ eastofSanLuis. The village was named for early settlers. Vallejos Ditch dates back to 1851 or 1854. The fortified plaza called Los Fuertes stretched about a mile and a half along the creek, and a school district established in the late 1880s was also called Los Fuertes. Schools con­ tinued to function here into the mid-1900s. San Ysidro Church, dedi­ cated to the patron saint of farmers, is a mission of Sangre de Cristo Parish. See also Los Fuertes, Fuertecito, and SanYsidro. Appendix 307

VIEJO SAN ACACIO, OR OLD SAN ACACIO: Called Plaza Abajo or LowerCulebra, OldSanAcacio was settled in1853, soon afterSan Luis (Plaza de Medio) and San Pedro (Plaza Arriba). Oral tradition holds that people attempted to farm here in the mid-1840s and herded sheep in1850 but failed to establisha permanent settlementbecause of Indian threats. In 1853 one such attack was foiled by the miraculous appear­ ance of either Santiago (Saint James) or San Acacio, who appeared on horseback and frightened away the Indians. An oratorio was built that year, and the existing church was completed in 1856. This structure is believed to be the oldest standing church building in the San Luis Val­ ley and in Colorado. The oratorio's traces are a few yards east of the church, near the irrigation ditch, and a morada, now abandoned, still stands farther east. A road from FortGarland passed throughViejo San Acacio and continued south to Costilla or ran southwest to Conejos. Viejo San Acacio is south of the highway, Colorado 142, west of San Luis and about three miles east of the new San Acacio, which was established on a railroad.

ZAPATA, OR ZAPATO: Zapata means shoe. By 1864 several fami­ lies who owned sheep were living along the west base of Blanca Peak and were selling mutton to Fort Garland. The settlement was at or near the Zapata Ranch headquaters, now a golf club. A church ex­ isted at Zapata by 1869. Legends about engagements with hostile Indians report that the victims of a battle with Ute Indians, who had stolenhorses, are buried south of the Zapata Ranch. In1870 William H. Meyer, son-in-law of Ferd Meyer of Costilla and a political power in Costilla County, was acquiring much property throughout the county. He came to Zapata and was followed by Texas cattlemen. In 1874 Spanish-speaking settlers attempted to establish their prior claims to the land by submitting papers for a Springs of Medano and Zapata Grant, whichwas declared fraudulent. The ranch thus passed into the hands of Anglo investors. A post office called Zapato was there in 1879, and a school was taught by the Frenchman Armand Choury. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints also at­ tempted anunsuccessful colony nearby. Japanese investors operated it as a bison ranch and golf club in the late 1990s and then sold it to The Nature Conservancy in 1999.

Endnotes

CHAPTER I

1. Zebulon Montgomery Pike, The Southwestern Expedition ofZebulon M. Pike, ed. Milo Milton Quaile (Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1925), pp. 109-12. These excerpts from the journal were written from January 27 through Febru­ ary 5,1807. 2. Estimates of the valley's size vary because of physiographic irregularities. The smallest estimate is 90-by-65 miles; George P. Merk, "Great Sand Dunes of Colorado," in Robert J. Weimer and John D. Haun, eds., Guide to the Geology ofColorado (Denver: Rocky Mountain Association 01 Geolo­ gists, 1960), p. 127. An estimate 01 150-by-50 miles is given by J. E. Upson, "Physiographic Subdivisions of the San Luis Valley, Southern Colorado," in H. 1.. James, ed., Guidebook of the Rio Grande Basin, Colorado (N.p.: New Mexico Geological Society, 1971), p. 113; first published in Journal ofGeol­ ogy, 47 (1939): 721-36. An estimate 01 100-by-65 miles is given by David William Lantis, "The San Luis Valley, Colorado: Sequent Rural Occupance inan Intermontane Basin" (Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1950), p. 4. The greatest difference is caused by Upson's inclusion of an area of northern New Mexico. Merk and Lantis include the extension along the Rio Grande west to South Fork. 3. The Cochetopa Hills have been called the Saguache Mountains and the Sierra Mimbres. 4. The Taos Plateau south of the Colorado state line is the fifth division of the San Luis Valley in Upson, "Physiographic Subdivisions." 5. An area comprising fifty-seven square miles was set aside by presidential proclamation on March 17, 1932, as Great Sand Dunes National Monu­ ment, administered by the National Park Service. The dunes are described as the "highest piled inland sand dunes in the United States." 6. Ross B. Johnson, "The Great Sand Dunes of Southern Colorado," in Geo­ logical Survey Research, 1967, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 575-C (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1967), pp. 177-78. 310 Endnotes

7. Further information is found in Upson, "Physiographic Subdivisions," and in Esper S. Larsen, Jr., and Whitman Cross, Geology and Petrology ofthe San Juan Region, Southwestern Colorado, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 258 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1956), p. 88. 8. Upson, "Physiographic Subdivisions," and W. W. Atwood andK. F. Mather, Physiography and Quaternary Geology of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 166 (Washington, D.C.: Gov­ ernment Printing Office, 1932), pp. 23, 25, 99. 9. Thomas A. Steven, Critical Review of the San Juan Peneplain, Southwestern Colorado, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 594-1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1968), p. 14. 10. The Rio Grande's original course was west of its present channel in the valley. The stream has moved in a southeasterly direction as it forced its way through the San Luis Hills. This cut through hard, volcanic material is said to have drained a saline lake from the center of the valley, a residuum of an ancient sea, but this theory is open to argument. 11. C. E. Siebenthal, Geology and Water Resources ofthe San Luis Valley, Colorado, U.s. Geological Survey Water-Supply, Paper 240 (Washington, D.C.: Gov­ ernmentPrintingOffice, 1910), pp. 54-55; William J. Powell, Ground-Water Resources of the San Luis Valley, Colorado, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1379 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1958), pp. 1-27.

CHAPTERll

1. Ruth M. Underhill, Red Man's Religion: Beliefs and Practices ofthe Indians North ofMexico (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965), pp. 3G-39, 205. 2. Edgar L. Hewett and Bertha P. Dutton, The Pueblo Indian World. Studies on the Natural History ofthe Rio Grande Valley in Relation to Pueblo Indian Culture (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico and the School of American Research, 1945), pp. 23-24. 3. Ruth M. Underhill, The Navajos (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956), pp. 19-20. 4. C. T. Hurst, "A Folsom Location in the San Luis Valley, Colorado," South­ western Lore, 7 (1941): 31-34; H. H. Wormington, Ancient Man in North America (4th ed.; Denver: Museum of Natural History, 1957), pp. 29-30; Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr., "Prehistoric Peoples of Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 23 (1946):145. 5. E. B. Renaud, "Prehistory of the San Luis Valley," The Colorado Magazine, 20 (1943):51-52; Dorothy D. Wilson, "They Came to Hunt," San Luis Valley Historian, 3, no. 3 (1971):12-13. 6. E. B. Renaud, "The Rio Grande Points," Southwestern Lore, 8(1942):33-36. 7. E. B. Renaud, Archaeology ofthe Upper Rio Grande Basin in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico, University of Denver Archaeological Series, Pa­ per No.6 (Denver: University of Denver, 1946), pp. 27-42. Endnotes 311

8. Ibid., p. 43. 9. Wilson, "They Came to Hunt," p. 13. 10. Frank H.H. Roberts, Jr., "Prehistoric Peoples," in LeRoy R. Hafen, ed., Colorado and Its People, 4 vols. (NewYork: Lewis Publishing Co., Inc., 1948), 2:51. 11. Renaud, "Prehistory of the San Luis Valley," pp. 52-53. Mrs. F. W. Boyd of Saguache and Jack Nelson of Monte Vista are credited with finding most of these sites. On the authority of Henry P. Mera, Renaud stated in this article that pottery sherds recovered at these sites were of Pueblo origin. Earlier, however, Dr. Mera said that the pottery was not Pueblo but that it represented some other intrusion from the south, in E. B. Renaud, Indian Stone Enclosures ofColorado and New Mexico, University of Denver Archaeological Series, Paper No.2 (Denver: University of Den­ ver, 1942), p. 28. Renaud found this type of enclosure to be comparable with others discovered in the Arkansas River area of southeastern Colo­ rado and Fountain Creek near Pueblo, Colorado. 12. Garrick Mallery, Picture-Writing of the American Indians (1893; New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1972), 1:72, quoting E. L. Berthoud. See also Jean Allard Jeancon, "Pictographs of Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 3 (1926):38-40. 13. Alfred J. Pearsall, "Evidence of Pueblo Culture in the San Luis Valley," Southwestern Lore,S (1939):7-9. 14. James Rose Harvey and Mrs. James Rose Harvey, "Turquoise among the Indians and a Colorado Turquoise Mine, " The Colorado Magazine, 15 (1938):187, 188. 15. In 1936 W. L. King of Manassa donated relics to the State Historical Society of Colorado; see Acquisition No. 07388.17. Prehistoric tools were found in a trench 15 feet deep and 300 feet long. 16. Jean Allard Jeancon, Archaeological Research in the Northeastern San Juan Basin of Colorado, ed. frank H. H. Roberts (Denver: State Historical and Natural History Society of Colorado and the University of Denver, 1922), p.30. 17. Sydney H. Ball, Mining of Gems and Ornamental Stones by American Indi­ ans, Bureau ofAmerican Ethnology, Anthropological Paper No. 128 (Wash­ ington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1941), p. 24. 18. A necklace in the possession of the owner of the mine is considered to contain some of the highest quality stone, this coming from 130 feet down. 19. Edna Mae Bennett, Turquoise and the Indian (Denver: Sage Books, 1966), pp. 37, 56. 20. Marvin K. Opler, "The Southern Utes of Colorado," in Ralph Linton, ed., Acculturation in Seven American Indian Tribes (New York: D. Appleton­ Century Co., 1940), p. 122. 21. Lantis, liThe San Luis Valley," p. 104. 22. With the expansion of agriculture and urbanization which occurred in the twentieth century, waterfowl traveling this Central Flywaywere threat­ ened with the loss of their nesting grounds. In 1952 and 1962, as a result, 312 Endnotes

two wildlife refuges were established to ensure suitable nesting habitats for them. Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge is south of Monte Vista, and Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge is south of Alamosa. 23. Frank C. Spencer, The Story ofthe San Luis Valley (1925; Alamosa: San Luis Vailey Historical Society, 1975), p. 51. 24. Hazei Bean Petty, "The History of Costilla County as Revealed by Its Cemeteries" (M.A. thesis, Adams State Coilege, 1971), p. 57.

CHAPTERlll

1. George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey, Don Juan de Onate, Colonizer ofNew Mexico, 1595-1628 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1953),2:335, quoting the"Act of Taking Possession of New Mexico." 2. Rex W. Strickland, "Moscoso's Journey through Texas," Southwestern His­ torical Quarterly, 46 (1942):109-37;). W. Williams, "Moscoso's Trail inTexas," ibid., pp. 138-57. 3. Florence Hawley Ellis, "San Gabriel del Yungue, Window on the Pre-Spanish World," paper read before the Eleventh Annual Western History Association Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 14, 1971. 4. W. Storrs Lee, ed., Colorado: A Literary Chronicle (New York: Funk and Wagnails, 1970), pp. 17-21. 5. John Francis Bannon, The Spanish Borderlands Frontier, 1513-1821 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970), p. 6. 6. Oakah L. Jones, Jr., Pueblo Warriors and Spanish Conquest (Norman: Univer­ sity of Oklahoma Press, 1966), p. 68. 7. J. Manuel Espinosa, ed., "Journal of the Vargas Expedition into Colorado, 1694," The Colorado Magazine, 16 (1939):84; Espinosa, "Governor Vargas in Colorado," New Mexico Historical Review, 11 (1936):179-87. 8. Report of Don Antonio Valverde de Cossio, June 4, 1720, in "References in Spanish Archives to Expeditions in the 18th and 19th Centuries to the Territory Now Included in the State of Colorado, Secured by Irving Howbert in the Library of Congress" (typescript, Tutt Library, Colorado College), no pagination. The Jicarilla Apaches occupied an area across the mountains directly east of Taos. See Jack D. Forbes, Apache, Navajo and Spaniard (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960), p. 77. 9. Letter of Juan Domingo de Bustamente, 1724, in "References in Spanish Archives. " to. Report of Don Antonio Valverde de Cossio. 11. Spencer, Story ofthe San Luis Valley, p. 20. 12. For some of these treasure tales see "Mystery Caves in Colorado," Rocky Mountain News, September 21,1921, p. 6; Allan Haarr, "Marble Mountain Caves (Custer County, Colorado)," Speleo Digest, 1959 (Pittsburgh: Pills­ burghGrotto, National Speleological Society, 1961), pp. 270-71; William R. Halliday, Adventure Is Underground: The Story of the Great Caves of the West Endnotes 313

and the Men Who Explore Them (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959), pp. 9&-111. 13. Jones, Pueblo Warriors and Spanish Conquest, p. 140. 14. lbid. 15. Alfred Barnaby Thomas, trans. and ed., Forgotten Frontiers: A Study ofthe Spanish Indian Policy of Don Juan Bautista de Anza, Governor of New Mexico, 1777-1787 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1932), pp. 373-74. 16. Thomas, in Forgotten Frontiers, placed this crossing near Alamosa rather than Del Norte. 17. This account, taken from Anza's journal of the campaign, is found in Thomas, Forgotten Frontiers, pp. 123-39. 18. Report of Provisional Governor Manrique, March 2t 1810, in "Refer­ ences in Spanish Archives." 19. Petty, "History of Costilla County," p. 37.

CHAPTERN

1. Eleanor L. Richie, "The Disputed International Boundary in Colorado, 1803-1819, "The Cotorado Magazine, 13 (1936):171. 2. Report of Governor Real Alencaster, November 20, 1805, in "References in Spanish Archives." 3. lbid. 4. Report of Joaquin Real Alencaster, January 4, 1806, ibid. Since Pike saw no fort or settlement there in 1806, it can be assumed that Alencaster's re­ quest was not filled. 5. W. Eugene Hollon, The Lost Pathfinder: Zebulon Montgomery Pike (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1949), p. 135. 6. Zebulon Montgomery Pike, The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, ed. Donald Jackson (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), p. 375n. 7. Hollon, The Lost Pathfinder, pp. 101-()2. 8. lbid., pp. 112-14. 9. These springs issued from the foot of a hill east of the present town of Sanford. Later the site was part of a ranch belonging to A. W. McIntire, a governor of Colorado in the 1890s. 10. Pike, The Southwestern Expedition, p. 111. 11. Carrol Joe Carter, Pike in Colorado (Fort Collins, Colorado: The Old Army Press, 1978), pp. 39-43; "The Pike Stockade Site and Its Purchase by the State of Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 4 (1927):2&-32. 12. lbid. Purchased in 1925, this site is maintained by the state and may be visited by the public. 13. A detailed discussion of this controversy is found in Hollon, The Lost Pathfinder, pp. 41-53, 90-100. 14. Pike, The Southwestern Expedition, p. 122. 15. Report of Orders of Real Alencaster, April 1807, in "References in Span­ ish Archives." The identity of Almagre Creek is uncertain, but it may have been Fountain Creek. 314 Endnotes

16. Lt. Zebulon Pike's Notebook ofMaps, Traverse Tables, and Meleorological Obser­ vations, 180S-!J7,Microfilm Publication T-36, Federal Archives and Records Center, Denver. 17. Frank Hall, History ofthe State ofColorado, 4 vols. (Chicago: Blakely Print­ ing Co., 1889-95), 4:94. 18. Exceptions to this agreement gave three areas west of the Continental Divide to the United States. These were Middle Park, the valley of the Blue River, and a small area west of Hoosier Pass, none of which affected the development of the San Luis Valley.

CHAPTER V

I. Janet Lecompte, "Jules De Mun," in LeRoy R. Hafen, ed., The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade in the Far West, 10 vols. (Glendale, California: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1965-72), 8:97. The original source was the Missouri Ga­ zette, July 29, 1815, from Dale L. Morgan, "The Mormons and the West" (transcripts in Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecti­ cut). De Mun had gone to Santa Fe to obtain permission to trap east of the mountains. 2. Letter from De Mun to William Clark, cited in Alfred C. Thomas, "An Anonymous Description of New Mexico, 1818, " Southwestern Historical Journal 33 (1929):51. 3. Richie, "The Disputed International Boundary," p. 176. 4. Thomas, "An Anonymous Description," pp. 62-63. 5. Chauncey Thomas, "The Spanish Fort in Colorado, 1819, " The Colorado Magazine, 14 (1937):82. 6. Ibid., pp. 83-85. These Indians are thought to have been Pawnees. 7. Jacob Fowler, The Journal of Jacob Fowler, ed. Elliott Coues with preface and additional notes by Raymond W. and Mary Lund Settle and Harry R. Stevens (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1970). In note 12 for Fowler's account there appear the names of these trappers, all but one of whom were in the San Luis Valley in 1822: Robert Fowler, Jacob's brother; Baptiste Roy, the party's interpreter; Baptiste Peno; George Douglas; Nathaniel Pryor, who had traveled with Lewis and Clark; Richard Walters; Eli Ward; Jesse van Biber (van Bibber); Dudley Maxwell; Baptiste Moran; Slover (Isaac Slover); five men whose first names are not given-Beno, Barbo, Taylor, Simpson, and Findley; Jacob Fowler's negro, Paul; and Lewis Dawson, who was killed by a bear before the expedition entered the San Luis Valley. 8. Harry R. Stevens, "Hugh Glenn," in Hafen, ed., The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade, 2:173. 9. David J. Weber, The Taos Trappers: The Fur Trade in the Far Southwest (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968), p. 57. 10. Harvey L. Carter, "The Mountain Men," San Luis Valley Historian, 3, no. 1 (1971):20. 11. Ibid., p. 22. Endnotes 315

12. Forbes Parkhill, "Antoine Leroux," in Hafen, ed., The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade, 4:174; see atso Parkhill, The Blazed Trail ofAntoine Leroux (Los Angeles: Westernlore Press, 1965). 13. Blanche C. Grant, ed., Kit Carson's own Story ofhis Life as Dictated to Col. and Mrs. D. C. Peters about 1856-57 (Santa Fe: Santa Fe New Mexican Publish­ ing Corp., 1926), p. 10. 14. Ibid., p. II. 15. Harvey L. Carter, "EwingYoung," in Hafen, ed., The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade, 2:385-86. 16. Luther E. Bean, Land ofthe Blue Sky People (Monte Vista, Colorado: Monte Vista Journal, 1962), p. 34. 17. Harvey L. Carter, "Tom Tobin," in Hafen, ed., The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade, 4:360. 18. Harvey L. Carter, "Aaron B. Lewis," ibid., 5:175. 19. Weber, The Taos Trappers, pp. 160-61. 20.A military expedition that went north to the San Luis Valley in 1829 to deal with hostile Indians is referred to by Donaciano Vigil in "Surveyor-General Records," Case No. 93, New Mexico State Records Center and Archives. 21. Janet Lecompte, "John Hawkins," in Hafen, ed., The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade, 4:142. 22. "Alexander Barclay Papers" (typescript from microfilm, in State Historical Society of Colorado Library), p. 35. 23. Janet Lecompte, "Charles Town," in Hafen, ed., The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade, 1:393. 24. Hall, History ofthe State ofColordo, 4:304. 25. "Alexander Barclay Papers," p. 51. 26. Map (1839) by David H. Burr, geographer to the U.s. House of Represen­ tatives, which appears in Maurice S. Sullivan, The Travels ofJedediah Smith (Santa Ana, California: Fine Arts Press, 1934). 27. Daniel Tyler, A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War (Washington, D.C.: n.p., 1891), pp. 113, 169-94. 28. Carter, "Tom Tobin," pp. 36[}-61. 29. LeRoy R. Hafen, "Mountain Men-John D. Albert," The Colorado Magazine, 10 (1933):51Ki2. 30. George F. Ruxton, Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains (New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1848), pp. 206-07. The publication of Ruxton's book provided more information about this area than had been available concerning the population and its way of life. 31. Ibid., pp. 208-17.

