CO Tour 11

The American Guides Project

(Johnson, Kans.) —Springfield—Trinidad—Walsenburg—La Veta Pass — Alamosa — Pagosa Springs—Durango—Cortez— (Monticello, Utah) ; US 160. Kansas Line to Utah Line, 540.4 miles

Gravel-surfaced or graded dirt between Kansas Line and junction with US 350, and between Wolf Creek Pass and Pagosa Springs; elsewhere oil-processed. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. parallels route between Springfield and Pritchett; Colorado & Southern Ry. between Branson and junction with US 350; Denver & Rio Grande Western R.R. between Trinidad and South Fork; Rio Grande Southern R.R. between Durango and Mancos. Accommodations limited between Kansas Line and Trinidad.

US 160, most southerly of trans-State highways, crosses two great mountain ranges and passes such notable points of interest as the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, the old Spanish settlements of the San Luis Valley, the Consolidated Ute Reservation, and the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park and Hovenweep National Monument.

Crossing a dry-land farming area, this section of the route traverses a once-prosperous mining region now devoted to cattle raising and agriculture. The region was the habitat of the bison, chief food supply of an Indian race that left traces of its primitive culture in the form of petroglyphs, arrowheads, and other artifacts on the broad plains and mesas.

The highway crosses the KANSAS LINE, 0 miles, 22 miles west of Syracuse, Kans. (see Kansas Guide), and proceeds through barren plains broken by occasional arroyos and buttes to BUCKEYE, 6 miles (3,900 alt., 5 pop.). This is a part of that section loosely known as the Dust Bowl, which includes portions of southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, and northern Oklahoma and Texas; it is frequently clouded by heavy spring dust storms. These storms are of recent origin, caused by the plowing up of the protective grass mat to plant wheat during the World War. Wind erosion was augmented by the long drought of the early 1930's. For several years almost no rain fell in the summer, and in the winter the fields lay dry and bare without their usual covering of snow.

Great dust storms here are at once magnificent and terrifying. They move forward in sky-high walls, black and ominous, and plunge the land into darkness. Sand sifts into houses and automobiles, even into intricate working parts of fine machinery. Often these storms cover vast areas. That which harried Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas on May 12, 1934, carried dust eastward across the United States to fall on ships far out at sea.

Scores of families were driven out by drought and wind. The dust piled up in drifted ridges, buried fences and idle machinery, swirled high about sun-warped buildings. But the wheat farmers of the ravaged Colorado plains are a hardy stubborn breed; most of them stayed on, believing that droughts occur in cycles. During the worst periods nothing could be grown; the air was hardly to be breathed. Even travel was sometimes precarious, for when the storms descended, cars were marooned on the highway, their drivers forced to wait until visibility returned. The wind that scoured the land to the raw subsoil drew from these men and women a grudging and bitter humor.

'Tart of my farm blew off into Kansas yesterday, so I guess I'll have to pay taxes there, too," said one. "The wind that blew south Wednesday passed over my place came back yesterday and dropped some of the land it took away," said another. They told stories of "black snow" storms so dark they couldn't see to lace their shoes. A drop of water fell on a man, said one of his neighbors, "and we had to throw two buckets of dust in his face to revive him." A stranger driving through the region stopped at a farm house to remark at a cloud in the blazing sky. "Think it'll rain?" he inquired. "Hope so," said the farmer, "not so much for my sake as the children's. I've seen rain."

Since 1937 increasing moisture has fallen in the dust bowl, and many farmers are convinced that the drought is ended. The storms of 1938 and 1939 were nothing like those of preceding years. In cooperation with engineers and experts of the Department of Agriculture, the farmers are fighting to reclaim their land; three-fourths of Baca County, which constitutes the southeastern corner of Colorado, is now organized in soil erosion districts under the auspices of the State Soil Conservation Board with an integrated program for returning the land to grass. Planting of sorghums and other wind-resistant crops, contour farming, basin listing, and furrowing are being used in an effort to lessen wind damage, and considerable success has attended these efforts.

TWO BUTTES, 20.7 miles (4,075 alt., 158 pop.), was founded in 1909 by the builders of a reservoir north of the village.