CHAPTER VI

1. Frederic E. Voelker, "WilliamSherley (Old Bill) Williams," inHafen, ed., The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade, 8:365, 386-87. 316 Endnotes

2. Charles Preuss, Exploring with Fremont: The Private Diary of Charles Preuss, Cartographer for John C. Fremont on the First, Second, and Fourth Expeditions to the Far West (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958), p. 143. See Voelker, "William Sherley (Old Bill) Williams," pp. 386-87. 3. Frank C. Spencer, "The Scene of Fremont's Disaster in the San Juan Moun­ tains, 1848," The Colorado Magazine, 6 (1929):141. 4. LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, Fremont's Fourth Expedition: A Docu­ mentary Account of the Disaster of 1848-49, vol. 11, The Far West and the Rockies Historical Series, 1820-1875 (Glendale, California: Arthur W. Clark Co., 1960), pp. 20--21. 5. "Statements on Responsibility for the Disaster," ibid., p. 242. 6. Ibid., pp. 22-25. In addition to the Hafen edition covering the fourth expe­ dition, see William E. Brandon, The Men and the Mountain: Fremont's Fourth Expedition (New York: William Morrow and Co., 1955). 7. Preuss, Exploring with Fremont p. 144. 8. Ibid. 9. Neither pass would appear to recommend itself for a railroad. 10. Ibid. 11. Ibid., p. 145. 12. Thomas E. Breckenridge, "The Story of a Famous Expedition," as told to J. W. Freeman and Charles W. Watson, The Cosmopolitan, 21 (1896):400-­ 08, and reprinted in Hafen and Hafen, Fremont's Fourth Expedition, p. 184. 13. Preuss, Exploring with Fremont, p. 147. 14. "Diary of Benjamin Kern" in Hafen and Hafen, Fremont's Fourth Expedi- tion, p. 106. 15. Preuss, Exploring with Fremont, p. 149. 16. Ibid., pp. 149-50. 17. Letter, LeRoy R. Hafen to A. F. Hoffman, supervisor, Rio Grande Na­ tional Forest, September 3, 1935, in Workbook, Rio Grande National For­ est Headquarters, Monte Vista, Colorado. 18. Spencer, in "The Scene of Fremont's Disaster," discusses the location of a camp at the head of Wannamaker Creek, where he found a soldier's belt buckle, a mule's foot shod with an ox shoe, and mule bones. When this site was visited by Ranger E. S. Erickson, Aibert Pfeiffer, and Frank Spen­ cer in 1928, they found no equipment. The other site containing the sleds was not located on this occasion. Memo, E. S. Erickson to Forest Supervi­ sor, March 30, 1932, Workbook, Rio Grande National Forest Headquar­ ters. Directions for reaching this site were given in a memo from Ranger William F. Cummings, May 2,1937, ibid.: "On the divide between Bel­ lows Creek and Embargo Creek where the Bellows and Embargo and Sky City trails join-go north about one mile then northeasterly to the divide between the first and second creeks. Follow south down the east side of the ridge along the edge of the timber." 19. Letter, William E. Brandon to Ambrose Burkhart, August 12,1951, Work­ book, ibid. Photographs made by Ambrose Burkhart on September 8, 1950, at Embargo Creek, show the sleds and the stumps with axe marks six feet above the ground. Endnotes 317

20. Memo, Mark R. Ratliff to Ambrose Burkhart, September 12, 1950, ibid. The sleds with these characteristics were identified in 1950 from photo­ graphs made in 1931 by E. S. Erickson. These sleds have been in the collec­ tions of the Rio Grande County Museum since 1953.

CHAPTER VlI

1. L. R. Hafen, "Status of the San Luis Valley," The Colorado Magazine, 3 (1926):46-49. 2. Morris F. Taylor, "Fort Massachusetts," The Colorado Magazine, 45 (1968):120-21.

3. Grant Foreman, U Antoine Leroux, New Mexico Guide," New Mexico His­ torical Review, 16 (1941):370-74. 4. See Gwinn Harris Heap, Central Route to the Pacific, from the Valley of the Mississippi to California: Journal of the Expedition (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co., 1854). 5. Ibid., pp. 30-32. 6. Ibid., pp. 34-37. 7. Ibid., p. 37. 8. Ibid., p. 54. 9. Ibid., p. 57. 10. Ibid., p. 58. 11. William H. Goetzmann, Army Exploration in the American West (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959), p. 283. 12. U. S. Congress, Senate, Reports of Explorations and Surveys to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, 1853-4, 33rd Cong., 2d sess., 1: 17. 13. Nolie Mumey, "John Williams Gunnison: Centenary of his Survey and Tragic Death," The Colorado Magazine, 31 (1954):27. 14. Senate, Reports of Explorations and Surveys, 1: 17. 15. Mumey, "John Williams Gunnison," pp. 30-31. 16. Hall, History ofthe State of Colorado, 1:140. 17. For the account of this expedition see S. N. Carvalho, Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West with Colonel Fremont's Last Expedition (New York: Derby and Jackson, 1857). 18. Hall, History of the State of Colorado, 1:141-42. 19. Marcy's account of this portion of the expedition appears in Lee, Colo­ rado, pp. 141-48. 20. Hall, History of the State of Colorado, 1:143-44. 21. William L. Wessels, Born To Be a Soldier. The Military Career of William Wing Loring ofSt. Augustine, Florida (Fort Worth: Texas Christian Univer­ sity Press, 1971), pp. 46-48. 22. Ibid., p. 48. 23. Loring's journal appears in "Colonel Loring's Expedition across Colo­ rado in 1858," The Colorado Magazine, 23 (1946):49-76. Loring served with the Confederate forces during the Civil War, as did Johnston. 318 Endnotes

CHAPTER VIlI

1. "Petition for Confirmation by Cresencio Valdes," Papers Relating to New Mexico Land Grants, Claims Adjudicated by the u.s. Surveyor General and by the U.s. Court of Private Land Claims, Los Conejos, Case 109, File 112, microfilm reel 45, New Mexico State Records Center and Archives. 2. "Request for Renewal of Los Conejos Grant," translation no. 0021, Blackmore Papers, Los Conejos Grant, New Mexico State Records Center and Archives. 3. Ibid. 4. "Act of Governor Charles Bent," November 3, 1846, Papers Relating to New Mexico Land Grants, Claims Adjudicated by the U.S. Surveyor Gen­ eral and the U.s. Court of Private Land Claims, Los Conejos, File 80, mi­ crofilm reel 31, New Mexico State Records Center andArchives.Anucleus of settlement at Rincones, undertaken in the spring of 1849, is described in "Recollections of Tata Atanasio Trujillo," The San Luis Valley Historian, 8, no. 4 (1976):19. 5. Harold H. Dunham, "New Mexico Land Grants with Special Reference to the TItle Papers of the Maxwell Grant," New Mexico Historical Review, 30 (1955):4. 6. A survey of this grant determined the size to be 998,780.46 acres, accord­ ing to Abstracts of Title to Trinchera Ranch Lands, Certified March 1st, ]917 (San Luis: Costilla County Abstract Co., n.d.), p. 3. 7. Beaubien's daughter Luz married Lucien Maxwell, who later owned the Beaubien-Miranda Grant, or the Maxwell Grant as it was then called. 8. Francis T. Cheetham, "The Early Settlements of Southern Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 5 (1928):5. 9. Olibama Lopez Tushar, People ofthe Valley: A History ofthe Spanish Colonials ofthe San Luis Valley (Denver: Privately printed, 1975), p. 47. Based on the same author's previous work, Olibama Lopez, liThe Spanish Heritage in the San Luis Valley" (M.A. thesis, University of Denver, 1942), this publi­ cation is a valuable source on the Spanish colonials. 10. Parkhill, "Antoine Leroux," in Hafen, ed., The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade, 4:178; James Warren Covington, "Relations between the Ute Indi­ ans and the United States Government, 1848-1900" (PhD. dissertation, University of Oklahoma, 1949), pp. 32-33. 11. Cheetham, "The Early Settlements," p. 5. lhis store belonged to Moritz, Bielschoski, and Koenig, who later were joined by Charles Deus, a Ger­ man veteran of the Mexican War and an Indian fighter in the campaign of 1854. Having worked as a brewer in Santa Fe, Deus managed a distill­ ery in Costilla for the store owners. 12. Hall, History of the State ofColorado, 3:329. 13. Tushar, People of the Valley, p. 49. 14. Hall, History of the State of Colorado, 3:329. 15. Beryl McAdow, Land of Adoption (Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Publish­ ing Co., 1970), p. 71. Endnotes 319

16. Emilia Gallegos Smith, "Reminiscences of Early San Luis," The Colorado Magazine, 24 (1947):25. 17. Colorado, Costilla County, Public Records, Book I, p. 256. 18. State Historical Society of Colorado, MSS XV-9b and Pamphlet 349, no. 18. The original San Acacio was east of the present town of the same name. 19. Alvin T. Steinel, History of Agriculture in Colorado (Fort Collins, Colo­ rado: State Agricultural College, 1926), pp. 177-78. 20. Charlie A. Vigil, "History and Folklore of San Pedro and San Pablo, Colo­ rado" (M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1956), pp. 12-13. 21. Hall, History of the State of Colorado, 3:329. 22. Meliton Velasquez, "Guadalupe Colony Was Founded 1854, " The Colo­ rado Magazine, 34 (1957):264-65. 23. State Historical Society of Colorado, Pamphlet 349, no. 18. 24. Aurelio M. Espinosa, The Spanish Language in New Mexico and Southern Colorado, Historical Society of New Mexico, Publication 16 (Santa Fe: New Mexico Printing Company, 1911), pp. 6-8. 25. Morris F. Taylor, "Fort Massachusetts," The Colorado Magazine, 45 (1968):120-22. 26. M. L. Cummins, "Fort Massachusetts, First United States Military Post in Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 14 (1937):130. An archaeological examination of the site was conducted in the 19605 by the State Historical Society of Colorado in cooperation with Trinidad State Junior College. 27. Heap, Central Route to the Pacific, pp. 32-33. 28. Harvey Lewis Carter, 'Dear Old Kit': The Historical Christopher Carson (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968), pp. 139-42. 29. Accounts of these events are found in ibid., pp. 143-46; Rafael Chacon, "Campaign against Utes and Apaches in Southern Colorado, 1855, from the Memoirs of Major Rafael Chacon," The Colorado Magazine, 11 (1934):108-12; and Dewitt C. Peters, The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson, The Nestor of the Rocky Mountains, from Facts Narrated by Him­ setf(New York: W. B. C. Clark & Co., 1858), pp. 466-507. Articles about the campaign also are found in LeRoy R. Hafen, "The Fort Pueblo Massacre and the Punitive Expedition against the Utes," The Colorado Magazine, 4 (1927):49-58; and Morris F. Taylor, "Action at Fort Massa­ chusetts: The Indian Campaign of 1855," The Colorado Magazine, 42 (1965):292-310. 30. Velasquez, "Guadalupe Colony," p. 265. 31. Smith, "Reminiscences of Early San Luis," pp. 24-25. 32. Olibama Lopez, "Pioneer Life in the San Luis Valley/' The Colorado Maga­ zine, 19 (1942):161--;;7. 33. Steinel, History ofAgriculture, p. 31. 34. Claire McMenamy, "Our Lady of Guadalupe at Conejos, Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 17 (1940):180-81; Martin F. Hasting, "Parochial Begin­ nings in Colorado to 1889" (M.A. thesis, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, 1941), pp. 143-44. 320 Endnotes

35. In addition to Guadalupe these included Guadalupita, Mesilas, Canon, San Rafael, Cido, San Antonio, Pmos, Puraria, Limpia, Isla, Cenicero, Rincones, Sauces, Cerritos, Fuerticitos, Brazo, Servilleta, lara, Alamosa, Casillas, Lorna, Garita, Camero, San Luis, and Saguatche. 36. Lorayne Ann Horka-Follick, Los Hermanos Penitentes (Los Angeles: Westemlore Press, 1969), pp. 3-11, 110. 37. Bill Tate, The Penitentes of the Sangre de Cristos: An American Tragedy (Truchas, New Mexico: Tate Gallery, 1968), pp. 14-15; Marta Weigle, The Penitentes ofthe Southwest (Santa Fe: Ancient City Press, 1970), pp. 14-15. 38. Frances J. Gomez, "Medical Folklore of the Spanish-Speaking People of the San Luis Valley" (M.A. thesis, Adams Slate College, 1970), p. 9. 39. "San Luis Store Celebrates Centennial," The Colorado Magazine, 34 (1957):256, 258. 40. H. E. Easterday to Ceran SI. Vrain, April, 1860, in Francisco Collection, La Veta, Colorado, and printed in Steinel, History ofAgriculture, pp. 37-38. 41. Lynn Robison Bailey, Indian Slave Trade in the Southwest: A Study ofSlave­ taking and Traffic ofIndian Captives (Los Angeles: Westemlore Press, 1966), p.19. 42. D. Gene Combs, "Enslavement of Indians in the San Luis Valley of Colo­ rado" (M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1970), pp. 16, 19. 43. Bailey, Indian Slave Trade, pp. 106-D7. 44. For the complete list see The San Luis Valley Historian,S, no. 1 (1973): 22-29. 45. Combs, "Enslavement of Indians," p. 22. 46. Frank A. White, La Garita (La Jara, Colorado: Cooper Printing Co., 1971), pp.21-23. 47. Patricia Joy Richmond, "La Lorna de San Jose," The San Luis Valley Histo­ rom,S, no. 2-4 (1973):1-63; 6, no. 1-2 (1974):66-118. This material first was written as an M.A. thesis at Adams State College, 1969. The site of La Lorna de San Jose on the Jim Paulsen ranch, three miles east of Del Norte, has been the subject of an archaeological investigation conducted by Herbert W. Dick. 48. Spencer, Story of the San Luis Valley, p. 60. Tax records of the 1870s pro­ vide the names of other settlements nearby-Plaza de Abaja, Plaza de Arriba, Plaza de Don Hilario Abaja, Plaza de San Francisco, Los Pinos de La Lorna, Plaza del Alto, and Plaza del Norte. Besides the Silvas and the Luceros, well-known families in this area included such names as Valdez, Chavez, Sanchez, Martinez, Vigil, Espinosa, Torres, Atencio, and Ortega. Lafayette Head's report of 1865 verifies place names for several other contemporary plazas south ofhere. These were Guadalupe, SanJose (near San Antonio Mountain), Servietta, Brazo, Seritas (Cerritos), Senisero (Cenicero, later called Lobatos), Santa Cruz, San Antonio, Los Pinos (near the present New Mexico state line), Guadalupita, Pinos, Mesitas, Canon, San Rafael (originally called Paisaje in 1857), and Pura y Limpia, mean­ ing "clean and neat." In addition to Head's census, see Colton's Map (18657). Many ofthe old plazas, suchas La Placita de Las Meas, once onthe Endnotes 321

south side of the Conejos River near its canyon mouth, are impossible to date or even to locate conclusively.

CHAPTER1X

1. U.s,! Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received 1824-80, Colorado Super­ intendency 1861--8, Microcopy 234, Roll 197 (1861-4), Federal Archives and Records Center, Denver. 2. "Colonel Loring's Expedition," p. 73. 3. John H. Nankivell, "Fort Garland, Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 6 (1939):13-27; Duane Vandenbusche, "Life at a Frontier Post: Fort Gar­ land," ibid., 43 (1966):132-48. 4. U.s., Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received 1824-80, New Mexico Superintendency 1849-80, Microcopy 234, Roll 550 (1860-1), Federal Ar­ chives and Records Center, Denver. 5. lbid., Colorado Superintendency 1861-8, Roll 197 (1861-4). 6. Covington, "Relations between the Ute Indians and the United States

Government, II p. 86. 7. Rocky Mountain News, February 24, 1861, p. 2. 8. James Rose Harvey, "El Cerrito de Los Kiowas," The Colorado Magazine, 19 (1942):213-15. 9. Harry E. Kelsey, Jr., Frontier Capitalist. The Life of John Evans (Denver and Boulder: Colorado State Historical Society and Pruett Publishing Co., 1969), p. 132. 10. Additional biographical information is found in Carter, 'Dear Old Kit', passim; Pauline S. Sharp, "Kit Carson at Fort Garland, c.T.," The San Luis Valley Historian, 2, no. 2 (1970):12-20. 11. Christopher Carson, "Report on Fort Garland Made by Christopher (Kit) Carson to Major Roger James, June 10, 1866:' ed. Gene M. Gressley, The Colorado Magazine, 32 (1955):216. 12. lbid., pp. 222-23. 13. U.S., Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received 1824-80, Colorado Superintendency 1861--8, Microcopy 234, Roll 199. 14. A. C. Hunt, Report of 1868, in Annual Report of the Commissioner ofIndian Affairs for 1868 (Washington, D.C.: 1868), pp. 642-43. 15. Covington, "Relations between the Ute Indians and the United States Government:' p. 112; Edward E. Hill, Historical Sketches for Jurisdictional and Subject Headings Used for the Letters Reed. by the Office ofIndian Affairs, 1824-80 (Washington, D.C.: NationalArchives and Records Service, 1967), p.2. 16. Edward M. McCook, Report of1870, in Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1871 (Washington, D.C.: 1871), pp. 627-28. 17. Ed H. Ellis, International Boundary Lines across Colorado and Wyoming (Boul­ der, Colorado: Johnson Publishing Co., 1966), p. 9. 18. White, La Garita, p. 22. 19. Gerald C. Smith, "Colonel Albert H. Pfeiffer," The San Luis Valley Histo­ rian, 2, no. 2 (1970):7-11. 322 Endnotes

CHAPTER X

1. Thomas L. Kames, William Gilpin, Western Nationalist (Austin and London: University of Texas Press, 1970), pp. 118-20. 2. HubertHowe Bancroft, History ofArizona and New Mexico, 1530--1888 (1889; Albuquerque, New Mexico: Hom & Wallace, Publishers, 1962), pp. 419­ 23. 3. William Gilpin, "Pike's Peak and the Sierra San Juan," in Guide to the Kilnsas Gold Mines at Pike's Peak, from Notes of Capt. J. w. Gunnison ... (1859; Denver: Nolie Mumey, 1952), p. 34. The word bayou is a Creole corruption of the Spanish word valle, meaning "valley." 4. Kames, William Gilpin, p. 243n. 5. Rocky Mountain News, August 27,1860, p. 2. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid., June 25,1861, p. 2. 8. Another account of this expedition is found in Virginia McConnell, "Cap­ tain Baker and the San Juan Humbug," The Colorado Magazine, 48 (1971):59-75. 9. Hall, History of Colorado, 3:329. 10. Ibid., 4:94. 11. William H. Bauer, James L. Ozment, and John H. Willard, Colorado Postal History: The Post Offices (Crete, Nebraska: J-B Publishing Co., 1971), pp. 39,55, 116: Hall, History of Colorado, 4:93-94. 12. Ralph C. Taylor, Colorado South ofthe Border (Denver: Sage Books, 1963), pp. 166-70. 13. Rocky Mountain News, October 12, 1860, p. 2. 14. Richmond, "La Lorna de San Jose," p. 68. 15. Lantis, "San Luis Valley," pp. 176, 196, quoting William Stewart, Jr. La Sauses, the name of the older town settled by New Mexicans, means "the willows." 16. Rocky Mountain News, February 6, 1861, and Canon City Times, May 4, 1861, in the State Historical Society of Colorado clippings file. 17. Arthur Ridgway, "The Mission of Colorado Toll Roads, " The Colorado Magazine, 9 (1932):167. 18. Frank C. Spencer, The Story of the San Luis Valley, p. 61. 19. Hall, History of Colorado, 4:304. 20. Ibid., 4:304-D5. 21. Rocky Mountain News, October 12,1860, p. 2. 22. Sidney Jocknick, Early Days on the Western Slope of Colorado and Campfire Chats with Otto Mears the Pathfinder from 1870 to 1883, Inclusive (1913; Glorieta, New Mexico: Rio Grande Press, Inc., 1968), pp. 236-37. For other biographical material on Mears, see Helen M. Searcy, "Otto Mears" in Pioneers of the San Juan Country (Durango: Outwest Printing and Statio­ nery Co., 1942), 1:15-47; Allen duPont Breck, The Centennial History ofthe Jews of Colorado, 1859-1959 (Denver: Hirschfeld Press, 1960), pp. 4Q-42; and Mears Papers, State Historical Society of Colorado Library. Endnotes 323

23. Michael Kaplan, "Otto Mears and the Silverton Norlhern Railroad," The Cotorado Magazine, 48 (1971):236. 24. Ridgway, "Mission of Colorado Toll Roads," pp. 168-69. 25. Beryl McAdow, Land of Adoption, pp. 9-10. 26. This diary is in the State Historical Society of Colorado Library. Part of it was published in The Colorado Magazine in the january, April, and july issues in 1961 and in the January issue in 1962. 27. Mrs. Eugene Williams, manuscript, Boyd Papers, envelope 6, Adams State College Library. 28. john L. Dyer, The Snow-Shoe Itinerant (Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe, 1890), pp. 205-06. 29. Lantis, "San Luis Valley," pp. 102,183. 30. William Hansen, as told to Velma West Sykes, "Pioneer Life in the San Luis Valley," The Colorado Magazine, 17 (1940):146-55. 31. See White, La Garita, passim, for an objective, firsthand view of these problems.