Right from Two Buttes on a zigzag dirt road are the TWO BUTTES, 20 miles, for which the town is named. At their base TWO BUTTES LAKE (boating and fishing) has been created by the damming of Two Buttes Creek, its water used to irrigate adjoining territory.

West and south of Two Buttes the highway crosses almost level prairie land to SPRINGFIELD, 43.6 miles (4,400 alt., 1,393 Pop.), seat of Baca County, settled by residents of Springfield, Mo., who named it for their home. Large fields west of Springfield are planted to winter wheat, and during midsummer small hills of threshed grain, bright yellow in the sun, are seen along the road, waiting to be trucked to market. Many here are "suitcase" farmers, residents of other districts, who appear in September and October to sow their wheat and return the following June and July to harvest the crop.

Baca County produces almost all of the broomcorn grown in the State, having some 30,000 acres of it under cultivation in 1938. Although it resembles field corn in leaf and stem, this variety bears, in place of tassels, a stiff brush of slender stalks from which brooms are manufactured.

PRITCHETT, 59.8 miles (3,900 alt., 451 pop.), is the center of a large farming and dairying district. Only a mound of stones beside the road marks the SITE OF JOYCOY, 62.7 miles; the origin of its curious name is not known. West of Joycoy the highway traverses a country dotted with prairie dog towns and broken by sandstone bluffs and mesas covered with a scant growth of pinon and juniper. These singular rock outcroppings provide nesting places for the swift-flying prairie falcon, most splendid of Colorado's small birds of prey, which hides its brick-red eggs on the ledges and in the numerous potholes in the cliffs.

KIM, 96.3 miles (5,680 alt., 200 pop.), named for Kipling's boy hero, was founded by Olin D. Simpson in 1918 when he established here on a corner of his homestead a store and a post office. The large stone COMMUNITY BUILDING, with gymnasium, was completed under the Work Projects Administration.

1. Left (southeast) from Kim on a dirt road to CARRIZO MOUNTAIN, 18 miles; at the eastern foot of this large butte, 20 miles, is the SITE OF CARRIZO SPRINGS, which flourished in the 1880's when the copper mines to the south were in operation. The site is commonly known today as The Tubs, because the big wooden tanks that still stand here are used by stockmen.

2. Right from Kim on another dirt road to POTATO BUTTE, 21.8 miles, jutting up from the surrounding prairie land; on the cliffs an ancient people carved petroglyphs.

Visible (L), 105 miles, are the steep slopes of Mesa de Maya (see below), covered with juniper and pinon. West of TOBE, 112 miles (5,500 alt., 20 pop.), a combined filling station and post office, the road crosses CHACUACO CANYON, 120.5 miles, a fissure created by torrents from Mesa de Maya, which in places have cut several hundred feet through sedimentary strata to red bedrock, sculpturing mesas, chasms, towers, and other fantastic formations. Not impressive at this point, the canyon reaches a width of two miles near the junction with the Purgatoire River to the north.

BRANSON, 138.5 miles (6,000 alt., 237 pop.), was first settled by Spanish-Americans from New Mexico, who brought in small flocks of sheep, cattle, and chickens, and built their houses of sun-dried brick along small streams and springs. Descendants of the pioneers still occupy these dwellings. Lack of moisture, overgrazing, and farming of submarginal lands have transformed this country into practically desert land.

1. Left from Branson on a graded dirt road to TOLLGATE CANYON, 1.5 miles, on the New Mexico State Line. In the days when few trails crossed the mountains, Bill Metcalf, an early settler, erected a tollgate here between two tall pillar-like stones on each side of the road. In the narrow canyon the traveler could neither proceed nor turn around with his ox team, and was glad to pay a 75¢ toll. Metcalf also established a profitable saloon near his tollgate. Metcalf was not the only man to make the most of what nature offered along the old highway. A desperado known as Black Jack stationed dummy men with wooden guns along the road to assist in his holdups.

One of the trails used by Colonel Charles Goodnight in driving cattle from Texas into Colorado entered the State through Tollgate Canyon and followed Trinchera Creek to the Purgatoire and the Hole-in-the-Prairie (see Tour 10).