CHAPTER Xl

1. Thomas T. Tobin, "The Capture of lhe Espinosas," dictated 1895, The Colo­ rado Magazine, 9 (1932):59-62. 2. lbid., pp. 62-65. 3. A reward of $2,500 was offered by Governor Evans, but of this only a total of $1,500 was paid and that by later administrations. 4. Petty, "The History of Costilla County," p. 40. 5. Conejos Tract, case no. 109, p. 160, reel no. 45, Records of Private Land Claims Adjudicated by the Court of Private Land Claims, New Mexico Land Grant Microfilm Collection (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico); Surveyor General ofColorado, 1861-1925, Copies ofMiscellaneous Letters Sent, 1861-73, Federal Archives and Records Center, Denver; ibid., Copies of Letters Sent to the Commissioner, 1861-68. Hall, History of Colorado, 4:91, confirms that the documents were placed in the files of the Surveyor General of Colorado in Denver. 6. W. H. Lessig to joseph S. Wilson, August 10, 1868, Surveyor General of Colorado, Letters Sent to the Commissioner. 7. Valdez et al. v. United States, Records of Private Land Claims Adjudicated by the Court of Private Land Claims, case 109, p. 127. 8. Kames, William Gilpin, p. 302. 9. Gilpin is quoted as expressing this reason to Francis M. Case in Case, Surveyor General of Colorado, to J. M. Edmunds, Commissioner, Gen­ eral Land Office, February 24, 1863, in Surveyor General ofColorado, Copies of Letters Sent to the Commissioner, 1861-1925. 10. Ibid. 11. Kames, William Gilpin, p. 302. 12. Herbert O. Brayer, William Blackmore: The Spanish-Mexican Land Grants of New Mexico and Colorado, 1863-1878, vol. 1 of A Case Study in the Economic Development ofthe West (Denver: Bradford-Robinson, 1949), p. 65. 324 Endnotes

13. San Acacia Abstract and Investment Company, Abstract ofTitle, no. 1436,

as cited in Lantis, "The San Luis Valley, U p. 163. 14. Karnes, William Gilpin, p. 320. 15. William Blackmore, Colorado: Its Resources, Parks and Prospects as a New Field for Emigration (London: Sampson, Low, Son, and Marston, 1869). 16. Brayer, William Blackmore, 1:91-93. 17. Ibid., p. 99. The association between Blackmore and Hayden continued with Blackmore donating funds and accompanying the geologist to Yellowstone the following year. 18. Ibid., p. 109. 19. Vigil, "History and Folklore of San Pedro and San Pablo," p. 47. 20. William Hubert Jones, The History of Catholic Education in the State of Colorado (Washington, D.c.: Catholic University of America Press, 1955), pp.84-85. 21. Brayer, William Blackmore, 1:210.

CHAPTER XII

1. D. H. Cummins, "Toll Roads in Southwestern Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 29 (1952):99-102; Arthur Ridgway,"The Mission of Colorado Toll Roads," The Colorado Magazine, 9 (1932):164, 167. 2. Morris F. Taylor, First Mail West. Stagecoach Lines on the Santa Fe Trail (Al­ buquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1971), passim. 3. For the background of these intricacies see Herbert o. Brayer, William Blackmore: The Spanish-Mexican Land Grants of New Mexico and Colorado, 1863-1878 and William Blackmore: Early Financing of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway and Ancillary Land Companies, vols. 1 and 2, A Case Study in the Economic Development ofthe West (Denver: Bradford-Robinson, 1949); Kames, William Gilpin; and Robert G. Athearn, Rebel ofthe Rockies: A His­ tory of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (New Haven: Yale Uni­ versity Press, 1962). 4. Brayer, William Blackmore,2:197. 5. "Place Names in Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 18 (1941):61. Helen Hunt. Jackson described this scene in Bits of Travel at Home (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1878), under the pen name "H. H." 6. "Agreement, Morton Fisher, etc.," December 22, 1876, Abstracts of Title, Sangre de Cristo Grant, p. 11. 7. Hall, History of ColoradO, 4:99-100. 8. Spencer, Story ofthe San Luis Valley, p. 56. 9. Riverside Station was east of Wayside, which had a post office in 1875. 10. Ellen F. Walrath, "Stagecoach Holdups in the San Luis Valley," The Colo­ rado Magazine, 14 (1937):30-31. 11. For detailed coverage of this extension, see Haldan W. Lindfelt, "The Chili Line: The Santa Fe Branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Western" (M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1966); and John A. Gjeore, Chili Line: Endnotes 325

The Narrow Rail Trail to Santa Fe (Espanola, New Mexico: Rio Grande Sun Press, 1969). 12. Spencer, 5tory ofthe San Luis Valley, p. 63.

CHAPTER XIII

1. C. G. Gunther, "The Gold Deposits of Plomo, San Luis Park, Colo.," Eco­ nomic Geology, 1 (1906):143,152-53. 2. H. B. Patton, Charles E. Smith, G. Montague Butler, and Arthur J. Hoskin, "Geology of the Grayback Mining District, Costilla County, Colorado," Colorado Geological Survey Bulletin, 2 (1910):83. 3. Cram's Map of 1891. 4. Patton et aI., "Geology of the Grayback Mining District," passim. 5. Hall, History of Colorado, 4:291. 6. Manuscript, Del Norte file, Adams State College Library. 7. H. B. Patton, "Geology and Ore Deposits of the Platoro-Summitville Min­ ing District, Colo.," Colorado Geological Survey Bulletin, 13 (1917):105. 8. Bill Fassett, liThe Fassett Store in Jasper, " The San Luis Valley Historian, 7, no. 2 (1975):16-17. 9. Cockrell in Conejos County was a post office from 1879 to 1892. Cram's Map of 1891 shows it about half way between the railroad and Stunner. 10. "Place Names in Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 19 (1942):149. 11. Patton et aI., "Geology and Ore Deposits of the Platoro-Summitville Min­ ing District," p. 89. 12. Sedgwick's post office moved three miles to Parkville in 1885, but ser­ vice continued only until 1886. The post office at Bonanza operated with only two brief interruptions until 1938. Another camp in this area was Claytonia, which appeared on Thayer's Map of Colorado in 1882. This town was between Villa Grove and Bonanza. 13. Anne Ellis, The Life of an Ordinary Woman (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1929), p. 24. 14. Anne Ellis, "My First Bath Tub," Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, December 20, 1931, pp. 5, 16. 15. S. E. Kortright, "Historical Sketch of the Bonanza Mining District," The Colorado Magazine, 22 (1945):75; see also, Helen A. Kempner, "Bonanza and the Kerber Creek District," The San Luis Valley Historian, 3, no. 2 (1971):1-46. 16. W. S. Burbank and Charles W. Henderson, Geology and Ore Deposits of the Bonanza Mining District, Colorado, U.s. Geological Survey Professional Paper 169 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1932), p. 1. 17. Ellis, The Life of an Ordinary Woman, p. 23. 18. Robert Born, interview, in Place Names file, La Garita, State Historical Society of Colorado Library. Green probably was named for rancher Russell Green. 19. Thomas A. Steven and C. L. Bieniewski, Mineral Resources of the La Garita Wilderness, San Juan Mountains, Southwestern Colorado, Geological Survey 326 Endnotes

Bulletin 1420 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1977), pp. 6[j...{,l. 20. Irene Flom Cox, "Development of Baca Grant Number Four" (M.A. the­ sis, Adams State College, 1948), pp. 75-76. 21. Mrs. A. H. Major, "Pioneer Days in Crestone and Creede." The Colorado Magazine, 21 (1944):214-15. 22. Rand, McNally and Company, Map of 1882; Denver and Rio Grande Railway, undated map (1883-86?). 23. Herbert H. aba, "Source Material for Teaching History of the East-Central Section of the San Luis Valley" (M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1961), pp.28-3l. 24. Robert B. Fisher, "An Historical Study of the Orient Mine and its Impact on the San Luis Valley" (M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1969), pp. 11­ 13, with special reference to John B. Stone, "Limonite Deposits at the Ori­ ent Mine," Economic Geology, 29(1934). 25. A. R. Pelton, The San Luis Valley, with Illustrations ofits Public Buildings ... (Salida, Colorado: Carson, Hurst, and Harper, 1891), p. 23. 26. Steven and Bieniewski, Mineral Resources of the La Garita Wilderness, pp. 40-4l. 27. A post office called Hirst served the camp at the Commodore. Orean was at or very near the same location as Montville, which succeeded the min­ ing camp. At the foot of Mosca Pass, Montville was a post office until 1898. 28. Colorado, Mineral Resources Board, Mineral Resources of Colorado (Den­ ver: Colorado Mining Association, 1947), pp. 183-96; ibid. (Denver: Pub­ lishers Press, 1960), pp. 62-63,l02-D4, 259-61, 266-71.

CHAPTER XIV

1. J. Cary French, "Diary, 1871," The San Luis Valley Historian, 8, no. 1 (1976):3­ 13; Arthur French, leller to Salome French Wilson, ibid., pp. 16-17. 2. Hall, History of Colorado, 4:291-92. 3. These springs were taken up in 1872 by Henry Henson and others; ibid., 4:294-95. Hot water from the springs recently has been piped into a swim­ ming pool at a dude ranch operated by the Allan Phipps family of Den­ ver. 4. Douglas C. McMurtrie and Albert H. Allen, Early Printing in Colorado, 1859-1876 (Denver: A. B. Hirschfeld Press, 1935), p. 127; Donald E. Oehlerts, Guide to Colorado Newspapers, 1859-1963 (Denver: Bibliographl­ cal Center for Research, 1964), pp. 126-27. 5. Hall, History ofColorado, 4:298. 6. William B. Faherty, "Regional Minorities and the Woman Suffrage Struggle," The Colorado Magazine, 33 (1956):212-17. 7. Mary Louise Coolbroth, "Early Church Buildings of the San Luis Valley," The San Luis Valley Historian, 7, no. 3 (1975):13-18. Endnotes 327

8. Norman j. Bender, "A College Where One Ought to Be," The Colorado Magazine, 49 (1972):196-218. 9. Ellis, Life ofan Ordinary Woman, pp. 25-26. 10. William H. Rideing, A-Saddle in the Wild West (London: j. C. Nimmo and Bain, 1879), pp. 28-34. 11. Ibid., p. 32. 12. H. H., Bits ofTravel at Horne (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1878), p. 389.

CHAPTER XV

1. Mrs. Eugene Williams, manuscript, Boyd Papers, envelope 6, Adams State College Library. 2. Steinel, History ofAgriculture in Colorado, pp. 86-87. 3. Lantis, "The San Luis Valley," p. 191. 4. Forbes Parkhill, "Colorado's Earliest Settlements," The Colorado Magazine, 34 (1957):243-53. 5. Lantis, liThe San Luis Valley," p. 191. 6. Oba, "Source Material for Teaching History," p. 34. 7. Cox, "Development of Baca Grant Number Four," pp. 72-84. 8. Oba, "Source Material for Teaching History," pp. 6-8. 9. Ibid., p. 20. 10. Nicholas G. Morgan, "Mormon Colonization in the San Luis Valley," The Colorado Magazine, 27 (1950):278. 11. Andrew jenson, "The Founding of Mormon Settlements in the San Luis Valley, Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 17 (1940):176-77. 12. Steine!, History of Agriculture in Colorado, p. 446; Lantis, "The San Luis Valley," p. 213. 13. Lantis, "The San Luis Valley, " p. 204. 14. Fred T. Christensen, "Early History of Sanford, Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 36 (1959):221. 15. Hall, History of Colorado, 3:330. 16. Ibid., 4:101, 468. 17. William A. Braiden, as told to Irma S. Harvey, "Early Days in the San Luis Valley," The Colorado Magazine, 21 (1944):41-51. See also Gladys Shawcroft, "A Brief History of the Alamosa River and La jara River Val­ ley," The San Luis Valley Historian, 2, no. 1 (1970):4--12. 18. Hall, History ofColorado, 4:464--65. 19. Lantis, "The San Luis Valley," pp. 239-44. 20. George A. Crofutt, Crofutt's Grip-Sack Guide of Colorado (1885; Denver: Cubar, 1966),2:29. 21. Pelton, The San Luis Valley, pp. 79-81. Both Pelton, The San Luis Valley, and Crofutt, Crofutl's Grip-Sack Guide ofColorado, vol. 2, are useful sources of information on towns of the 1880-90 period. 22. Dorothy Roberts, "A Dutch Colony in Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 17 (1940):229-36. 328 Endnotes

23. Norris Hundley, Jr., Dividing the Waters: A Century ofControversy Between the United States and Mexico (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Cali­ fornia Press, 1966), passim. 24. Lantis, "The San Luis Valley," p. 484. 25. Petty, "The History of Costilla County," p. 21. 26. Ernie Phillips, Farmers' Home Administration, Denver, personal com­ munication, September 21, 1972. 27. Steinel,History ofAgriculture in Colorado, pp. 431-33. See also IrwinThomle, "Rise of the Vegetable Industry in the San Luis Valley," The Colorado Maga­ zine, 26 (1949):112-35. 28. C. G. Sargent, Consolidated Schools of the Mountains, Valleys and Plains of Colorado, ColoradoAgriculturalCollege Bulletin, series 21, number 5 Gune 1921), pp. 26-57.

CHAPTER XVI

1. Jones, History of Catholic Education in the State ofColorado, pp. 85-86. 2. Rocky Mountain News, August 4, 1971, p. 8. 3. E. R. Vollmar, S. L "Religious Processions and Penitente Activities at Conejos, 1874," The Colorado Magazine, 31 (1954):172-79. 4. See, for example, Alex. M. Darley, The Passionists of the Southwest, or the Holy Brotherhood (Pueblo, Colorado: Privately printed, 1893). 5. Monica Romero, "Ortiz," in Memories of South Conejos, a compilation of essays written by students in the Gifted and Talented Program of School District South Conejos RE-10 (1976?). The booklet contains several infor­ mative contributions on regional history. 6. Ernest Ingersoll, The Crest of the Continent (Chicago: R. R. Donnelley and Sons, Publishers, 1885), p. 79. 7. Spencer, Story of the San Luis Valley, p. 68. 8. Lantis, "The San Luis Valley," pp. 434-35. 9. Roland Robins, Antonito, personal communication, August 27, 1972. 10. Lantis, "The San Luis Valley," p. 388. 11. White, La Garita, pp. 21, 34. 12. Hasting, "Parochial Beginnings in Colorado," pp. ]53-54. 13. Charles Atencio, La Garita, personal communication, July 23, 1972. 14. White, La Garita, p. 26. 15. Spencer, Story of the San Luis Valley, p. 69. 16. White, La Garita, p. 28. ]7. J. C. Lobato, "My Forty-Two Years as a Sheep Shearer," The Colorado Magazine, 28 (1951):215-18. 18. Lopez, "The Spanish Heritage in the San Luis Valley," p. 18. 19. Jones, History of Catholic Education in the State of Colorado, pp. xiv-xxviii. 20. Pelty, "History of Costilla County," p. 5. 21. Denver Post, March 8, 1973, p. 51. Bibliography

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS AND PUBLIC RECORDS

Atwood, W W, and Mather, K. F. Physiography and Quaternary Geology ofthe San Juan Mountains, Colorado. u.s. Geological Survey Professional Paper 166. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1932. Ball, Sydney H. Mining of Gems and Ornamental Stones by American Indians. Bureau of American Ethnology Anthropological Paper 128. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1941. Burbank, W. S. "The Bonanza (Kerber Creek) Mining District, Saguache County." In Colorado, Mineral Resources Board, Mineral Resources of Colo­ rado. Denver: Colorado Mining Association, 1947. Burbank, W S., and Henderson, Charles W. Geology and Ore Deposits of the Bonanza Mining District, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 169. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1932. Colorado, General Assembly, Legislative Councll. The Status of Spanish-Surnamed Citizens in Colorado. 1967. Colorado. General Laws, Joint Resolutions, Memorials, and Private Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Colorado, 1861-76. Colorado, Mineral Resources Board. Mineral Resources of Colorado, 1947 ed. Denver: Colorado Mining Association, 1947. --.Mineral Resources ofColorado. 1960 ed. Denver: Publishers Press, 1960. Gilpin, William. "Report of 1861." In U.S., Bureau of Indian Affairs, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1861, pp. 99-100. Washing­ ton, D.C: N.p., 1862. Hayden, F. V Geological and Geographical Atlas of Colorado. (Dept. of Interior) N.p.: Julius Bien, 188l. Hill, Edward E. Historical Sketches for Jurisdictional and Subject Headings Used for the Letters Recd. by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-80. Washington, D.C: National Archives and Records Service, 1967. Johnson, Ross B. "The Great Sand Dunes of Southern Colorado." In Geologi­ cal Survey Research, 1967. U.s. Geological Survey Professional Paper 575-C, 330 Bibliography

pp. 177-83. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1967. Kappler, Charles J., ed. Indian Affairs, Laws, and Treaties. Vol. IT. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904. Larsen, Esper S., Jr., and Cross, Whitman. Geology and Petrology of the San Juan Region, Southwestern Colorado. U.s. Geological Survey Professional Paper 258. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1956. Lt. Zebulon Pike's Notebook ofMaps, Traverse Tables, and Meteorological Observa­ tions, 1805--07. Microfilm Publication T-36. Federal Archives and Records Center, Denver Federal Center. McCook, Edward M. "Report of 1870." In U.s., Bureau of Indian Affairs, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1870, pp. 627-28. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1871. Papers Relating to New Mexico Land Grants, Claims Adjudicated by the U.S. Surveyor General and by the U.S. Court ofPrivate Land Claims, "Los Conejos," File 80, Microfilm Reel 31; and Case 109, File 112, Microfilm Reel 45. New Mexico State Records and Archives Center. Patton, H. B. Geology and are Deposits ofthe Bonanza District, Saguache County, Colo. Colorado Geological Survey Bulletin 9. 1916. ---. Geology and Ore Deposits of the Platoro-Summitville Mining District, Colo. Colorado Geological Survey Bulletin 13. 1917. Patlon, H. B.; Smith, Charles E.; Butler, G. Montague; and Hoskin, Arthur J. Geology of the Grayback Mining District, Costilla County, Colorado. Colo­ rado Geological Survey Bulletin 2. 1910. Powell, William J. Ground-Water Resources of the San Luis Valley, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1379. Washington, D.C.: Gov­ ernment Printing Office, 1958. Request for Renewal ofLos Conejos Grant. Translation 0021. Blackmore Papers, Los Conejos Grant. New Mexico State Records Center and Archives. Siebenthal, C. E. Geology and Water Resources of the San Luis Valley, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 240. Washington, D.C.: Gov­ ernment Printing Office, 1910. Steven, Thomas A. Critical Review of the San Juan Peneplain, Southwestern Colo­ rado. U.s. Geological Survey Professional Paper 594-1. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1968. Steven, Thomas A., and Bieniewski, C. L. Mineral Resources of the La Garita Wilderness, San Juan Mountains, Southwestern Colorado. U.s. Geological Survey Bulletin 1420. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1977. Surveyor General of Colorado, 1861-1925. Copies of Miscellaneous Letters Sent, 1861-73. Copies of Letters Sent to the Commissioner, 1861-{j8. Federal Ar­ chives and Records Center, Denver Federal Center. U.s., Bureau of Indian Affairs. Letters Received, 1824--80. New Mexico Super­ intendency, 1849-80. Colorado Superintendency, 1861-8. Microcopy 234. Fed­ eral Archives and Records Center, Denver Federal Center. U.s., Forest Service, Rio Grande National Forest. Workbook Containing Files Pertaining to Fremont's Fourth Expedition, Rio Grande National Forest Headquarters, Monte Vista, Colorado. Bibliography 331