2. Left from Branson on a graded road to MESA DE MAYA, 16 miles, named, according to one story, by a Spanish explorer who found mayflowers abundant on the slopes and draws of the great tableland. Petroglyphs, easily accessible by trail, are chiseled in the cliffs; arrowheads, stone axes, and other relics have been found near by. Abundant buffalo grass once covered the mesa top, and grama grass grew waist high in the draws and valleys, making ideal pasturage for the longhorn steers brought by cattlemen into the area during the 1870's.

West from Branson, US 160 traverses a cattle-grazing territory. To the south (L) is a long low escarpment, known as PINON RIDGE, which extends more than 30 miles westward. Above the ridge are NIGGER and HARDESTY MESAS, which give way in turn to the higher tablelands of JOHNSON and RATON MESAS,

TRINCHERA, 149.6 miles (7,567 alt., 200 pop.), a Spanish-American settlement, is a shipping point for cattle.

BARELA, 162.5 miles (5,739 alt., 15 pop.), was named by Casimiro Barela, known as the "Perpetual Senator," who served Las Animas County as its representative for 40 years (1876-1916). He owned extensive properties in Las Animas County, New Mexico, Old Mexico, and a coffee plantation in South America. His home at Rivera, near Barela, was maintained with all the pomp and state of a feudal lord.

Left from Barela on a dirt road, which follows San Francisco Creek Valley through foothills heavily overgrown with scrub oak, cedar, and a scattering of pinons, to CORTESE'S RANCH, 3 miles, and DUTTO'S RANCH, 5 miles

South from Dutto's Ranch 7 miles by trail to a GOAT RANCH. More than 6,000 goats are pastured annually in Las Animas County, and the home manufacture of goat-milk cheese is a leading industry; the cheese is shipped to domestic and foreign markets. Ascending the steep side of RATON MESA (Sp. mouse), the road crosses and recrosses SAN FRANCISCO CREEK (good fishing). Scrub oak increases in size, willows give way to aspens and cedars, pinons to pines and firs. This isolated section has many wild flowers, ferns, and shrubbery not found elsewhere in the State. Brown bears, coyotes, timber wolves, skunks, badger, deer, grouse, and pheasants are encountered on the mesa. The luxuriant grasses on the SUMMIT OF RATON MESA (9,450 alt.), 10 miles, fatten large herds of white-faced Herefords. Kanyatche, a chief of the Southern Ute, led his tribesmen on successful hunts over Raton Mesa. The territory was contested by the Comanche, who placed their dead in tree-tops along San Francisco Creek. Hunters, fishermen, and cowboys occasionally come upon these relics.

The highway passes through a region of deep arroyos cut by summer freshets to a junction with State 206, 171.8 miles

Left on this dirt road over Frijole Hill and through fields of beans, where prairie lands have been plowed in contour lines designed to retain moisture, to C. C. C. CAMP BUILDINGS, 7 miles The corps is engaged in combating soil erosion in the surrounding country.

BESHOAR JUNCTION, 176.5 miles, is at the junction with US 350 (see Tour 10), which unites with US 160 for 7 miles.

Huge slag piles at the eastern entrance to EL MORO, 179.8 miles (5,841 alt., 206 pop.), are refuse from coke ovens operated in the 1880's when coal from the district was converted into coke for use in the Pueblo smelters and steel works; the ovens were abandoned early in 1900. El Moro was a one-time rival of Trinidad.

SAN RAFAEL HOSPITAL, 181.5 miles, a large gray stone building, Trinidad's only hospital, is operated by the Catholic Sisters of Charity.

TRINIDAD, 183.5 miles (5,999 alt., 11,732 pop.) (see Trinidad), is at the junction with US 85 (see Tour 12c), US 360 (see Tour 10), and State 12 (see Tour 11A).

US 160 is united with US 85 as far as WALSENBURG, 222 miles (6,200 alt., 5,503 pop.) (see Tour 12c).

This section of the route crosses the Sangre de Cristo Range and traverses the San Luis Valley, largest of the four great mountain parks in Colorado. Politically and economically, the valley is part of Colorado, but culturally the southern extremity is an integral part of New Mexico. Shut off on all sides from the rest of the State by mountains, the valley developed almost as a minor principality. A large proportion of the inhabitants are descendants of early Spanish settlers, who retain many of their old customs and manners of living.

West of WALSENBURG, 0 miles, the highway passes through a region of dry grass-covered hills. In scattered park-like valleys crops of vegetables, hay, and grains are grown; some cattle are pastured on the slopes, but primarily this is an industrial district, its life centering around the coal mines that normally employ hundreds of workers.

Dominating the landscape are (L) EAST SPANISH PEAK (12,683 alt.) and WEST SPANISH PEAK (13,623 alt.), twin mountains standing well away from the Culebra Range, of which they are a part. Because of their isolated position, the Spanish Peaks served as landmarks for early explorers and fur traders, and their imposing bulks were regarded with superstitious awe by the Indians (see Tour 12c)

West of the Junction with State in (see Tour 11C), 15.1 miles, the route traverses foothill country near the southern edge of the Sangre de Cristo Range; forest growth becomes heavier as the road ascends by long curves to OJO HOT SPRINGS, 21.8 miles (cabins, bathing). The highway makes a sharp half-circle at MULESHOE, 26.2 miles, ascends by twists and loops to LA VETA PASS (9,378 alt), 29.1 miles, a low, heavily-timbered saddle between the Sangre de Cristo and Culebra Ranges, then descends through foothills into the SAN LUIS VALLEY, a stretch of level prairie 125 miles long, with an average width of 50 miles. Once disputed by the Ute and Comanche, it was finally captured by the former. Irrigation canals are constructed in straight lines for long distances across the flat terrain. The valley was one of the first sections in Colorado penetrated by the Spanish, and many residents today are of that origin. The first recorded Spanish expedition northward along the Rio Grande into Colorado was that of Juan Maria Rivera in 1761. In 1779 the military expedition of Bautiste de Anza, pursuing the Comanche chief Cuerno Verde (see Tour 12c), traversed the valley from south to north and named several streams in the valley — among them, the Conejos and La Jara.

The first white man to enter from the east, it is believed, was James Purcell, a Kentucky trader, who was forced into the mountains here by hostile Indians in 1803. Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike's expedition entered by way of Mosca Pass in 1807, and proceeded southward to the Conejos River (see Tour 15c); 40 years later Fremont crossed the valley in search of a route for a transcontinental railroad.

Settlement began about 1850 with the establishment of several small villages on Mexican land grants. Population rapidly increased after gold discoveries in 1870.

West of La Veta Pass, US 160 crosses a section of the 240,000-acre TRINCHERA RANCH, largest private estate in Colorado, The ranch is a fragment of the 1,038,000-acre Sangre de Cristo Grant given by the Mexican Government to Stephen Louis Lee and Narcisco Beaubien in 1843. When the grant was made, Beaubien was 13 years old. He and Lee were killed four years later during the Pueblo Indian revolt in New Mexico that cost the life of the New Mexico Territorial Governor, Charles Bent (see Tour 9A). Beaubien's share of the grant passed to his father, Charles Beaubien, owner of a considerable part of the Maxwell Grant near Trinidad (see Tour 12c), and Lee's half was sold to the father for $100. After the elder Beaubien's death virtually all of the Sangre de Cristo Grant was purchased by William Gilpin, first Territorial Governor of Colorado, and his associates. In 1937 the Trinchera Ranch was bought by Mrs. Ruth McCormick Simms of Santa Fe, New Mexico, at a reported price of $500,000. Herds of cattle and sheep are grazed here, and the ranch has more than 6,000 acres of hay lands.

RUSSELL, 35.9 miles (9,105 alt., 85 pop.), a mountain community clustered about a post office and general store, was founded as a placer-mining camp in the 1860's.

Left on this road to the unmarked SITE OF FORT MASSACHUSETTS, 6 miles, the first United States settlement in the San Luis Valley, and, so far as known, the first military post established by the U. S. Army in Colorado. Founded in 1852 to protect immigrants in the valley from Indians, the fort lay in a swampy hollow surrounded by foothills; soldiers not killed by the Indians were sickened by stagnant waters. The post was abandoned in 1858, and what was left of its garrision was removed to Fort Garland (see below).