U.S., General Land Office. Del Norte Lmd Office, 1875-1925. Tract Books. Vals. I-XV. Federal Archives and Records Center, Denver Federal Center. --. Descriptive Notes of the Sangre de Cristo Grant, 1860. Costilla County, Colorado, Courthouse. --.Pueblo Land Office, 1871-1949. Vol. XXXVlII: Abstract ofPre-Emption Declaratory Statements. Federal Archives and Records Center, Denver Fed­ eral Center. U.s., General Records of the United States Government. Ro.tified Indian Trea­ ties, 1722-1869. M-668, Roll 16. Federal Archives and Records Center, Denver Federal Center, U.S., House. Letter from the Secretary of the Interior in Relation to an Agreement Concluded with the Ute Indians in Colorado, September 13, 1873. 43d Cong., 1st sess., 1874. U.s., Post Office Department. Records of Appointments of Postmasters, Colo- rado, 1860-1929. ---. Official Postal Guide. ---. Post Office Directory. U.s., Senate. Reports of Explorations and Surveys to Ascertain the Most Practi­ cable Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, 1853-4. 33d Cong., 2d sess., 1854. U.S. Statutes at Large. Vol. X. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855. --. Statutes at Large. Treaties and Proclamations of America from De­ cember 5, 1859, to March 3, 1863. Vol. XII. U.s., War Department, Department of the Missouri. Atlas of Detailed Sheets of the Reconnaissance in the Ute Country. Washington, D.C., 1873.

BOOKS

Abstract of Title, "Costilla Estate," Sangre de Cristo Grant. N.p.: Costilla Es­ tates Development Company, n.d. Abstract of Title, Jaroso Garden Tracts "Costilla Estate," Sangre de Cristo Grant. N.p.: Costilla Estates Development Company, n.d. Abstract of Title, "The Trinchera Estate," The Sangre de Cristo Grant. San Luis, Colorado: Costilla County Abstract Company, n.d. Athearn, Robert G. Rebel ofthe Rockies: A History ofthe Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962. Bailey, Lynn Robison. Indian Slave Trade in the Southwest: A Study ofSlave-taking and Traffic of Indian Captives. Los Angeles: Western Lore Press, 1966. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History ofArizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888. 1889; Albuquerque, New Mexico: Hom and Wallace PUblishers, 1962. Bannon, John Francis. The Spanish Borderlands Frontier, 1513-1821. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970. Bauer, William H.; Ozment, James L.; and Willard, John H. Colorado Postal History: The Post Offices. Crete, Nebraska: J-B Publishing Company, 1971. Bean, Luther E. Land of the Blue Sky People. Monte Vista, Colorado: Monte Vista Journal, 1962. 332 Bibliography

Bennett, Edna Mae. Turquoise and the Indian. Denver: Sage Books, 1966. Blackmore, William. Colorado: Its Resources, Parks and Prospects as a New Field for Emigration. London: Sampson, Low, Son, and Marston, 1869. ---. Investments in Land in Colorado and New Mexico. London: Witherby and Company, 1955. Brayer, Herbert O. A Case Study in the Economic Development ofthe West. Vol. 1: William Blackmore: The Spanish-Mexican Land Grants ofNew Mexico and Colo­ rado, 1863-1878. Vol. II: William Blackmore: Early Financing ofthe Denver and Rio Grande Railway and Ancillary Land Companies. Denver: BradfordRobinson, 1949. Breck, Allen duPont. The Centennial History of the Jews in Colorado, 1859­ 1959. Denver: Hirschfeld Press, 1960. Campa, Arthur L. Treasure of the Sangre de Crlslas: Tales and Traditions of the Spanish Southwest. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. Carter, Carrol Joe. Pike in Colorado. Fort Collins, Colorado: The Old Army Press, 1978. Carter, Harvey Lewis. 'Dear Old Kit': The Historical Christopher Carson. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968. Carvalho, S. N. Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West with Fremont's Last Expedition. New York: Derby and Jackson, 1857. Crofutt, George A. CrofuWs Grip-Sack Guide ofColorado. Vol. n. 1895; Denver: Cubar, 1966. Darley, Alex. M. The Passionists of the Southwest, or the Holy Brotherhood. Pueblo, Colorado: Privately printed, 1893. Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Slopes of the Sangre de Cristo; A Book of the Resources and Indus tries of Colorado. Denver: Carson-Harper, 1896. Description of the Parks of Colorado and the Estate of the Colorado Freehold Land Association Limited London: F. Straher, 1868. Dyer, John L. The Snow-Shoe Itinerant. Cincinnati: Cranston and Stowe, 1890. Ellis, Anne. The Life ofan Ordinary Woman. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1929. Ellis, Erl H. International Boundary Lines across Colorado and Wyoming. Boul­ der, Colorado: johnson Publishing Company, 1966. Espinosa, Aurelio M. The Spanish Language in New Mexico and Southern Colo­ rado. Historical Society of New Mexico Publication 16. Santa Fe: New Mexican Printing Company, 1911. Feitz, Leland. Alamosa: The San Luis Valley's Big City. Colorado Springs, Colo­ rado: Little London Press, 1976. Forbes, jack D. Apache, Navajo and Spaniard. Norman: University of Okla­ homa Press, 1960. Fowler, jacob. The Journal ofJacob Fowler. Ed. by Elliott Coues with preface and additional notes by Raymond W. and Mary Lund Settle and Harry R. Stevens. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1970. Gilpin, William. "Pike's Peak and the Sierra SanJuan." In Guide to the Kansas Gold Mines at Pike's Peak, from Notes of Capt. J. W. Gunnison ... 1859; Denver: Nolie Mumey, 1952. Bibliography 333

Gjeore, John A. Chili Line: The Narrow Rnil Trail to Santa Fe. Espanola, New Mexico: Rio Grande Sun Press, 1969. Goetzmann, William H. Army Exploration in the American West. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959. Grant, Blanche c., ed. Kit Carson's Own Story ofHis Life as Dictated to Col. and Mrs. D. C. Peters about 1856-57. Santa Fe: Santa Fe New Mexican Publish­ ing Corporation, 1926. H. H. [Helen Marie HuntJackson].Bits ofTravel at Home. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1878. Haarr, Allan. "Marble Mountain Caves (Custer County, Colorado)." In Speleo Digest, 1959, pp. 270-71. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Grotto, Na­ tional Speleological Society, 1961. Hafen, LeRoy R, ed. Colorado and Its People: A Narrative and Topical History of the Centennial State. 2 vals. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Com­ pany, Inc., 1948. ---. The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade ofthe For West. 10 vols. Glendale, California: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1965-72. Hafen, LeRoy R, and Hafen,Ann w., eds. The Far West and the Rockies Histori­ cal Series, 1820-1875. Vol. XI: Fremont's Fourth Expedition: A Documentary Account of the Disaster of 1848-49. Glendale, California: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1960. Hall, Frank. History of the State of Colorado. 4 vols. Chicago: Blakely Printing Company, 1889-95. Halliday, William R Adventure Is Underground: The Story ofthe Great Caves of the West and the Men Who Explore Them. New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1959. Hammond, George P., and Rey, Agapito, eds. Coronado Cuarto Centennial Publications, 1540-1940. Vols. V and VI: Onate, Colonizer of New Mexico, 1595-1628. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1953. Heap,Gwinn Harris. Central Route to the Pacific,from the Valley ofthe Mississippi to Californiil: Journal ofthe Expedition. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Company, 1854. Herstrom, Guy M. "Sangre de Cristo Grant, 1843-1880." In The 1960 Brand Book, pp. 73-102. Denver: Denver Posse of the Westerners, 1961. Hewett, EdgarL., and Dutton, Bertha P. The Pueblo Indian World: Studies on the Natural History ofthe Rio Grande Valley in Relation to Pueblo Indian Culture. Handbooks of Archaeological History Series. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico and the School of American Research, 1945. Hollon, W. Eugene. The Lost Pathfinder: Zebulon Montgomery Pike. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1949. Horka-Follick, Lorayne Ann. Los Hermanos Penitentes. Los Angeles: Western Lore Press, 1969. Hundley, Norris, Jr. Dividing the Waters: A Century of Controversy between the United States and Mexico. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Califor­ nia Press, 1966. 334 Bibliography

Ingersoll, Ernest. The Crest of the Continent. Chicago: R. R. Donnelley and Sons, Publishers, 1885. Jackson, Donald, ed. The Journals ofZebulon Montgomery Pike. Norman: Uni­ versity of Oklahoma Press, 1966. James, H. L., ed. Guidebook ofthe San Luis Basin, Colorado. N.p.: New Mexico Geological Society, 1971. Jeancon, Jean Allard. Archaeological Research in the Northeastern San Juan Ba­ sin of Colorado. Ed. by Frank H. H. Roberts. Denver: State Historical and Natural History Society of Colorado and the University of Denver, 1922. Jocknick, Sidney. Early Days on the Western Slope of Colorado and Campfire Chats with Otto Mears the Pathfinder from 1870 to 1883, Inclusive. 1913; Glorieta, New Mexico: Rio Grande Press, Inc., 1968. Jones, Oakah L., Jr. Pueblo Warriors and Spanish Conquest. Norman: Univer­ sity of Oklahoma Press, 1966. Jones, William Hubert. The History of Catholic Education in the State of Colo­ rado. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1955. Kames, Thomas L. William Gilpin, Western Nationalist. Austin and London: University of Texas Press, 1970. Kelsey, Harry E., Jr. Frontier Capitalist: The Life of John Evans. Denver and Boulder: State Historical SOCiety of Colorado and Pruett Publishing Com­ pany, 1969. Lee, W. Storrs, ed. Colorado: A Literary Chronicle. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1970. Mallery, Garrick. Picture-Writing of the American Indians. Vol. 1. 1893; New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1972. McAdow, Beryl. From Crested Peaks: The Story of Adams State College ofColo­ rado. Denver: Big Mountain Press, 1961. --. Land ofAdoption. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Publishing Company, 1970. McMurtrie, Douglas c., and Allen, Albert H. Early Printing in Colorado. Den­ ver: A. B. Hirschfeld Press, 1935. Memories of South Conejos. Antonito, Colorado: School District South Conejos RE-10, 1977. Merk, George P. "Great Sand Dunes of Colorado." In Weimer, Robert J., and Haun, John D., eds., Guide to the Geology ofColorado. Denver: Rocky Moun­ tain Association of Geologists, 1960. Oehlerts, Donald E. Guide to Colorado Newspapers, 1859-1963. Denver: Biblio­ graphical Center for Research, 1964. Opler, Marvin K. "The Southern Utes of Colorado." In Linton, Ralph, ed., Acculturation in Seven American Indian Tribes. New York: D. Appleton­ Century Company, 1940. O'Ryan, William, and Malone, Thomas H. History of the Catholic Church in Colorado. Denver: C. J. Kelly, 1889. Parkhill, Forbes. The Blazed Trail of Antoine Leroux. Los Angeles: Western Lore Press, 1965. Pelton, A. R. The San Luis Valley with Illustrations ofIts Public Buildings, Sum- Bibliography 335

mer Resorts, and Some of Its Residences, Business Blocks, Manufactories, and Citizens. Salida, Colorado: Carson, Hurst and Harper, 1891. Peters, Dewitt C. The Life and Adventures ofKit Carson, the Nestor ofthe Rocky Mountains, from Facts Narrated by Himself. New York: W.B.C. Clark and Company, 1858. Pike, Zebulon M. The Southwestern Expedition ofZebulon M. Pike. Ed. by Milo Milton Quaife. Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1925. Porter, Clyde and Mae Reed, comps. Ruxton of the Rockies. Ed. by LeRoy R. Hafen. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1950. Preuss, Charles. Exploring with Fremont: The Private Diaries of Charles Preuss, Cartographer for John C. Fremont on his First, Second, and Fourth Expeditions to the Far West. Trans. and ed. by Erwin G. and Elizabeth K. Gudde. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958. Renaud, E. B. Archaeology of the Upper Rio Grande Basin in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. University of Denver Archaeological Series, Paper 6. Denver: University of Denver, 1946. Reynolds, Matthew G. Spanish and Mexican Land Laws: New Spain and Mexico. St. Louis: Buxton and Skinner Stationery Company, 1895. Rideing, William H. A-Saddle in the Wild West. London: J. C. Nimmo and Bain,1879. Rockwell, Wilson. The Utes, A Forgotten People. Denver: Sage Books, 1956. Ruxton, George F. Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains. New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1848. Salpointe, J. B. Soldiers of the Cross: Notes on the Ecclesiastical History of New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. 1898; Albuquerque: Calvin Hom, Publisher, Inc., 1967. Sanchez, George I. Forgotten People: A Study ofNew Mexicans. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1940. Sargent, C. G. Consolidated Schools ofthe Mountains, Valleys and Plains of Colo­ rado. Colorado Agricultural College Bulletin. Fort Collins: Colorado Ag­ ricultural College, 1921. Searcy, Helen M. "Otto Mears." In Pioneers ofthe San Juan Country. 1:15­ 47. Durango, Colorado: Out West Printing and Stationery Company, 1942. Spencer, Frank C. The Story of the San Luis Valley. 1925; Alamosa, Colorado: San Luis Valley Historical Society, 1975. Steinel, Alvin T. History of Agriculture in Colorado. Fort Collins: State Agri­ cultural College, 1926. Tate, Bill. The Penitentes ofthe Sangre de Cristos: An American Tragedy. Truchas, New Mexico: Tate Gallery, 1968. Taylor, Morris F. First Mail West: Stagecoach Lines on the Santa Fe Trail. Albu­ querque: University of New Mexico Press, 1971. Taylor, Ralph C. Colorado South of the Border. Denver: Sage Books, 1963. Thomas, Alfred Barnaby, trans. and ed. Forgotten Frontiers: A Study of the Spanish Indian Policy ofDon Juan Bautista de Anza, Governor ofNew Mexico, 1777-1787. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1932. 336 Bibliography

Tushar, Ohbama Lopez. People ofthe Valley: A History ofthe Spanish Colonials of the San Luis Valley. Intro. by Daniel r. Valdes. Denver: Privately printed, 1975. Tyler, Daniel. A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War. Washtngton, D.C.: N.p., 189l. Underhill, Ruth M. The Navajos. Norman: University ofOklahomaPress, 1956. ---. Red Man's Religion: Beliefs and Practices of the Indians North ofMexico. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965. Weber, David J. The Taos Trappers: The Fur Trade in the Far Southwest. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968. Weigle, Marta. The Penitentes ofthe Southwest. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Ancient City Press, 1970. Wessels, William L. Born to Be a Soldier: The Military Career of William Wing Loring of St. Augustine, Florida. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University, 1971. White, Frank A. La Garita. La lara, Colorado: Cooper Printing Company, 1971. Wormington, H. M. Ancient Man in North America. 4th ed. Denver: Denver Museum of Natural History, 1957.

PERIODICALS

Bender, Norman j. "A College Where One Ought to Be," The Colorado Maga­ zine, 49 (1972):19&-218. Braiden, William A. "Early Days in the San Luis Valley," as told to Irma S. Harvey, The Colorado Magazine, 21 (1944):41-5l. Breckenridge, Thomas E. "The Story of a Famous Expedition," as told to j. W. Freeman and Charles W. Watson, The Cosmopolitan, 21 (1896):400-08. Carson, Christopher. "Report on Fort Garland Made by Christopher (Kit) Carson to Major Roger james, june 10, 1866," ed. byGene M. Gressley, The Colorado Magazine, 32 (1955):215-45. Carter, Harvey L. "The Mountain Men/' The San Luis Valley Historian, 3, no. 1 (1971):2-26. Chacon, Rafael. "Campaign against Utes and Apaches in Southern Colorado, 1855, from the Memoirs of Major Rafael Chacon," The Colorado Magazine, II (1934):108-12. Cheetham, Francis T. "The Early Settlements of Southern Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 5 (1928):1-K Christensen, Fred T. "Early History of Sanford, Colorado," The Colorado Maga­ zine, 36 (1959):214-22. "Colonel Loring's Expedition across Colorado in 1858," The Colorado Maga­ zine, 23 (1946):49-75. Coolbroth, Mary Louise. "Early ChurchBuildings of theSan Luis Valley," The San Luis Valley Historian, 7, no. 3 (1975):13-18. Cummins, D. H. "Toll Roads in Southwestern Colorado:' The Colorado Maga­ zine, 29 (1952):98-104. Bibliography 337

Cummins, M. L. "Fort Massachusetts, First United States Military Post in Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 14 (1937):128-35. Davis, Donald G. "Important New Finds on Marble Mountain, Colo.," Na­ tional Speleological Society News, 18 (1960):133-34. --. "More about Colorado's Marble Mountain Caves," National Speleo­ logical Society News, 19 (1961):45-47. Dunham, Harold H. "New Mexican Land Grants with Special Reference to the Title Papers of the Maxwell Grant." New Mexico Historical Review, 30 (1955):1-22. Ellis, Anne. "My First Bath Tub," Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, Decem­ ber 20,1931, pp. 5, 16. Espinosa, J. Manuel. "Governor Vargas in Colorado," New Mexico Historical Review, 11 (1936):179-87. --,ed. "Journal of the Vargas Expedition into Colorado, 1694," The Colo­ rado Magazine, 16 (1939):81-90. Faherty, William B. "Regional Minorities and the Woman Suffrage Struggle," The Colorado Magazine, 33 (1956):212-17. Fassett, Bill. "The Fassett Store in Jasper," The San Luis Valley Historian, 7, no. 2 (1975):16-17. Foreman, Grant. "Antoine Leroux, New Mexico Guide," New Mexico Histori­ cal Review, 16 (1941):370-74. French, J. Cary. "Diary, 1871," The San Luis Valley Historian, 8, no. 1 (1976):~13. Gunther, C. G. "The Gold Deposits of Plomo, San Luis Park, Colo.," Economic Geology, 1 (1906):14~54. Hafen, LeRoy R. "The Fort Pueblo Massacre and the Punitive Expedition against the Utes," The Colorado Magazine, 4 (1927):49-58. --."MountainMen-JohnD. Albert," The Colorado Magazine, 10 (1933):56­ 62. --. "Status of the San Luis Valley, 1850-1861," The Colorado Magazine, 3 (1926):46-49. Hansen, William. "Pioneer Life in the San Luis Valley," as told to Velma West Sykes, The Colorado Magazine, 17 (1940):146-55. Harvey, James Rose. liE! Cerrito de Los Kiowas," The Colorado Magazine, 19 (1942):21~15. Harvey, James Rose, and Harvey, Mrs. James Rose. "Turquoise among the Indians and a Colorado Turquoise Mine," The Colorado Magazine, IS (1938):186-92. Hill, Joseph J. "Antoine Robidoux, Kingpin in the Colorado River Fur Trade, 1824-1844," The Colorado Magazine, 7 (1930):125-32. Hurst, C. T. "AFolsom Location in the San Luis Valley, Colorado," Southwest­ ern Lore, 7 (1941):31-34. Jeancon, Jean Allard. "Pictographs of Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 3 (1926):33-45. Jenson, Andrew. "The Founding of Mormon Settlements in the San Luis Val­ ley, Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 17 (1940):174-80. Kaplan, Michael. "Otto Mears and the Silverton Northern Railroad," The Colo­ rado Magazine, 48 (1971):235-54. 338 Bibliography