FORT GARLAND, 50 miles (7,996 alt., 250 pop.), is a drowsy little farming town on the flat and arid eastern floor of the valley. Most of its buildings are of adobe; constructed of bricks about twelve inches long, six inches wide, and three inches thick, they are typical of such structures throughout the San Luis Valley. A mixture of adobe clay and water, into which straw has been worked for reinforcement, is molded by hand into bricks and dried in the sun. Adobe of a thinner consistency is used as mortar. In early days foundations were of stone bonded with this mortar; modern adobe structures are usually built on concrete foundations. Beams hewn from long logs are laid across the tops of the walls; usually they project two or three feet on each side, and the roofs consist of boards laid across the beams and thickly covered with adobe mud. The Spanish call the projecting timbers vagas, and on them string long ropes of red peppers, which add a touch of color to the gray walls.

Interiors are finished with adobe plaster. Contemporary buildings are usually brightened with stucco and whitewash; original settlers were usually content with hard-beaten earth as floor, but newer dwellings have wooden flooring. Undecorated, modest in design, adobe houses usually have but one room. Sometimes window sills and door jams are painted a brilliant blue, a custom originating in the Spanish belief that the devil abhors this color, sacred to the Virgin Mary, and will not enter where it appears.

Named for Brigadier General John Garland, a fort was built here in 1858 when Fort Massachusetts (see above) was abandoned. The post was maintained until 1883 when the command was removed to Fort Lewis in the San Juan Basin (see below). The fort was rather a threatening gesture to check the Ute, a refuge and social center for settlers, than an actual base for military operations.

Jim Baker, Lieutenant Colonel Albert Pfeiffer (see below), and Tom Tobin, noted frontier figures, lived here from time to time; Kit Carson commanded the post in 1866-67. In this vicinity Tobin killed the last of the Espinosas, fanatic assassins (see Tour 5b), and to prove it and claim the reward offered by the Territorial Legislature, cut off the man's head. As the legislature was not in session at the time, Tobin kept the trophy pickled in alcohol. A physician, so it is said, stole the head and departed for Pueblo. Discovering his loss, Tobin set out in pursuit and recovered it, for the doctor had dropped and broken the jar containing it. Tobin proceeded to Pueblo, where "a most unusual situation confronted him, because for the first and last time in the history of that city there was neither whisky nor alcohol enough to re-pickle the head." A supply train soon arrived with "strong waters,'* and Tobin claimed his reward.

OLD FORT GARLAND, on the southern edge of town, consists of a series of long low adobe buildings about a central plaza, or parade ground, shaded by huge cottonwood trees. The highway cuts across the old parade grounds, a portion of the old adobe walls having been destroyed to provide a right-of-way. In the center of the plaza are an old cannon and a tall flagpole. Part of the former post headquarters has been incongruously reroofed with tar; the walls have been covered with a white clay plaster.

In the CENTRAL HALL (private; open daily) have been preserved the journals in which the commanders, including Kit Carson, kept their records. Old muzzle-loading guns, an ox-yoke brought by some forgotten settler, a wooden plow, Indian arrowheads, and early-type bullets are displayed in cases.

Left from Fort Garland on State 159, across a tableland, to SAN LUIS (7,596 alt., 750 pop.), 15.5 miles, seat of Costilla County, one of the oldest communities in Colorado. The town lies at the center of the Sangre de Cristo Grant (see above). The first successful attempt to found a town on the grant was made in 1851 when six Spanish families settled north of the present town. Their adobe houses were built around a square, both for protection against Indians and promotion of social life. The outer walls were without openings, and all doors and windows faced the square, in which wells were dug. The surrounding land was divided into ranches. A tract of 860 acres, reserved as a town common in accord with the system then in vogue in Mexico, has been retained. The Ute made numerous raids on the colony, stealing livestock and supplies, until the establishment of Fort Massachusetts (see above).