Kempner, Helen A. "Bonanza and the Kerber Creek District," The San Luis Valley Historian, 3, no. 2 (1971):1-46. Kortright, S. E. "Historical Sketch of the Bonanza Mining District," The Colo­ rado Magazine, 22 (1945):6&-76. Lobato, J. C. "My Forty-Two Years as a Sheep Shearer/' The Colorado Maga­ zine, 28 (1951):215-18. Lopez, Glibama. "Pioneer Life in fhe San Luis Valley," The Colorado Maga­ zine, 19 (1942):161--<;7. Major, Mrs. A. H. "Pioneer Days in Crestone and Creede, " The Colorado Magazine, 21 (1944):212-17. McConnell, Virginia. "Captain Baker and the San Juan Humbug," The Colo­ rado Magazine, 48 (1971):59-75. McMenamy, Claire. "OUf Lady of Guadalupe at Conejos, Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 17 (1940):180-83. Morgan, Nicholas G. "Mormon Colonization in the San Luis Valley," The Colorado Magazine, 27 (1950):269-93. Mumey, Nolie. "John Williams Gunnison: Centenary of His Survey and Tragic Death," The Colorado Magazine, 31 (1954):19-32. Nankivell, John H. "Fort Garland, Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 16 (1939):13-27. Parkhill, Forbes. "Colorado's Earliest Settlements," The Colorado Magazine, 34 (1957):241-53. Pearsall, Alfred J. "Evidence of Pueblo Culture in the San Luis Valley," South­ western Lore, 5 (1939):7-9. "Recollections of Tata Atanasio Trujillo," The San Luis VaIley Historian, 8, no. 4 (1976):11-19. Renaud, E. B. "Prehistory of the San Luis Valley," The Colorado Magazine, 20 (1943):51-55. ---. "The Rio Grande Points," Southwestern Lore, 8 (1942):33-36. Richie, Eleanor L. "The Disputed International Boundary in Colorado, 1803­ 1819," The Colorado Magazine, 13 (1936):171-78. Richmond, Patricia Joy. "La Lorna de San Jose, " The San Luis Valley Histo­ rian, 5, no. 2-4 (1973):1--<;3; 6, no. 1-2 (1974):64-118. Ridgway, Arthur. "The Mission of Colorado Toll Roads," The Colorado Maga­ zine, 9 (1932):163--<;9.

Roberts, Dorothy. IIA Dutch Colony in Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 17 (1940):229-36. Roberts, Frank H. H., Jr. "Prehistoric Peoples of Colorado," The Colorado Magazine, 23 (1946):145-56, 215-29. "San Luis Store Celebrates CentenniaV' The Colorado Magazine, 34 (1957):256-62. The San Luis Valley Historian. Vols. I-X, 1969-78. Sharp, Pauline S. "Kit Carson at Fort Garland, C.T.," The San Luis Valley Historian, 2, no. 2 (1970):12-20. Shawcroft, Gladys. "A Brief History of the Alamosa River and La Jara River Valley," The San Luis Valley Historian, 2, no. 1 (1970):4-12. Bibliography 339

Smith, Emilia Gallegos. "Reminiscences of Early San Luis," The Colorado Maga­ zine, 24 (1947):24-25. Smith, Gerald C. "Colonel Albert H. Pfeiffer," The San Luis Valley Historian, 2, no. 2 (1970):7-1l. Smith, Victoria. "The Shangri La of the Rockies," Denver Westerners Roundup, 26 (November-December 1970):3-17. Spencer, Frank C. "The Scene of Fremont's Disaster in the San Juan Moun­ tains, 1848," The Colorado Magazine, 6 (1929):141-46. --. "The Wheeler National Monument," The Colorado Magazine, 1 (1924):97-103. Strickland, Rex W. "Moscoso's Journey through Texas," Southwestern Histori­ cal Quarterly, 46 (1942):109-37. Taylor, Morris F. "Action at Fort Massachusetts: The Indian Campaign of 1855," The Colorado Magazine, 42 (1965):292-310. ---. "Fort Massachusetts," The Colorado Magazine, 45 (1968):120-42. Thomas, Alfred B. "AnAnonymous Description of New Mexico, 1818," South­ western Historical Quarterly, 33 (1929):5l. --. "Documents Bearing upon the Northern Frontier of New Mexico, 1818-1819," New Mexico Historical Review, 4 (1929):146-{)3. Thomas, Chauncy. "The Spanish Fort in Colorado, 1819," The Colorado Maga­ zine, 14 (1937):81-85. Tobin, Thomas T. "The Capture of the Espinosas," dictated 1895, The Colorado Magazine, 9 (1932):59-66. Upson, J. E. "Physiographic Subdivisions of the San Luis Valley, Southern Colorado," Journal of Geology, 47 (1939):721-36. Vandenbusche, Duane. "Life at a Frontier Post: Fort Garland," The Colorado Magazine,43 (1966):132-48. Velasquez, Meliton. "Guadalupe Colony Was Founded 1854, " The Colorado Magazine,34 (1957):264-67. Vollmar, E. R, S.J. "Religious Processions and PenitenteActivities at Conejos, 1874," The Colorado Magazine, 31 (1954):172-79. Wallrath, Ellen F. "Stagecoach Holdups in the San Luis Valley," The Colorado Magazine, 14 (1937):27-3l. "The Wheeler Expedition inSouthernColorado,"Harper's New Monthly Maga­ zine, 52 (1876):798-807. Williams, J. W. "Moscoso'sTrail in Texas/' Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 46 (1942):138-57. Wilson, Dorothy. "They Came to Hunt/' The San Luis Valley Historian, 3, no. 3 (1971):12-18.

UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL

Barclay, Alexander. Papers. (Typescript from microfilm copies.) State Histori­ cal Society of Colorado Library. Boyd, Mrs. W. F. Papers. Adams State College Library. 340 Bibliography

Burford, Arthur Edgar. "Geology of the Medano PeakArea, Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado." PhD. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1960. Christensen, Fred. Taped interview by Mrs. Hugh Kingery. 1962. State His­ torical Society of Colorado Library. Combs, D. Gene. "Enslavement of Indians in the San Luis Valley." M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1970. Covington, James Warren. "Relationsbetween the Ute Indians and the United States Government, 1848-1900. " PhD. dissertation, University of Okla­ homa,1949. Cox, Irene Flom. "Development of Baca Grant Number Four." M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1948. Ellis, Florence Hawley. "San Gabriel del Yungue, Window onthe Pre-Spanish World." Paper read before the Eleventh Annual Western History Asso­ ciation Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 14, 1971. Fisher, Robert B. "An Historical Study of the Orient Mine and Its Impact on the San Luis Valley." M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1969. Flower, Judson Harold, Jr. "Mormon Colonization of the San Luis Valley, Colorado, 1878-1900." M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1966. Gibson, Charles E., Jr. "Alamosa, Conejos, and Costilla COWlties: Interviews Collected during 1933-1934 for the State Historical Society of Colorado byCivil Works Administration Workers." State Historical Society Library. Gomez, Francis J. "Medical Folklore of the Spanish-Speaking People of the San Luis Valley." M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1970. Hasting, Martin F. "Parochial Beginnings in Colorado to 1889. " M.A. thesis, St. Louis University, 1941. Inouye, Ronald K. "Alamosa, Colorado: Some Highlights on Its Early His­ tory." M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1968. Lantis, David William. "The San Luis Valley, Colorado: Sequent Rural Occupance in an Intermontane Basin." Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1950. Lawrence, John. "Diary, 1867-1907." State Historical Society of Colorado li­ brary. Lindfelt, Haldan W. "The Chlli Line: The Santa Fe Branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Western." M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1966. Dba, Herbert H. "Source Material for Teaching History of the East-Central Section of the San Luis Valley." M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1961. Petty, Hazel Bean. "The History of Costilla County as Revealed by Its Cem­ eteries." M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1971. "References in Spanish Archives to Expeditions by Spaniards in the 18th and 19th Centuries to the Territory Now Included in the State of Colo­ rado, Secured by Irving Howbertin the Library ofCongress." (Typescript.) Colorado College, Tutt Library. Schwarzbeck, Dorothy. "The History of Monte Vista." (Typescript.) Adams State College Library. Thomle, Irwin. "The Developmental Period in San Luis Agriculture, 1898­ 1930." PhD. dissertation, Northwestern University, 1948. Bibliography 341

Trujillo, Luis M. "Diccionario del Espanol del Valle de San Luis de Colorado y Del Norte de Nuevo Mexico." M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1961. Vigll, Charlie A. "History and Folklore of San Pedro and San Pablo, Colo­ rado." M.A. thesis, Adams State College, 1956.

MAPS

Burr, David H. Map, 1839. In Sullivan, Maurice S., The Travels of Jedediah Smith. Santa Ana: Fine Arts Press, 1934. Colton, J. H. Map of Colorado and New Mexico [1865?]. Cram. Map of Colorado, 189l. Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Map of Colorado [1883-86?]. Hayden, F. V. Geological and Geographical Atlas ofColorado, 188l. Misc. maps in State Historical Society of Colorado Library, including Map of the Trenchora and Costilla Estates Forming the Sangre de Christo Grant. Mitchell, S. Augustus, Jr. Map of Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado, 186l. Thayer. Map of Colorado, 1882. U.S., Forest Service. Map of Rio Grande National Forest. GPO 834-92l. U.s. Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian. Topographical Atlas Sheets, 1877 ed. and 1878 ed. U.s. Geological Survey. Topographic Maps of Colorado. Quadrangle Maps in 1:250,000 Series, 15-Minute Series, and 7.5-Minute Series.

Additional Suggested Reading

Since publication of the first edition of The San Luis Valley: Land of the Six-Armed Cross in 1979, a number of works have augmented theliterature aboutthis region ofColorado.The following titles include some of the newer contributions and may open avenues to further reading and research for others. Geography has been discussed by Tom Wolf in Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1995) with special emphasis on the east side of the San Luis Valley and the Sangre de Cristos. A full issue of The San Luis Valley Historian, volume 22, no. 3 (1990), describes Great Sand Dunes National Monument. Featuring photography by Robert Rozinski and Wendy Shattil and text by Virginia McConnell Simmons, Valley of the Cranes: Exploring Colorado's San Luis Valley (1988; Niwot, Colorado: Roberts Rinehart, Inc., Publishers, 1993) presents an overview of natural history, including information about an experimental recovery program for endangered Whooping Cranes. Still lacking reliable coverage are books and articles about the Valley's archaeology with the notable exceptions of discussions of Paleoindian sites by Dennis J. Stanford in Ice Age Hunters ofthe Rockies (Niwot: University Press ofColorado and Denver Museum of Natural History, 1992; ed. by Dennis J. Stanford and Jane S. Day) and in the above-mentioned issue of The San Luis Valley Historian. Explorations during the Spanish, Mexican, and early U.S. periods have been the subjects ofrecent publications. Works relating to Diego de Vargas's expedition have included the scholarly contributions of Ruth Marie Colville (La Vereda: A Trail through Time, published by the 344 Additional Suggested Reading

San Luis Valley Historical Society in 1996) and of John L. Kessell et al. (To the Royal Crown Restored: The Journals of don Diego de Vargas, published by the University of New Mexico Press in 1992). Ronald E. Kessler has published his findings onJuan Bautista deAnza inAnza's 1779 Comanche Campaign (Monte Vista, Colorado: 1994), while the ill-fated fourth expedition of John Charles Fremont into the San Juan Mountains is the subject of Patricia joy Richmond's Trail to Disaster (Denver: Colorado Historical Society, 1990). The OldSpanishTrail, whichwas in active useduring the Mexican period with a northerly, alternate route through the San Luis Valley, hasbeeninvestigated mostrecently bytheOldSpanishTrailAssociation andits publications. The contemporaneous eraof the fur tradecontinues to attract the attention of bothscholars andpopularreaders. Kit Carson has drawn the attention and theinvective of revisionist historians, but these critics have prompted others to write a judicious appraisal inKit Carson: Indian Fighter or Indian Killer?, edited by R. C. Gordon­ McCutchan (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1996). A recent biography of Carson, Fort Garland's most famous commandant, is Thelma S. Guild and Harvey L. Carter'sKit Carson: A Pattern for Heroes (Lincoln: University ofNebraska Press, 1984). Military and religious institutions arrived with settlement of the Valley. The former is described in "FortGarland-AWmdowontoSouth­ west History," an issue ofThe San Luis Valley Historian, volume 24, no. 3 (1992), the latter in Diary ofthe Jesuit Residence ofOur Lady ofGuadalupe Parish, Conejos Colorado, December 187l-December 1875, edited by Marianne L. Stoller and Thomas J. Steele, S.J. (Colorado Springs, Colo­ rado: The ColoradoCollege, 1982). InThe Culebra River Villages ofCostilla County: Village Architecture and Its Historical Context, 1851-1940, Arnold and Maria Valdez (San Luis: Valdez and Associates, 1991) describe someearlysettlements, butstill awaitingdefinitive studyare the Valley's land grants. A significant contribution on early Anglo-American settlement is thepublicationofFrontier Eyewitness: Diary ofJohn Lawrence, 1867-1908, edited by Bernice Martin and published by the Saguache County Mu­ seum (n.d.). Lawrence's journal provides information on numerous subjects, such as earlyranching, transportation, commerce, and Indian relations. Additional Suggested Reading 345

Althoughmininginornear the Valley continues to be neglected by authors, railroading is popular. Besides offering facts about local his­ tory, railroading books are copiously illustrated withold photographs. Among the many contributors, P. R. "Bob" Griswold has written Colorado's Loneliest Railroad: The San Luis Southern (Boulder, Colorado: Pruett Publishing Company, 1980) andRio Grande along the Rio Grande (Denver, Colorado: Phelps R. Griswold, 1986).Aformer railroaderhim­ self,John B. Norwoodhas contributedRio Grande Narrow Gauge (1983), Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Recollections (1986), and Rio Grande Memories (1991), all published by Heimburger House Publishing Company of Forest Park, Illinois. From Santa Fe, New Mexico's R. D. Publications havecome Richard L. Dorman'sChama/Cumbres with aLitt/eChili (1988), Alamosa/Salida and the Valley Line (1991), and The Chili Line and Santa Fe the City Different (1996). Ross Grenard's Requiem for the Narrow Gauge was from Canton, Ohio: Railhead Publications, 1985. Aselsewhere, the San Luis Valley is the scene ofcompetitionamong the various users of natural resources. Awareness of this issue has resulted in volumes like Kenneth I. Helphand's Colorado: Visions ofan American Landscape (Niwot, Colorado: Roberts Rinehart, Inc., Publishers, 1991), in which the traditional customs of Costilla County's Hispanic population are described, and Sam Bingham'sThe Last Ranch: A Colorado Community and the Coming Desert (NewYork: Pantheon Books, 1996), in which presentproblems ofSaguache County's ranchers are discussed. Water being the principal commodity at issue in the Valley, highly recommended is "A History of the Development of San Luis Valley Water" by a water district judge, Robert W. Ogburn, in The San Luis Valley Historian, volume 28, no. 1 (1996). With interest in Hispanic studies increasing, in 1990 and 1991 the Valley Courier (Alamosa) printed my series of sixty feature articles about the Hispanic heritage of the Valley. These are on file at Southern Peaks Library inAlamosa. Later the San Luis Valley Historian published my articles on Hispanic place names (volume 23, no. 3, 1991), Penitentes and santos (volume 24, noA, 1992), and Hispanic textiles (volume 27, no. 1, 1995). The first of these appears as an appendiX in this volume, and the others have been drawn upon for information that has been added to Chapter 16 in this volume. Although numerous histories of individual communities and counties havebeenwrittenby local authors, in general they neglect the 346 Additional Suggested Reading

San Luis Valley as an example of historical processes instead of place in a narrow sense. Opportunities abound for academic degree candidates to investigate topics ranging from public land management to Chicano labor history. It is hoped that such work will be forthcoming in the future. Index Unless otherwise indicated, place names are within Colorado's present boundaries.

Alamosa River, 8, 27, 132, 177, 178, A 195, 275, 277, 286, 295, 297, 299 Abiquiu, N.M., 59, 77, 88, 89, 91, 113, Alamoso, 275, 276, 286, 320 121, 127, 287, 299 Alarid, Jesus Maria, 108 Abiquiu Indian Agency, 88, 103, Ill, Albert, John D., 51 119,295 Alden, ranche~ 217 Acequia Madre Ditch, 87 Alder, 168, 181. See also Round Hill Acequiacita Ditch, 87 Alencaster, Joaquin Real, Gov., 34, 39, Adams, Alva, Gov., 177, 194, 197, 209 40 Adams, George H., 170, 184, 185, Allison, Clay, 161 186, 219, 220 Allison gang, 161 Adams, William H. (Billy), Gov., 209­ Almagre Creek, 40, 313 10, 225, 243 Amalia, N.M., 103, 283 Adams State College, 243, 251, 302. American Fur Company, 47 See also Adams State Normal American Mill Flour, 103 School Animas River, 127 Adams State Normal School, 208, Antelope Park, 194 243. See also Adams State College Antelope Springs, 161, 217 Adams~Onis Treaty, 41 Anthony, Susan B., 198 Adee and Durkee, ranchers, 219 Antonio, 275 agriculture, 86, 88, 96, 125, 132, 133, Antonio Junction, 275, 300 135-36, 137-38, 204, 215-43, 265, Antonito, 163, 164, 165, 171, 178, 287 192, 224, 225, 243, 248, 251, 254, Agua Ramon, 275 255, 263, 275-76, 278, 279, 283, Aguage de Los Yutas, 29 288, 289, 291, 292, 295, 296, 300, Aguitas Calientas, 275 304 Alamosa, 16, 37, 132, 154, 158-60, Anza, Juan Bautista de, 27, 29, 313 161, 162, 163, 164, 166, 167, 168, Apishapa River, 71 170, 171, 183, 186, 188, 201, 208­ Archaic Culture, 15 10, 219, 221, 226, 228, 230, 233, Archilete, Felipe, 69 236, 240, 243, 265, 275, 276, 298 Archuleta, Eppie, 253 Alamosa Basin, 5, 6, 7, 8 Archuleta, Juan Andres, 78 Alamosa County, 99, 210, 241, 263 Arkansas River, 5, 18, 26, 34, 36, 41, Alamosa Farm, 228 43, 44, 49, 50, 67, 126, 133, 155, Alamosa Ferry, 206 169, 171, 221, 228. See also Upper Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, Arkansas Valley 311-12 Arrowhead Ranch, 284 348 Index

Arroyo Hondo, N.M., 48, 50, 51, 60, Benedictine Sisters, 248, 264, 276 87, 142, 306 Beno, trappe~ 314 Artes del Valle, 288 Bent, Charles, Gov., 48, 51, 81 Ashley, John E., 183 Benton, Thomas H., Sen., 57, 66-67, Ashley family, 136-37 71, 72 Atencio, Hilario, 293 Bent's Fort, 49, 57 Autobees, Charles, 48 Bernalillo, 276 Biedell, 183 Biedell, Mark, 132, 138, 182, 183, 194, B 257 Baca, Antonio, 284 Biedell Creek, 183 Baca, Luis Maria de, 145 Big Sheep Mountain, 14 Baca Grant Number Four, 115, 145, Bismark, 161, 216 155, 170, 184-86, 219, 220, 238, Blackmore, George, 147 304, 305. See also Crestone Estate Blackmore, Henry, 148 Backus, Henry, 132 Blackmore, Humphrey, 150 Badito Cone, 45 Blackmore, William, 146-50, 155, 158, Baird, James, 45 324 Baker, Charles, 127-28 Blainvale, 178 Baker, E., 176 Blake, George A. H., Maj., 66, 68, 69 Baker, Jim, 73 Blake Mining District, 188 Baker's Park, 127, 128 Blanca, 7, 170, 239, 240, 287, 295, banks, 209, 239-40, 255; Bank of Del 300, 306 Norte, 201, 259; Bank of Garrison, Blanca, old, 240 231; Bank of Moffat, 169; Bank of Blanca Branch of the Manassa Ward, Monte Vista, 231; Bank of San 220. See also Uracca Juan, 159; First National Bank, Blanca Hotel, 229 Alamosa, 159; Saguache County Blanca Peak,S, 6, 14, 17, 19, 25, 54, Bank,204 66, 68, 83, 107, 110, 157, 175, 176, Barho, trapper, 314 186, 192, 219, 223, 240, 307 Barclay, Alexander, 49, 83 Blue Mill, 301 Barela, Jesus M" 129 Bonanza, 180, 181, 182, 183, 188, Barkley, Peter, 241 191, 208, 238, 259, 325 Barlow, Sanderson and Company, Bonito, 180 154, 159, 196 Bosque Redondo, N .M., 117 Battle Mountain Gold, 297 Bountiful, 226 Battle of Adobe Walls, 117 Bowen, 226, 227 Bayou Salado (see South Park) Bowen, Thomas M., Sen., 184, 185, Beale, E. E, 67-71. 211 191, 197, 198, 200, 204, 217, 226, Beall, Benjamin, Col., 84 236 Beaubien, Charles H. (Carlos), 81-87, Bowenton, 184 145, 146 Boyle brothers, 150 Beaubien, Luz (see Maxwell, Luz Braiden, William A., 225 Beaubien) Braso (Brazo), 276, 282, 320. See also Beaubien, Narciso, 81, 83 E1 Brazo Beaubien Hotel- 239 Brazo, S. G., 276 Beaubien-Miranda Grant, 81, 83, 318. Breckenridge, Thomas, 59, 60 See also Maxwell Grant Brewery Creek, 180 Beckwith, E. G., Lt., 71, 72 Brooks, Horace, Lt. Col., 93 Bell, William, Dr., 155 Brown's Hole, 73 Belleview, 184 Bruce, William, Judge, 142 Bellows Creek, 316 Buena Vista, 275, 276, 286 Index 349

Buffalo Pass, 18. See also Cochetopa Chaves, Jose Andres, 136 Pass Chicago, 278-79 Burnt Creek, 184 Chili Line, 164 Byers, William N., 126 Chimayo, N.M., 253 Choury, Armand, 263, 302, 307 churches, Assembly of God, 293; c Baptist, 208, 254, 296; Catholic, Caliente, 164 96-97, 104, 136, 147, 157, 163, Camp Desolation, 58-59, 62 198, 208, 226, 246, 247-51, 257, Camp Hope, 59 259, 261, 262, 275, 276, 277, 278, Canby, E. R. S., Maj., 113 279, 281, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, Canon, 253, 276, 290, 294, 320 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, Canon City, 36, 37, 112, 126, 131, 142, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 155 305, 306, 307; Church of Jesus Canon City, Grand River, and San Christ of Latter-day Saints (see Juan Road Company, 154 Mormons); Congregational, 190; Canyon de Chelly, Ariz., 117 Dunkard, 217; Episcopal, 198; Capulin, 132, 217, 226, 255, 257, 258, Methodist, 136-37, 163, 198, 208, 263, 275, 276, 277, 282, 286, 292, 231, 262, 286; Pentecostal, 278, 295 286; Presbyterian, 159, 163, 199, Carat, Simon, 48 208, 224, 226, 251, 254, 262, 278, Camero, 183, 184, 257, 277, 288, 290, 281, 286, 288, 291, 295, 296, 302, 320 303, 304; Seventh-Day Adventist, Camero Canyon, 18, 259, 277 239, 287, 290; Unitarian, 208; Camero Creek, 16, 18, 70, 74, 107, United Presbyterian, 264 136, 183, 258, 259, 277, 292 Cido, 320 Camero Pass, 70, 93 Citizen's Ditch (see Monte Vista Carson, Christopher (Kit), 47-48, 55, Canal) 57, 61, 62, 84,89,93-94, 105, 117, Civil War, 106, 111, 113, 117, 120, 121, 118, 121, 133, 143, 218, 284 131, 132, 133, 137, 146, 215, 197, Carson, Maria Josefa Jaramillo, 48, 210, 211, 252, 277, 287, 317 105, 117, 284 Claytonia, 325 Carson, Juan, 105 Closed Basin, 9, 233 Carson, William, 143, 218, 284 Closed Basin Project, 233 Casias (see Casillas) Cochetopa Hills, 5, 180, 309 Casias, Jose Maria, 254, 277 Cochetopa National Forest, 261 Casias, M. L., 304 Cochetopa Pass,S, 18, 27, 47, 57, 67, Casillas, 277, 296, 320 70, 72, 73, 74, 93, 94, 95, 119, 133, Cat Creek, 289. See also Gato Creek 154, 171, 184, 194, 203, 205, 216 Cathcart, Andrew, Capt., 59-60 Cochetopa TImber Reserve, 260 Cenicero, 225, 278, 284, 292, 298, 300, Cochiti, N.M., 278 320. See also Lobatos Cockrell, 325 Centennial Union High School, 262 Cohn, Louis, 85, 263, 302 Center, 170, 238-29, 241, 243, 259, Colonias, 279, 291 265, 277. See also Center View Colorado Coal and Iron Company, Center View, 238 176, 186, 188. See also Colorado Chacon, Juan, 279 Fuel and Iron Company Chama, 88, 97, 149, 263, 278, 281, 288 Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, Chama, N.M., 5, 22, 26, 127, 294 187, 188, 280. See also Colorado Chamberlin Springs, 236. See also Coal and Iron Company Valley View Hot Springs Colorado Loan and Trust Company, Chamita, N.M., 164, 278, 282, 298 226 350 Index

Colorado Potato Growers' Exchange, Costilla Estate Development 241 Company, 239 Colorado River (see Rio Colorado) Costilla Ferry (see Myers' Ferry) Colorado Springs, 155, 156, 194 Costilla Land Company, 150 Colorado State Veterans' Center (see Costilla Plains, 6, 8 State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home) Cotton Creek, 161, 184, 216, 259, 280 Colorado Territory, 81, 113, 115, 126, Cottonwood, 170, 184, 185 128, 144, 149, 280, 297, 303 Cottonwood Creek, 304 Colorado Volunteers, 114, 132 Creede, 128, 166, 179, 190-91, 196, Conejos, 85, 90, 92, 96, 97, 98, 106, 201,217,225,261,305 107, 113, 114, 127, 128, 131, 132, Creede, Nicholas, 190 133, 135, 136, 137, 141, 142, 161, Creede Mining District, 190-91 163, 212, 217, 247, 248, 254, 258, Crestone, 57, 145, 169, 184, 185, 186, 264, 276, 278, 279, 282, 283, 286, 238, 304, 305 289, 290, 292, 293, 297, 300, 301, Crestone Estate, 170, 238 305, 307 Crestone Needle, 185 Conejos Canyon, 276, 291 Crestone Peak, 185 Conejos County, 99, 106, 129, 140, Creutzfeldt, Frederick, 59, 60, 71, 72 141, 161, 196, 210, 220, 225, 253, Cristonie, 184 255, 261, 264, 275, 276, 279, 281, Cuba, 280 287, 288, 293, 301 Cucharas Junction, 156 Conejos Grant, 78-80, 88-91,107, Culebra, 87, 102, 281. See also San Luis 108, 132, 143-44, 150, 217, 228, Culebra Creek, 8, 24, 29, 41, 44, 46, 271, 272, 281, 284, 289, 292, 301 49, 51, 85, 87, 88, 92, 97, 106, 131, Conejos Indian Agency, 92, 112, 113, 173, 208, 239, 271, 297, 302, 303 116-17, 119, 131, 142, 279 Culebra Range, 5, 8, 76, 83, 145, 155, Conejos River, 8, 9, 27, 29, 38, 46, 61, 175, 176, 192 78, 81, 88, 96, 128, 137, 178, 221, Culebra Re-entrant, 6, 8 223, 271, 276, 279, 281, 282, 286, Culebra Village, 240 288, 289, 290, 291, 298, 301, 303, Cumbres, 166 305 Cumbres Pass, 5, 18, 165, 166, 171, Conejos Road, 131 218, 254, 281 Conlon's Ferry (see Myers'Ferry) Cummings, Alexander, Gov., 118 Copper Creek, 180 Cummings, William F., 316 Cordon, 280 Cornwall, 177, 195 Cornwall, John, 177 D Cornwall Mountain, 177 Darley, Alexander, Rev., 100, 198, 200, Coryell, 230, 231. See also Stanley 209, 251 Costilla, N.M., 83-84, 85, 86, 94, 102, Darley, George, Rev., 200 103, 129, 132, 142, 143, 148, 149, Darling, E. N., 149 161, 164, 211, 256, 262, 263, 271, Davis, O. T., 162, 172 278, 280, 283, 286, 302, 306, 307, Dawson, Lewis, 314 318 Deadman Creek, 30 Costilla County, 99, 106, 128, 129, Del Norte, 29, 85, 107, 154-55, 161, 135, 210, 219, 241, 253, 261, 263, 166, 174, 177, 183, 184, 192, 193­ 264, 271, 288, 295, 297, 300, 301, 201, 205, 208, 209, 217, 228, 229, 302, 303, 307 236, 239, 241, 243, 251, 257, 259, Costilla Creek, 8, 51, 83, 84, 85, 87, 260, 264, 277, 281, 283, 288, 289, 88, 92, 106, 155, 223, 239, 280, 286 290, 293, 294, 297, 301 Costilla Estate, 147, 148, 149, 150, Del Norte Land and Canal Company, 155, 170, 218, 294, 306 228 Index 351

Dempsey, Hiram, 222 El Rincon del Sawatch, 70 Dempsey, William Harrison (Jack), EI Rito (El Rito de San Francisco), 283, 222, 225 291, 301. See also San Francisco De Mun, Jules, 44, 314 (Costilla County), La Valley Denver, 114, 118, 126, 127, 131, 146, EI Rilo, N.M., 78, 84, 277, 288, 296, 154, 177, 196, 200, 226, 264 298 Denver and San Luis Valley Wagon El Rito Gregorio, 301 Road Company, 131 El Tanque, 283, 289. See also La Jara Denver and Santa Fe Stage Line, 318 El Vadito (Badito) 283-84. See also de Smet, Pierre, Father, 149 Conlon's Ferry, Costilla Ferry, El Dick, Herbert W., 320 Porton, Myers' Ferry Dickey brothers, 219 E1 Vallecito, 51-52 Dolan, Patrick, 69 El Viejo Ditch, 277 Dollar Lake, 14 Embargo Creek, 61, 62, 121, 184, 316 Douglas, George, 314 Embudo, N.M., 164 Doyle, J. B., and Company, 131 Empire Canal, 228 Dry Lakes, 15 Empire Canal Company, 167 Dump Mountain, 152 Empire Farm, 167, 228, 230, 236 Duncan, 186 Enterprise Ditch, 228 Dune, 170, 238. See also Gibson Ephraim, 222, 223 Duran, Damian, 296 Ephraim Ditch, 223 Durango, 132, 165, 166, 187, 213 Erickson, E. S., 62, 316 Durocher, trapper, 34 Espanola, N.M., 163, 164 Dyer, John L., Rev., 136-37 Espinosa (Espinoza), 284, 285 Espinosa, Jose, 140-43, 304 Espinosa, Vivian, 140-43, 304 E Espinoza, Damacio, 107, 257, 259 Eastdale, 223-24, 240, 263 Espinoza, Jose Damian, 107 Eastdale Reservoir, 224, 239 Espinoza, Julian, 107, 277, 288 Easterday, H. E., 103, 133, 145, 148, Esquibel brothers, 303 224, 302 Estrella, 163, 226, 242 Easterday, Mrs. H. E., 103 Evans, John, Gov., 116, 142, 323 EI Ancon del Plata, 281 Excelsior Ditch, 228, 230 El Bosque de Los Caballos, 287 Exchequer, 178, 180, 181 El Brazo, 276, 282, 284. See also Braso EI Cedro Redondo, 88, 282, 286, 305 El Centro, 282, 295 F El Cerrito de Los Kiowas, 114, 116 Fairplay, 142 EI Codo (Coda), 282, 283 Fairview Hot Springs (see Valley View El Codo Ditch, 282 Hot Springs) El Cueva (Cuevo, Quervo, La Cueva), Fairview Hotel, 205 282-83 Farmers' Union Canal, 230 El Doctore, 283 Fassett, Charles, 167, 168 Ellis, Anne, 180, 181, 182 Fassett, Mrs. Charles, 167, 168. See EI Ojito, 291 also Taylor, Lillian L. El Paso de San Bartolome, 27, 29 Fassett, L.L., Store, 167, 168, 177, 242 EI Porton, 283. See also Conlon's Ferry, Fauntleroy, Thomas T., Col., 94, 115 Costilla Ferry, El Vadito, Myers' Felt, Zeph, 299 Ferry Fernandez, Bartholomew, 40 El Pozo, 291 fiber arts, 95, 251-53, 256, 276, 295 El Puerticito, 283 Field and Hill business place, 159, 162 El Punche 283 Findley, trapper, 314 352 Index

Fisher, Morton, 146, 147 Gallegos, Diego, 302 Fitzpatrick, Thomas, 55 Gallegos, Guadalupe, 106 Flat Top, 7 Gallegos, Julian, 78, 85 Folsom Culture, 14-15 Garcia, 84, 261, 262, 278, 280, 285­ Forbes, Malcolm, 150, 306 86, 290, 294, 297. See also Plaza de Forbes Ranch, 150 Los Manzanares Ford, Bob, 190 Garcia, Agapito, 84 Ford Creek, 180 Garcia, Epimenio, 276 Fort Bridger, Wyo., 73 Garcia, Guillermo, 84 Fort Garland, army post, 66, 74, 106, Garcia, Jose Victor, 129, 131. 286, 297 110, 112-13, 117, 118, 120, 121, Garcia, Juan Maria, 292 127, 128, 129-32, 133, 142, 154, Garcia, Librado, 253, 276 157, 175, 182, 193, 210-13, 282, Garcia family, 261, 286 284--85, 288, 290, 291, 293, 305, 307 Garibaldi, 216. See also Villa Grove Fort Garland, town, 85, 106, 129, 136, Garland, John, Gen., 74, 112 154, 156, 157, 159, 207, 213, 226, Garland City, 156, 159 238, 240, 263, 284-85, 299, 306 Garnett, 231. See also Goudy Fort Garland Historical Fair Associa- Garrett, Mancil, 289 tion, 213 Garrison, 170, 231, 232. See also Fort Garland Museum, 213, 255, 284 Hooper Fort Head, 90 Garrison and Hooper Store, 231 Fort Lewis, 213 Gato Creek, 34, 208, 226, 289. See Fort Massachusetts, 64, 66, 68, 69, 72, also Cat Creek 73, 74, 92-93, 94, 95, 106, 112, Gaytown, 306. See also La Garita 175, 211, 284, 285, 319 General Land Office, 143, 149 Fort St. Vrain, 60 geology, 7, 8, 9, 14 Fountain Creek, 142, 313 genizaros, 91 Fowler, Jacob, 44, 45-47, 49, 314 Gibson, 170, 238. See also Dune France, territorial claims, 26, 33 Gilpin, William, Gov., 81, 113, 114, Francisco, John M., 129, 131, 133 115, 125, 126, 144-49, 155, 175, Fraternjdad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre 176, 184, 185, 219, 262 Jesus (see Penitentes) Glenn, Hugh, 45-47 Fremont, John Charles, 55-62, 71, 72, Godey, Alexander, 60, 61 81, 84, 107, 125; Fourth Expedi­ Gold, George, 83-84 tion, 55-62, 316-17; Fifth Gomez, 275, 276, 286 Expedition, 72 Gomez, Francisco Antonio, 275 French, Cary, 176, 193 Good Hope Mining District, 178 Fruita, 228 Goodale, Tom, 73 Fuertecito (Conejos County), 284, Goodale, Mrs. Tom, 73 285, 320. See also Espinosa Gotthelf, Isaac, 204 Fuertecito (Costilla County), 267, 283, Goudy, 230, 231. See also Garnett 285, 292, 304, 366. See also Los Grand Valley, 228 Fuertes, San Ysidro (San Isidro), Grant, Ulysses S., Pres., 182, 197, 205 Vallejos Grape Creek, 37 Fullerton, James, 137 Grayback Creek, 176 fur trade, 26, 34, 43~52, 314 Grayback MOWltain, 176. See also Iron Mountain Grayback Mountain Mining District, G 176, 186 Galisteo, N.M., 141 Great Sand Dunes National Monu­ Gallegos, Dario, 85, 97, 102, 103, 106, ment, 7, 294, 309 302 Green, 184, 325 Index 353

Green, Russell, 138, 325 Henry, Theodore c., 167, 226, 228--29, Greenhorn Mountain, 29 230, 233, 240 Greilig, John, 136 Henry Siding, 226 Guadalupe, 88, 89, 95, 96, 127, 133, Henson, Henry, 326 149, 278, 279, 282, 284, 285, 286­ Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jesus (see 87, 298, 305, 320 Penitentes) Guadalupe County, 128--29,279. See Herard homestead, 219 also Conejos County Herrera, Antonio, 250 Guadalupe Ditch, 223 Hewett, Edgar 1., 13, 114 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty, 57 Hilltop School, 231 Guadalupe Main Ditch, 88, 286 Hinsdale County, 196 Guadalupita, 287, 320 Hirst, 326 Gunnison, 170 Hoagland, Samuel, 216 Gunnison, John W., Capt., 71-72 Hogan Builders, 15-16 Gunnison County, 196 Holladay, Ben, 154 Gunnison Pass, 72. See also Poncha Holland America Land and Immigra- Pass tion Company, 233 Gunnison River, 18, 27, 47, 48, 72 Homan (see Haumann) Gunnison River, Lake Fork of, 46, 57 Homans, Sheppard, 71, 72 Gunnison Valley, 154, 171, 180 Homans Park, 72, 137, 216, 238 Homelake, 229 Homestead Act, 132, 215, 270 H Hooper, 170, 231, 232, 234, 235, 236, Hamburg (see Mesita) 241, 243. See also Garrison Hamilton, John, 225 Hooper, Shadrack K., Maj., 170 Hannigan, Billy, 181 Hot Creek, 275, 282, 289, 295. See also Hansen, Peter, 132, 137 Ojos Calientes Hansen, Mrs. Peter, 137 Hot Springs, station, 188 Hansen, William, 137 Hot Springs Hotel, 196 Hardscrabble Creek, 49, 57, 142 Hotchkiss, Enos, 204 Harris, E. R, 135, 136 Huerfano River,S, 26, 45, 67, 71, 126, Hartford and Trust Company, 229 127 Hanrey, John, 224 Hunt, Alexander Cameron, Gov., 118, Haumann, 188 155, 159, 208, 298 Hawken, Jacob, 49 Hunt Springs, 9, 236 Hawkins, John, 49 Hurst, Clarence T., 14 Hayden, FenJinand v., 147, 176, 211, 324 Hurt, James 1., 238 Hayden Pass, 5 Haywood, Don, 201 Haywood Ranch, 287, 290 I Haywood Siding, 201, 287 Indian affairs, 112, 113 Head, Lafayette, Lt. Gov" 88, 89, 90, Indian agreements and treaties, 91, 92, 95, 96, 106, 113, 114, 116, Brunot Agreement, 119, 135, 154, 118, 129, 131, 133, 221, 248, 279, 204; Treaty of 1863, 116, 132, 133; 282, 286, 290, 00 Treaty of 1868, 118, 119 Head, Dona Maria Martinez, 279 Indian bands, Capote Ute, 17, 116, Head Lake, 14 117; Muache Ute, 17, 94, 95, 116, Head's Mill and Irrigation Ditch, 88 117; Tabeguache Ute, 17, 113, 116, Heap, Gwinn Harris, 54, 67-71, 92 118, 119, 121; Uncompahgre Heimberger, David, 204 (Tabeguache) Ute, 119, 120, 204, Henry, 167-68, 226, 228, 295. See also 213; Weminuche (Weenuche) Ute, Monte Vista 116 354 Index