San Luis has changed little since its early days. The inhabitants have preserved their culture, social life, foods, and dress, drawing inspiration from Spain and New Mexico. Families have not intermarried with the Americans in the valley. Although many beautiful handicrafts of these people have been lost with the passing of the years, efforts are being made to re-store them by the Work Projects Administration, which hopes to revive the almost-vanished arts of rug weaving and wood carving.

The Americans of Spanish descent are a religious people, most of them being of the Roman Catholic faith. Some belong to the Society of the Penitentes (see Tour 11B). Adobe churches, highly ornamented, are the dominating buildings in all old valley towns. The stone CHURCH OF THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, erected in the ealy 1860's, still stands here. A general store, established in the same year by the Gallegos family, later kept by D. Salazar and known as the SALAZAR STORE, is said to be the oldest continuously operated business enterprise in Colorado. Salazar is credited with bringing the first mower and threshing machine into this section in 1864. The OLDEST HOUSE, in the eastern part of town, completed in 1852, has adobe walls covered with pink stucco.

West of Fort Garland, US 160 traverses the heart of the San Luis Valley, carpeted with sage and greasewood, a silvery plant that grows prolifically throughout the arid regions of the Southwest. Much of this area, splotched with alkali, is unfit for cultivation. North of the highway loom the overpowering bulks of MOUNT BLANCA (14,363 alt.) and OLD BALDY (14,125 alt.), rising abruptly from the level plain at the southern edge of the Sangre de Cristo Range. Visible from all parts of the San Luis Valley, these jagged peaks are among the highest in Colorado; they are, in reality, one mountain connected by a high saddle, and on many maps are shown as one. Geologists believe that a higher summit was torn away ages ago, either by glaciers or by volcanic action, leaving the two lesser stumps. Mount Blanca has been the object of awe and superstition to the Indians since the earliest times; it is particularly impressive, due to the absence of intervening foothills.

BLANCA, 54.5 miles (7,870 alt., 252 pop.), a community of adobe and stucco buildings, was born of a land drawing held in August 1908. People throughout the country bought small tracts of land here when offered a chance to draw for larger tracts. On the morning of the lottery hundreds of persons were encamped along Ute Creek. Difficulties in obtaining water rights and the generally unproductive soil prevented growth of the town.

The highway crosses the sluggish RIO GRANDE, 74.6 miles, more properly the Rio Grande Del Norte (Sp. Great River of the North). Rising above Creede and flowing in a southeasterly direction through the San Luis Valley, the stream marked the boundary between Texas and Mexico in 1836-48, and later marked the eastern limits of the territory obtained from Mexico after the Mexican War of 1848.

ALAMOSA (Sp. cottonwood grove), 75 miles (7,500 alt,, 5,107 pop.), largest and most important town in the valley, is a shipping center and the headquarters of many potato brokerage concerns. Among its enterprises are a creamery, ice plant, flour mill, meat packing plant, and stockyards. Alamosa was founded in 1878 by Ex-Governor A. C. Hunt, president of the Denver & Rio Grande Construction Company. The railroad arrived that year from Garland City, once terminus of the line, which uprooted itself and moved to Alamosa. Stores, churches, and houses were transported on flat cars, set up and occupied within a few days. A rowdy wide-open settlement frequented by gamblers, prospectors, and railroad construction huskies, the town saw many lynchings, and a large cottonwood tree on the river provided a convenient scaffold. From one of its limbs, in 1880, a Mexican cattle rustler was hanged. His body remained dangling throughout the day "to present, with its distorted features, a hideous spectacle to the passengers on the train as it left the city."

Alamosa is typical of the larger towns of the western farm-ranch country. Potato growers in blue jeans, cowhands in high heeled boots and Stetsons, walk the busy streets. Although seat of Alamosa County, the town was without a courthouse until 1938, largely because the county was forced to share part of the bonded indebtedness of Conejos County, from which it was created in 1913. The Alaredo, a three-day fiesta with parades, carnival, and a pageant presenting the early history of the San Luis Valley, is held here annually in July.

ADAMS STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE, on the western edge of town, founded in 1925 to meet the educational needs of this rather isolated area, has a dormitory and a three-story brick study hall.

Alamosa is at the junction with State 17 (see Tour 11C) and US 285 (see Tour 15c).

Proceeding through an agricultural belt into mountain country, this section of the tour descends into a region of sagebrush plateaus broken by mesas and many canyons. The route passes centers of a prehistoric culture and the last home of the once-powerful Ute, traverses grazing country where the customs of early cattle days are practically unchanged, and crosses desolate areas where the scattered inhabitants live in a more primitive manner than the ancient Cliff Dwellers.

West of ALAMOSA, 0 miles, US 160 traverses the intensively cultivated floor of the San Luis Valley. Almost all farms are under irrigation. The chief crop is potatoes, although many acres are sown to wheat, barley, oats, lettuce, cauliflower, alfalfa, and field peas. Pea-fed hogs from the San Luis Valley command top prices on the Pacific Coast. Potatoes are of high quality, and yields range from .400 to 700 bushels an acre. The long low buildings frequently seen from the road, built partly underground, are potato cellars.

Right on this read to the COLORADO STATE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS HOME (open 9-4 daily), 1.5 miles, for the aged and disabled who have served in some branch of military service. The State furnishes inmates lodging, food, spending money, and all other living costs, the only stipulation being that they are not permitted to claim pensions. The red-roofed, white-tiled buildings, at the edge of a lake, house a hospital and living quarters. Although the primary purpose of the lake is for irrigation, it has been developed as a recreational center. The institution is virtually self-supporting, with large farming tracts, greenhouses, and an electric light plant.

MONTE VISTA (Sp. mountain view), 17.5 miles (7,500 alt., 2,610 pop.), founded in 1887, was once known as Lariat and later as Henry. In the heart of a fertile agricultural district the town is an important vegetable-shipping point, the center of one of the State's largest potato-growing areas; more than 5,000,000 bushels of Brown Beauty and Red McClure potatoes were harvested in the county in 1938. Among other enterprises in the town are flour and feed mills, and creameries. The town is one of the few in the State where deeds provide for the forfeiture of land if intoxicating liquor is sold on the premises. Monte Vista has no water system; houses and business buildings have individual artesian wells.

The Ski-Hi Stampede, a three-day rodeo, has been held here annually in July since 1919, being an outgrowth of the days when cowboys gathered under the standards of cattle barons and matched their strength and skill for personal glory and the aggrandizement of their employer's outfit. Events include riding broncos and wild cattle, bareback riding, bulldogging, roping, lassoing of running animals, intricate tricks with one or more lariats, and trick riding by horsemen who swing under the neck and belly of their mounts—a feat learned from the Indians who used such tactics in warfare. Indians are sometimes brought from the reservations to perform their dances and ceremonials. Visual color is not lacking on the rodeo grounds; the sun blazes down upon the brilliant silk shirts, scarfs, and huge hats of the riders, and the elaborate trappings of the horses. Most performers in modern rodeos are professionals who travel from one local celebration to another, but many are cowhands employed by various flourishing outfits in the West. Both men and women compete in events, and usually one of the cowgirls is elected Queen and crowned with appropriate ceremony.

Left from Monte Vista on an unnumbered country road to the PICTURE ROCKS, 10 miles (private property; apply to C. P. Grasier, Monte Vista Garage). These cliffs lining Rock Creek have been carved and painted with petroglyphs or pictographs. Until 1935 these were believed to be the work of contemporary Indians, but in that year prospectors seeking gold stumbled upon a human skeleton and a well-preserved fragment of pottery. Archeologists now believe that the designs were the work of a people closely akin to those who lived on Mesa Verde (see Mesa Verde National Park).

West of Monte Vista the highway traverses the level irrigated valley, its prosperous farms watered by a series of canals established by a cooperative association. Almost all the area is subirrigated; water is run through ditches about 300 feet apart, which raises the water table to within two feet of the surface and provides a continuously even supply. In all directions the green valley is fringed with the hazy blue-and-white of distant mountains. To the west are the jagged San Juans; to the east, the Sangre de Cristos.