Indian Creek, 68, 149, 299 Jesuits, 97, 247, 248, 257 Indian leaders, Captain Jack, 118; Jodero Canyon, 282 Blanco, 94; Cuerno Verde, 27, 29; Johnston, Albert Sidney, Col., 73, 74, Kaniache, 95; Mana Mocho, 30; 317 Ouray, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, Jones, Billy, 154 121, 133; San Juan, 137; Piah, 118 Jordan Sheep Company, 255 Indian tribes, Apache, 17, 84, 105, Julia City, 186 113, 121, 291; Arapaho, 17; Cheyenne, 17; Comanche, 12, 17, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29-30, 117; Jicarilla K (Xicarilla) Apache, 24, 27, 30, 46, Kansas River, 67 94,95,117,255,312; Kiowa, 17, Kansas Territory, 128 30, 112, 114, 116, 117; Navajo, 14, Kearny, Stephen Watts, Gen" 50 17, 45, 78, 104, 112, 113, 117-18, Kerber, Charles, Capt., 132, 180 121-22,125,133,136,142; Picuris Kerber City, 180 Pueblo, 25; Pueblo Indians, 13-14, Kerber Creek, 132, 137, 178, 180, 181, 15, 16, 18, 23-24, 25, 27, 117, 301; 183, 216, 238, 287, 298-99 San Juan Pueblo, 22, 40; Taos Kerber Creek Mining District, 178, Pueblo, 16, 301; Tewa Pueblo, 13, 182, 183 16; Ute, 15, 16, 17-18, 23, 24, 27, Kern, Benjamin, Dr., 59, 60, 61, 84 29-30, 39, 46, 49, 51, 61, 69, 84, Kern, Edward, 59, 60, 61 85,92-94, 104, 105, 106, 111-22, Kern, Richard H., 59, 60, 61, 64, 71, 133, 134, 204, 213, 279, 291, 302, 72 307; Zuni Pueblo, 17. See also King, Henry, 59, 60 Indian affairs, agreements and King, Israel Pervine, 192 treaties, bands, leaders King, W. L., 311 Ingersoll, George, 193 Kit Carson Peak,185 International Boundary Commission, Klondyke Mountain, 178 236 Iris, 184 Iron Mountain, 176. See also Grayback L Mountain La Cienega de San Luis, 29 La Cordillera (Conejos County), 288, 291 J La Cordillera (Costilla County), 288 Jackson, Helen Hunt, 58, 212 La Cueva (see El Cueva) Jackson, Sheldon, Rev., 200 Lado, 254 Jackson, William S., 158 La Florida, 288 Jacob's Hill, 282, 287, 295. See also La Garita, 107, 136, 257, 259, 260, Ojito 268, 269, 277, 288, 290, 306, 320. Jacobs, Francique, 295 See also Camero, Gaytown, Green Jaquez, Benacio, 85 La Garita, station, 170, 231, 238 Jaquez, Jose Maria Gaynes, Joseph La Garita Canyon, 257, 259, 288, 306 M.), 88, 96, 282, 286, 297 La Garita Creek, 58, 69, 95, 107, 132, Jaquez, Juan Ignacio, 85 136, 212, 217, 257, 260 Jaquez Grocery, 98, 261 La Garita District of Conejos Grant, Jara (see La Jara, old) 108 Jaramillo, Juan, 294 La Garita Driveway, 261 Jarosa, Jaroso, 170, 239, 287, 294, 300 La Garita Farm, 228 Jasper, 177, 178, 195 La Garita Mountains, 5, 8, 9, 20, 46, Jasper~Cornwall Mining District, 177 79, 184, 212, 261 Jenks, Loren, 129 La Isla, 166, 284, 288-89, 301, 320 Index 355

La Jara, 163, 164, 209, 217, 223, 224­ Le Roy brothers, 161 25, 226, 241, 243, 275, 277, 283, Lewis, Aaron, 48 289, 291-92, 297 Liberty (Rio Grande County), 229. See La Jara, old, 132, 163, 289, 320 also Parma La Jara Creek, 8, 27, 79, 88, 89, 107, Liberty (Saguache County), 186 132, 163, 217, 223, 277, 282, 289 Limpia, 320 La Jara Reservoir, 295 Little Manassa Ditch, 223 La }oilla, 289 Little Red River (see Rio Colorado) La Junta, 102 Llanito N.M., 88, 282, 286 Lake City, 135, 161, 194, 200, 204, 261 Llano Blanco, 291-92. See also The La Lande, Baptiste, 34, 38, 40-41 Strip La Lorna de San Jose, 107-08, 132, Llano Ditch, 296 136, 137, 194, 289-90, 293, 302, Lobato, Cristoval, 261 306, 320 Lobato, J. c., 239, 261~62 La Lorna del Norte, 166, 208, 290 Lobato, Juanita, 193 La Luz Cemetery, 275 Lobato, N.M., 166 Lambert, Nicholas, 196 Lobatos, 225, 278, 284, 288, 292, 298, Lamelas, Domingo, 48 300, See also Cenicero Lamy, John Baptiste, Bishop/ Lobatos Bridge, 283 Archbishop, 97, 99, 149 Lockett, 231 Lamy, N.M., 164 Lorna, 128, 193, 194, 208, 289, 320 land grants, 78-109, 143-50, 218, Lorna, old (see La Lorna de San Jose) 304. See also Baca Grant Number Loring, William Wmg, CoL 74, 113, 317 Four, Beaubien-Miranda Grant, Loring's Trail, 74 Conejos Grant, Maxwell Grant, Los Cerritos, 221, 223, 289, 292, 294, Sangre de Cristo Grant, La Garita 298, 305, 320 District of Conejos Grant, Springs Los Fuertes, 76, 87, 263, 285, 292, of Medano and Zapata Grant 304, 306. See also Fuertecito language, Spanish, 91 (Costilla County), San Ysidro (San La Plata County, 196 Isidro),Vallejos La Plata Mountains, 14, 126 Los Fuerticitos de Incarnacion Lariat, 166-67, 226, 291, 295 Espinosa (see Espinosa, Fuertecito) Lariat Siding, 226 Los Jacales, 292 La Sauses (see Los Sauces) Los Mogotes, 259, 292 La Sierra, 151 Los Ojos, 9. See also McIntire's Springs Las Mesitas, 164, 254, 288, 291, 298, Los Pastores, 101 304, 320 Los Pinos, N.M., 131, 292-92, 296, Las Vegas, N.M., 145 320. See also Ortiz La Valley, 88, 263, 283, 291, 301. See Los Pinos Creek (Conejos County), also £1 Rita, San Francisco (Costilla 27, 254, 282, 292 County) Los Pinos Creek (Rio Grande County), La Veta, 129, 156, 159 257, 290, 301 La Veta Pass,S, 29, 68, 143, 156, 159, Los Pinos Creek (Saguache County), 168, 171 119 Lawrence, John, 135, 136, 216, 300 Los Pinos de La Lorna, 293, 320 Leadville, 163, 178, 183, 224, 241 Los Pinos Indian Agency, 119, 120, Lee, Stephen Luis, 81, 83, 145 135, 136, 204 Lente, Juan, 69 Los Sauces, 131, 208, 226, 293, 320 Leroux, Antoine, 47, 48, 67, 69, 72 Los Valdezes, 293, 297, 305. See also Leroux, Sylvestre, 135 Seven Mile Plaza Leroux Pass, 62. See also Summer Lower Culebra (see Plaza Abajo, Viejo Pass, Williams Pass San Acacia) 356 Index

Loyton, 178 Medano Springs, 9, 219, 294 Lucero, Antonio Domingo, 41 Medina, Faushn, 85 Lucero, Manuel, 107, 293 Meeker, 119 Lucero Ditch, 294 Meeker, Nathan, 120 Lucero family, 292 Meeker Massacre, 120, 212 Lucero Plaza, 107, 136, 293-94 Mellen, William P, 155 Lucky, 186 Mendinueta, Pedro Fermin de, Gov., 27 Menke Abstract Company, 255 Menke sisters, 255 M Mercy Academy, 262, 302 Macheheuf, Joseph P., Rev" 97 Mesita, 170, 192, 239, 240, 294 Major, A. H" 183 Mesitas (see Las Mesitas) Manassa, 17, 192, 220, 221, 222, 224, Mexican War, 50, 57, 84, 89, 97, 143, 225, 226, 2B2, 2B4, 2B5, 289, 292, 31B 297, 298, 303 Meyer, Ferdinand, 85, 87, 103, 129, Manassa Mauler (see Dempsey, 143, 148, 211, 213, 2B6, 307 William H.) Meyer, William H., 218, 263, 307 Manchego, Santiago, 106, 277 Middaugh, Asa, 201 Manchez, Juan de Jesus, 135-36 Middle Park, 4 Manzanares, Manuel, 285 Military Express, 131 Manzanares, Pedro, 262, 285, 285 Miller Ditch, 223 Manzanares Ditch, 87, 286 mills, 96, 103, 133, 145, 216, 222, 224, Marble Mountain, 22, 25 22B, 229, 230, 231, 232, 235, 262, Marcy, Randolph B., Capt. 73-74 276, 279, 2B6, 292, 301, 302 Marshall Pass, 171, 181 Milton, 136, 201, 204 Martines, Antonio, 78~79 Mineral County, 196 Martinez, Antonio Jose, 85 Mineral Hot Springs, 188, 236, 238 Martinez, Candelaria de Jesus, 281 mines, Bachelor, 190; Bonanza, 180, Martinez, Pablita, 292 182; Buckhom, 183; Cleveland, Maxwell, Dudley, 314 186; Commodore, 192, 326; Maxwell, Lucien, 145, 146, 318 Empress Josephine, 182, 183; Maxwell, Luz Beaubien, 318 Esperanza, 183; Exchequer, 180, Maxwell Estate, 155 182; Gilmore, 178~ Ha1l, 17, 192; Maxwell Grant, 81, 318. See also Hidden Treasure, 176; Holy Moses, Beaubien-Miranda Grant, Maxwell 190; King, 17, 1B, 192, 311; Little Estate Annie, 177, 184; Mammoth, 178; Mayer, Leopold, 204 Miser, 177; Officers' Bar, 174; McCook, Edward, M., Gov., 119 Orient, 168, 187, 188, 276; Perry, McFadzean, John, Dr., 287 177; Plomo, 175; Rawley, 180, 181, McGinty, 230 183, 191, 2BO; St. Louis, 1B2-83; McIntire, Albert W., Gov., 223, 224, Sanger, 177; Sangre de Cristo, 25; 313 5ky City, 184 McIntire's Springs, 9 Mining, 17, 25-26, 112, 113, 125-28, McKee, Capt., 127 174-92, 194, 195, 197, 240, 257, McKnight, Robert, 45 281, 297, 305 Mears, Otto, 133-35, 136, 137, 153, Mirage, 216, 236 154, 170, 181, 204, 208, 215-16, Mission of New Mexico and Colorado, 279, 300 149 Meas, Don QUirino, 290 Moffat, 168-70, 171, 186, 238, 299 Medano Creek, 6, 218, 220, 263 Moffat, David H., 168, 191 Medano Pass, 4, 5, 7, 37, 57, 58, 72, Magote, B8, 164, 251, 253, 254, 276, 93. See also Williams Pass 287, 294-95, 302, 304 Index 357

Montano, P., Father, 97 New Mexico Volunteers, 117 Monte Vista, 15, 16, 107, 161, 167-68, New York Cash Store, 199 170, 177, 201, 217, 226, 228, 229­ Newcomb, 225, 289 30, 232, 238, 241, 242, 243, 259, Newcomb, Dan, 225 264, 265, 291, 293, 294, 295, 297 newspapers, 191, 196, 231, 232, 238, Monte Vista Canal (Citizen's Ditch), 240; Alamosa News, 159; Bonanza 228 Bee, 181; Bonanza Enterprise, 181; Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, Center Post, 238; Colorado 311-12 Independent, 159; Costilla News, Montez Ditch, 87, 302 231; Crystal Hill Pilot, 184; Denver Montoya, Antonio Nerio, 293, 301 Tribune, 226; Independent Journal, Montoya, Luis, 107, 257, 293, 301 159; La Jara Tribune, 224; Mosca Montoya, Manuel, 287 Herald, 230; Rocky Mountain News, Montoya, Primativa, 287 126, 127; Saguache Chronicle, 204; Montoya Ranch, 287, 290 San Juan Prospector, 196 Montrose, 18, 119 Newton, Charles, 218, 284 Montville, 326 Newton, Maria de Los Reyes, 284 Moran, Baptiste, 314 North Arrastra Creek, 26 Moran, Jose Antonio, 136 North Cochetopa Pass, 70 Morgan, 222-23 North Creede, 167, 171 Morgan, John, 222-23 North Farm, 228 Morgan Ditch, 223 North Park, 4 Moritz, Bielschoski, and Koenig Store, 318 Mormon Battalion, 50, 51, 73, 219-24, o 263, 292, 299, 307 Officers' Bar, 176 Moro River, 48 Ojito ,295. See also Jacob's Hill Morrison, William, 38 Ojito Creek, 295 Mosca, 170, 228, 230, 231, 232, 235. Ojito de La Trinchera, 132, 149,295 See also Streator Ojo Caliente, N.M., 27, 91, 107, 127, Mosca, old, 154 132, 277 Mosca Land and Farm Company, Ojo de San Francisco, 301. See also 230 San Francisco (Rio Grande Mosca Pass, 5, 22, 44, 47, 58, 93, 154, County) 161, 230, 326 Ojos Caliente, 295 Moscoso de Alvarado, Luis, 21-22 Oklahoma Land Company, 238 Mount Lookout, 200, 201 Oklahoma Lottery, 238 Mount Taylor, 14 Old Woman's Creek, 283 Mountain View, 223, 299 Onate, Juan de, 21-23, 125 Music City, 186 O'Neil Hot Springs, 236 Music Pass, 5 Orean, 192, 326 Music Peak, 185 Orient, 188. See also Orient City Myers' Ferry, 206, 224, 279-80. See Orient City, 185, 187, 188. See also also El Porton, EI Vadito, Paso del Orient Puerto Ortiz, 132, 254, 277, 283, 293, 295- 96, 300, 304 Ortiz, Nestor, 254, 296 N Ortiz, Rebecca, 295 Navajo River, 18 Osier, 166, 296 Neidhardt, George, 132 Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, 97, New Mexico Territory, 65, 128, 149, 276, 277, 279, 282, 285, 286, 287, 303 293, 298, 300, 304, 305 358 Index

p Pladta de Los Chalifas (Chalfa), 85, 278, 280, 297 Pacheco, Mariano, 8 Placita de Los Cordinas, 280 Packer, Alferd, 204 Placita de Los Cordovas, 85, 276, Pagosa Springs, IS, 122, 161, 208 297 Paisaje, 276, 293, 304. See also San Placita de Los Madriles, 85, 297 Rafael Plano Vista, 297 Palmer, Mary (Queen) Mellen, 154, Platoro, 178 155 Platte River, 34, 41, 43, 50, 126, 226. Palmer, William Jackson, Gen., 153, See also South Platte River 154, 155, 158, 215-16 Plaza (Saguache County), 259 Palmillo, N.M., 164 Plaza Abajo 87, 281, 307, 320. See also Parkview and Conejos Toll Road, 166 Viejo San Acacio Parkville, 325 Plaza Arriba, 85, 87, 281, 303, 307, Parma, 229. See also Liberty 320. See also San Pedro Paso del Puerto, 131, 297. See also £1 Plaza de Don Hilario Abaja, 290, 320. Porton, £1 Vadito, Myers' Ferry See also Atencio, Hilario Pass of the Del Norte, 62 Plaza del Alto, 320 Paul, servant, 314 Plaza de Los Manzanares, 84, 85, Pelham, William, 143 261, 262, 271, 280, 285, 286, 290, Penascito, 297 294, 297. See also Garcia Penitentes, 97, 99, 100, 101, 248~5L Plaza del Media, 85, 281, 302, 303, 257, 262, 275, 277, 278, 279, 286, 307. See also San Luis 287, 291, 293, 296, 298, 300, 301, Plaza del Norte, 320 304, 307 Pley, Joseph, 83, 145 Peno, Baptiste, 314 Plomo, 175, 297 Perry's Hotel, 156 Plomo Mining District, 175 Peterson, Lawrence M., 221 Pole Creek, 186 Pfeiffer, Albert 104, 117, 121-22 Poncha Pass, 8, 18, 29, 37, 48, 49, 72, Pfeiffer, Albert (son), 61-62, 316 93, 94, 131, 133, 137, 154, 155, Pfeiffer, Mrs. Albert, 121 161, 168, 176, 178, 181, 219, 277, Philadelphia, 278-79 283 Philadelphia Cattle Company, 218 Pool, Hubert, 181 Philbert, Joseph, 43-44 Pope, emigrant, 67 Phipps family, 326 PostholC F. w., 85, 102, 211 physiography, 4-9, 309, 310 Prairie Ditch, 230 Piedra, 161, 217, 297, 299. See also Pratte, Sylvestre, 48 Rock Creek Pre-emption Act, 144 Piedra Creek (see Rock Creek) prehistoric cultures, 12, 14-15, 16, Piedra Pintada (see Rock Creek) 311 Pike, Zebulon Montgomery, Lt., 3-4, Presbyterian College of the Southwest, 9, 35-41- 46 199, 200-01, 251, 281 Pikes Peak, 29, 30, 126, 304 Preuss, Charles, 58 Pike's Stockade, 9, 35, 38, 46, 223, Pryor, Nathaniel, 314 313 Pueblo, 29, 45, 50, 51, 55, 57, 94, 154, Pinyon Hills, 7 155,156, 168, 187, 194, 197, 211, Pioneer Livery Bam, 225 221, 285 Placer, camp, 149, 176 Puerto del Camero, 70 Placer, station, 156 Puncha Pass Wagon Road Company, Placer Creek, 176 155 Placita de Las Meas (Maes), 290, Pura y Limpia, 298, 320 320 Puraria, 320 Index 359

Rio Colorado, 44, 45, 48, 51, 60, 61, Q 78, 84, 107 Questa, N.M., 44. See also Rio Rio de La Culevra (see Culebra Creek) Colorado Rio del Norte (see Rio Grande, river) Quinn, James H" 145, 146 Rio de Los Abiquisenos, 287, 298~99 Rio de San Lorenzo, 297 Rio de Una del Gato (see Cat Creek, R Gato Creek) Railroads, Atchison, Topeka and Rio Gato (see Cat Creek, Gato Creek) Santa Fe, 155-56, 159, 161, 164; Rio Grande, river, 5, 8, 21, 22, 24, 27, Cumbres and Toltec Scenic, 163, 35, 37, 40, 45, 50, 57, 60, 62, 69, 164, 165, 166; Denver and Rio 71, 74, 79, 82, 93, 122, 128, 131, Grande, 152-60, 161-71, 176, 181, 136, 137, 138, 155, 159, 162, 167, 183, 186, 188, 190, 194, 196, 200, 190, 193,208,216,219,223,224, 201, 208-09, 212, 226, 230, 231, 233, 236, 260, 281, 283, 287, 293, 235, 238, 239, 254, 275, 276, 279, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 305, 283, 285, 289, 291, 296, 298, 299, 309 305, 306; Kansas Pacific, 154; San Rio Grande, settlement, 217, 299 Luis Central, 170; San Luis Rio Grande and Piedra Valley Ditch, Southern, 170, 239, 240, 283, 287, 228 300; San Luis Valley Southern, Rio Grande Canal, 228, 233 170, 172; Spanish Range Railway Rio Grande County, 184, 196, 241, Company, 156; Texas, Santa Fe 261, 281, 301 and Northern, 163 Rio Grande del Norte (see Rio Grande, Railroad, central route fOf, 57, 64, 66- river) 67, 72 Rio Grande National Forest, 261 Ramon Creek, 257 Rio San Antonio (see San Antonio Raton Pass, 93, 156, 159, 163, 164 River) Rawley Creek, 180 Rito Alto, 132, 161, 184, 216, 299 Red River (N.M.), 48. See also Rito de Los Indios (see Indian Creek) Colorado River, Rio Colorado Rito Seco, 87, 175, 297, 302 Red River (Texas), 34-35, 36, 37, 38, Rivera, Juan Maria de, 26-27 40,41 Rivera, Luis, 277 Reeder, D. K, 127, 176 Rivera, Ramon, 85, 86 Reese, Sylvester, 176 Riverside, station, 161, 324 religion, 87, 91, 96-97, 99, 101, 136­ Robertson Mill, 216 37, 149, 196-99, 219-24, 225, 227, Robidoux, Antoine, 47 247-51, 253, 257, 258, 259, 262, Robidoux Pass, 47, 58, 68, 72. See also 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 285, 286, Mosca Pass 287, 291, 292, 293, 294-95, 296, Robidoux Wagon Road, 68, 69 302, 303, 307 Robinson, J. H., Dr., 37, 38-39, 40--41 religious art, 250-51, 255 rock art, 12, 297 Richardson, Albert D., 103 Rockcliff Ranch, 216 Richfield, 222 Rock Creek, 8, 16, 18, 27, 217, 226, Richfield Ditch, 223 228, 260, 297, 299. See also Piedra Rideing, William, 211-12 Rock Creek Canyon, 16 Riekstadt, 229 Rodriguez family, 304 Rincones, 289, 294, 298, 318, 320 Romeo, 163, 223, 226, 299 Rio Arriba, 78 Romero, Epimenio, 62 Rio Bravo, settlement, 159, 275, 298 Romero, Hipoleto, 277 Rio Bravo del Norte, 126, 295, 298. See Romero, J. Mateo, 107 also Rio Grande, river Romero, Manuel Lorenzo, 282 360 Index

Romero Ditch, 299 San Antonio de Padua, 301 Round Hill, 168. See also Alder San Antonio Mountain, 4, 8, 24, 27, Roy, Baptiste, 314 240, 296, 300 Royal Gorge, 37, 155, 159, 163, 168 San Antonio River, 8, 24, 27, 29, 79, Russell, 156, 176 88, 89, 163, 271, 278, 280, 282, Russell, Nathan, 132, 135, 136, 137, 288, 300, 301, 303 204, 216, 300 San Antonio Valley, 300 Russell Lakes, 236, 303 Sanchez, Julian, 41 Russell Springs, 9, 69 Sanchez Ditch and Reservoir Com­ Rubal, Juan de DiD, 291, 294 pany, 239 Ruxton, George Frederick, 51-52, 60, Sanchez Reservoir, 103, 239, 279 83 sand dunes, 6-7, 13. See also Great Sand Dunes National Monument Sand Hill Pass, 58 s Sanford, 35, 223, 224, 313 Saguache, 9, 16, 49, 119, 132, 133, Sanford Ditch, 223 134, 135-37, 154, 161, 170, 183, San Francisco (Conejos County), 78, 184, 194, 197, 202, 204-08, 216, 301. See also San Antonio de Padua 219, 236, 238, 259, 278, 288, 299, San Francisco (Costilla County), 88, 320 149, 249, 263, 283, 291, 301. See Saguache and San Juan Toll Road, also El Rito, La Valley 154 San Francisco Creek (Costilla Saguache County, 99, 100, 135, 192, County), 88, 279, 291, 301 196, 216, 219, 236, 241, 257, 261, San Francisco Creek (Rio Grande 300 County), 107, 201, 260, 301 Saguache Creek, 5, 8, 49, 69, 132, 201, San Francisco Pass, 5 203, 212, 216, 260, 299 San Gabriel del Yungue, N.M., 22 Saguache Creek, South Fork, 184 Sangre de Cristo, station, 156, 304 Saguache Hotel, 205 Sangre de Cristo Creek, 40, 68, 156, Saguache Lake, 300 216 Saguache Mill, 216 Sangre de Cristo Grant, 66, 80-87, 95, Saguache Mountains (see Sahwatch 112, 113, 135, 143-51, 218, 262, Mountains, Cochetopa Hills, La 271, 280, 276, 285, 294, 302, 306. Garita Mountains) See also Costilla Estate, Trinchera Saguache Valley, 69, 70, 94, 278 Estate Saguguachipa, 49 Sangre de Cristo Parish, 253 Sahwatch Mountains, 69, 93 Sangre de Cristo Pass, 5, 44, 45, 47, St.Vrain, Ceran, 94, 103, 121, 145, 224 49, 50, 51, 52, 67, 68, 71, 72, , 84, Salazar, Antonio, 85, 102-03 92, 127, 142, 154, 156 Salazar, Antonio de Jesus, 298 Sangre de Cristo Range, 5, 6, 8, 22, 25, Salazar, Juan, 84 33, 37, 57, 66, 68, 94, 112, 113, Salazar, Tia, 106 117, 145, 154, 171, 176, 184, 188, Salazar Store, 102, 106, 262, 302 260, 304, 305 Salida, 188 San Isabel, 161, 184 Saltelo, Ignacio, 40 San Isabel National Forest, 261 San Acacio, 170, 172, 239, 300, 307. San Isidro (see San Ysidro) See also Viejo San Acacio San Jose (Conejos County), 301 San Antone Junction, 300 San Jose (Rio Grande County), 302 San Antonio, 132, 163, 254, 275, 280, San Jose Ditch, 289 283, 295, 300, 320 San Juan, 294, 301. See also Mogote San Antonio (Antonito), 163, 275, 300 San Juan, proposed state of, 197 San Antonio, east of Antonito, 300 San Juan Art Center, 277 Index 361

San Juan de Los Caballeros, N.M., 22 Sargent, 243 San Juan Mountains, 5, 7, 26, 46, 56, Sargent Consolidated School, 243 71, 110, 119, 125, 126, 127-28, Sauces (see Los Sauces) 176,178, 184, 194, 195, 196, 208, Sawmill Creek, 180 210, 211, 212 Schultz, James, 132 San Juan River,S Schwackenberg, A. H., 188 San Lorenzo River, 29 Sedgwick, 180, 182, 325 San Luis, 85, 86-87, 88, 97, 98, 99, Servietta (Servilleta), 88, 129, 282, 102-03, 129, 133, 145, 146, 152, 292, 305, 320 175, 198, 219, 224, 250, 262, 263, Seven Mile Plaza, 107, 290, 293, 294, 264, 265, 278, 279, 280, 281, 283, 305. See also Los Valdezes 288, 292, 294, 297, 300, 302, 303, Shaw, Edwin, 217 307, 320 Shaw Creek, 217 San Luis Creek, 8, 168, 180 Shaw's Magnetic Springs, 236 San Luis de Cotton Creek, 280, 302. sheep raising, 138, 226, 230, 253, See also Cotton Creek 254-57, 259-62, 276, 277, 281, San Luis de Cottonwood, 303 294, 295, 296, 297, 301, 307 San Luis de Culebra (see San Luis) Shirley, 181 San Luis Hills,S, 7, 8, 310 Sierra Blanca, settlement, 149 San Luis Institute of Arts and Crafts, Sierra Blanca, mountain (see Blanca 263, 302 Peak) San Luis Lake, 14, 25, 29, 300 Sierra de Almagre, 30 San Luis Lakes, 8, 9, 14, 16. See also Sierra Madre, 66, 83 Head Lake, San Luis Lake Sierra Mimbres (see Cochetopa Hills) San Luis Mills, 103, 130 Sierra Mojada, 68 San Luis Museum, Cultural and Sierra Montosa, 79 Commercial Center, 302 Silsbee, Mrs., 167 San Luis People's Ditch, 86, 302 Silva, Juan Bautista, 108, 289 San Luis Valley, maps of, vi, 80, 130, Silva Ditch, 108, 287, 290 273, 274 Silver Cliff, 161 San Luis Valley, name, 25 Silverton, 127, 153, 166, 176, 194, 261 San Luis Valley Canal, 228, 230 Simms, Ruth McCormick, 150 San Luis Valley Farmers' Project, 240 Simpson, trapper, 314 San Luis Valley Wagon Road, 154 sipapu, 13-14 San Margarita, 303 Sisters of Loretto, 248 San Miguel (Costilla), 129, 280, 302, Ski-Hi Stampede, 230 303 Sky City, 184, 316 San Pablo, 87, 261, 263, 294, 303-04 slavery, 103-06, 108, 136, 142, 276, San Pedro, 85, 87, 88, 97, 98, 103, 279, 290, 300, 301, 304 263, 281, 288, 302, 303 Slover, Isaac, 46, 67, 314 San Pedro Ditch, 87, 303 Smith, Jedediah, 55 San Pedro Mesa, 8 Smith, Jefferson Randolph (Soapy), San Rafael, 141, 142, 254, 276, 293, 190 304, 320. See also Paisaje Smoky Hill Trail, 126 San Ysidro, 285, 292, 304, 306. See also Sociedad Proteccion Mutua de Fuertecito, Los Fuertes, Vallejos Tabajadores Unidas, 249, 263-64, Santa Crus (Santa Cruz), 304, 320 276, 277, 278, 302 Santa Fe, N.M., 38, 40, 41, 44, 45, SO, Sopris, Richard, 127 51, 66, 69, 77, 107, 126, 133, 141, South Farm, 228 146, 154, 155, 161, 163, 164, 170, South Fork, 46, 121, 122, 128, 166, 208 275, 305 Santa Fe Trail, 47 South Mountain, 174, 176, 193 362 Index

South Park, 4, 18, 36--37, 126, 131, 142, 154, 304 T South Platte River, 37, 60, 233. See also Taos, N.M., 24, 45-48, 51, 61, 69, 72, Platte River n 77, 78, 85, 87, 93, 94, 95, 103, Southern Overland Mail and Express, 104, 113, 117, 154, 164, 170, 301, 154 303, 306, 312 Spain, territorial claims, 21-26, 333, Taos County, N.M., 66, 80, 128 41,45 Taos Indian Agency, 111, 117 Spanish, mining camp, 186, 305 Taos Junction, N.M., 164 Spanish Cave, 25 Taos Lightning, 48, 81, 93, 116 Spanish Creek, 305 Taos Plateau, 7, 309 Spanish dragoons, 39-40 Taos Rebellion, 51, 83, 142 Spanish fort, 44 Taos Trail (see Trappers' Trail) Spanish Peaks, 126, 129 Taos Valley, 5, 107 Spanish road, 38 Tappan, Samuel, Col., 142, 143 Spanish Trail, 27, 127 Tarvet, scout, 34 Spaulding, Franklin, Rev., 198 Taylo', J. T., 150-51 Spencer, Frank, 316 Taylor, Lillian L, 166-67. See also SPMDTU (see Sociedad Proteccion Fassett, Lillian L. Mutua de Tabajadores Unidas) Taylor, trapper, 314 Spook City, 180 Taylor Ranch, 150-51 Springs of Medano and Zapata Grant, T-Bone Ranch, 225 218, 307 Terrace Reservoir, 275, 286 Squirrel Creek, 180 Tetons, peaks, 185. See also Trois Tetons Squarey, Newell, 148 Texas, territorial claims, 50 Stanley, 231. See also Coryell Tierra Amarilla, N.M., 208, 212, 282, State Historical Society of Colorado, 292, 296 213 timber reserves, 260-61 State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, 229 Timbres River, 29 Stewart's Crossing, 131, 132, 226, Tobin, Pasquala Bernal, 141 293 Tobin, Tom, 48, 51, 142-43, 218, 284, Stollsteimer, Christian, 132 306, 323 Stony Pass, 128 Toll, Charles, H., 197 Streator, 170, 230. See also Mosca Toltec Gorge, 166 Strip, The, 217, 221, 224, 257, 258, Torres (Rio Grande County), 306 291. See also Llano Blanco Torres, Francisco, 25 Struby, F. S., and Company, 159 Torres, Guadalupe, 306 Stunner, 178, 325 Torrez (Saguache County), 306 Summer Pass, 62. See also Leroux Torrez, Crecencio, 107,306 Pass, Williams Pass Torrez Trading Post, 259, 288, 306 Summit, 176-77. See also Summitville Town, Charles, 49 Summitville, 26, 174, 176-78, 183, Tracy Canyon, 70 184, 196. See also Summit Trappers' Trail, 45, 91 Summitville Mining District, 174, Travelers' Insurance Company, 168, 176-77, 178, 181 226, 228, 241 Sumner, Edwin V., Col., 92 Travis, DeWitt c., 216, 241 Sunflower, 226, 299 Tres Piedras, N.M., IS, 164 Sun Light Flour, 231 Trinchera, 149, 295, 306 Sunshine Valley, N.M., 5, 239 Trinchera Creek, 8, 46, 51, 68, 83, 92, Survey of 1868, 149, 280, 293 132, 142, 143, 175, 284, 295, 306 Swedes' Lane, 161, 217, 293-94 Trinchera Estate, 147, 148, 156, 158, Sylvester, E. L., 220 176, 187, 213, 218, 306 Index 363

Trinchera Ranch, 218, 306 Ussel, P. Gabriel, Rev., 96-97 Trinidad, 47 Utah Territory, 66, 128 Trois Tetons, 185. See also Tetons, peaks Utah Creek, 68. See also Ute Creek Trujillo, Atencio, 298, 318 Ute Creek, 30, 64, 66, 68, 92, 218, Trujillo, Susano, 107, 257 284, 285 Trujillo, Teofilo, 294 Ute Peak, 4, 8, 85 Trujillo, Tomas, 277 Turley, Simeon, 48, 50, 51 Turner, David, 150 v turquoise, 16-17, 192, 311 Valdes, Cresencio, 144, 295 Tushar, Olibama Lopez, 185 Valdes, Jesus, 107 Valdes, Jose Hilario, 85 Valdes, Jose Maria, 276 u Valdes, Seledon (Celedonio), 78, 144, Uintah River, 47 149, 284, 289 Uncompahgre Indian Agency, 210 Valdez Plaza, 107. See also Seven Mile Uncompahgre River, 18,47, 119, 204, Plaza 210, 213 Vallejos, 87, 103, 263, 285, 292, 304, Uncompahgre Valley, 119, 228 306 United States Army Corps of Vallejos, Antonio Jose, 85, 86, 87, 303 Engineers, 194, 211 Vallejos Creek, 87, 283, 306 United States Army Ninth Cavalry, Vallejos Ditch, 87, 306 120 Valley View Hot Springs, 9, 188, 189, United States Army Ninth Military 191, 236, 280 Department, 66, 92 van Bibber, Jesse, 46, 314 United States Army of the West, 50, Van Noorden, S. E., 188 89 Vargas, Diego de, 24, 283, 297 United States Army Tenth Infantry, Vegas Grande (N.M.), 145 113 Velasquez, Vicente, 286, 304 United States Army Third Infantry, 66 Velte, Langino, 135 United States Bureau of Reclamation, Venable, 161 233 Veteran, 231 United States Farm Security Adminis­ Viejo San Acacio, 149, 250, 281, 300, tration, 240 302, 307 United States Forest Service, 212, 261 Vigil, Cornelio, 78 United States Freehold Land and Vigil, Jose Miguel, Father, 96 Emigration Company, 147, 148, Vigil, Juan Angel, 85, 86 149, 150, 155, 156, 158, 218, 262 Villa Grove, 9, 17, 161, 168, 178, 180, United States General Land Office, 181, 186, 187, 188, 192, 216, 230, 141, 147, 194, 281 259, 280, 287, 298, 325 United States Geographical Survey Vincenthaler, Lorenzo, 61 West of the Hundredth Meridian, 194, 211-12 United States Office of Economic w Opportunity, 265 Wagon Wheel Gap, 46, 128, 166, 167, United States Work Projects Adminis- 190, 194, 196, 200, 212, 217, 305 tration (WPA), 302 Walsen, Fred, 132, 136 Upper Arkansas Valley, 37, 133, 178 Walsenburg, 132 Upper Culebra (see Plaza Arriba) Walters, Lieutenant, 132 Upper Rio Grande Culture, 15 Walters, Richard, 314 Uracca, 220, 221, 223 Wannamaker Creek, 61, 62, 184, 316 Vracca Canyon, 219 Ward, Eli, 314 364 Index

Warman, Cy, 191 Whittlesee, J. H., Lt., 84 Warshauer, Fred, 255 Wightman, James, 176 Warshauer-McClure Commission Wightman, William, 176 House, 255 Wilcox, 186 Washington Springs, 159, 168 Wilkinson, James, Gen., 38-39 Wason, Martin Van Buren, 194, 217 Williams, F. W., 226 water diversion, 86, 87, 88, 108, 132- Williams, John, 218 33, 138, 148, 167, 184, 220, 221­ Williams, William Sherley (Parson 24, 228, 229, 230, 232, 233, 236, Bill), 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 84 237, 239, 277, 278, 280, 282, 286, Williams Pass (Sangre de Cristo 287, 289, 290, 293, 294, 296, 299, Mountains), 58. See also Medano 302, 303, 305, 307 Pass Watts, John S., 155 Williams Pass (San Juan Mountains), Waverly, 230, 240 62. See also Leroux Pass, Summer Wayside, station, 324 Pass West Del Norte, 198 Willow Creek, 190, 217 Wetmore, 142 Wind Trap (see El Vallecito) Wetmore, T. c., 112 Windy Bill, 185 Wet Mountain Valley, 5, 25, 37, 57, 58, Wolf Creek Pass, 18, 194 72,94 Woodson, Andres, 136 Wet Mountains, 57, 304 Woodson, Gabriel, 136 Wheeler, George M., 194 Woodson, James B., 136, 137, 279, Wheeler Geologic Area, 20, 212, 261. 300 See also Wheeler National Monument Wootton, Dick, 49 Wheeler National Monument, 212 Wheeler Survey (see United States y Geographical Survey West of the Hundredth Meridian) Young, Ewing, 48 Whiplash Curve, 166 Yuma Culture, 15 White, Jose Adolpha, 259 White Mountains, 3, 5, 37. See also Sangre de Cristo Range z White Plain (see Llano Blanco, The Zapata, 14, 107, 149, 161, 192, 218, Strip) 230, 263, 294, 307 White River, 119, 120 Zapata Creek, 219, 220 Whitsitt Hotel, 196 Zapata Ranch, 218, 219-20, 307