DEL NORTE, 31.2 miles (7,778 alt., 1,410 pop.), seat of Rio Grande County, founded in 1860, was a convenient rendezvous for freighters who formerly hauled supplies from the eastern slopes to the mines in the San Juan district. The settlement was built of stone, and many of the business structures of that day still stand. Vigilantes were active here for a time in early days. One night, so the story goes, they raided the jail, determined to hang two cattle rustlers; the prisoners, armed with chair legs and chunks of firewood, clubbed their way through the mob and escaped. The dismayed Vigilantes proceeded to shoot up the town, and in the melee succeeded in killing one of their own number, wounding many others, and vigilante enthusiasm subsided.

The road proceeds across dry sage flats, broken at intervals by narrow water courses fringed with willows and cottonwoods. Here and there abruptly rise rough tors, formed by the breaking of underlying granite strata during the volcanic period when the San Juan Mountains were created.

SOUTH FORK, 46 miles (8,250 alt., 250 pop.), is at the confluence of the Rio Grande and South Fork River.

US 160 crosses the eastern boundary of Rio GRANDE NATIONAL FOREST, 47.4 miles, with 1,221,140 acres of Federal, State, and private land that almost entirely cover the eastern slope of the San Juans. There are few roads, but the forest is crisscrossed by trails, and camp and picnic grounds are numerous. The highway follows the South Fork River along a canyon darkened by lofty varicolored cliffs. The mountains are a natural setting for year-round sports; the slopes are so smooth that the construction of ski runs is unnecessary. In winter, dark green spruce stands out against the snow, and ice formed by freezing mists sparkles on trees, rocks, and canyon walls.

The route crosses the Continental Divide through WOLF CREEK PASS (10,850 alt.), 66 miles, climbing an ascent so steep that a motor highway was not constructed across the range until 1916, although the pass had long been used by Indians and pack trains hauling supplies to the mines. The pass marks the boundary between the Rio Grande and the San Juan National Forests.

Descending sharply through Wolf Creek Canyon, the highway follows the SAN JUAN RIVER (trout fishing) to WOLF CREEK CAMP GROUND, 74.5 miles Rising on the left is TREASURE MOUNTAIN (11,800 alt.), where, according to legend, a party of stormbound Frenchmen cached much bullion about 1750, intending to recover it later. They never returned, and the gold presumably remains hidden somewhere on the mountain slope.

PAGOSA SPRINGS (Ind. healing water), 89 miles (7,077 alt., 804 pop.), seat of Archuleta County, was named for its hot mineral springs, the largest of which is called Great Pagosa. They were discovered in 1859 when an expedition of the U. S. Topographical Engineer Corps under Captain J. N. Macomb explored the region. A military post, established here in 1878 and named for Colonel Lewis, remained until 1882, when the garrison was removed to a point on La Plata River near Durango (see below).

The mile-square area surrounding the principal springs was designated by the Federal Government as a townsite and platted in 1880; lots were sold from the land office of the district. The extensive timber resources of the area brought in several sawmills, and for a period Pagosa Springs was the center of the largest lumber-producing region in Colorado.

The medicinal springs attracted many health-seekers, and with the decline of lumbering the town prospered as a spa. Until hotels were built, visitors occupied tents and cabins along the creek. Today the spring waters, with an average temperature of 153 degrees, are used to heat the town's courthouse, schools, and several business buildings.

The medicinal value of the springs was known to the Indians, and possession of them was long disputed by the Ute and Navaho. The two tribes at length agreed to settle the matter by a duel between a representative of each tribe. The champion selected by the Ute was Lieutenant-Colonel Albert Pfeiffer, Indian scout and aide of Kit Carson, who had been adopted by the tribe. Pfeiffer's stipulation that he be allowed to name the weapons was agreed upon, and he chose bowie knives. Story has it that as the two men rushed at each other, Pfeiffer hurled his knife at the Navaho, killing him instantly, and the springs became the undisputed property of the Ute.

Albert Henry Pfeiffer, born in Scotland in 1822, came to America in 1844, joined a freighting outfit at St. Louis, and worked his way to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he was appointed captain of the mounted militia in 1859. His wife, a Spanish girl, was slain by Indians four years later. A life-long friend of Kit Carson, he served several years in the latter's regiment, operating in what was known as the Navaho country, and in 1865 was appointed lieutenant colonel for gallant and meritorious service. Having served as Indian agent in New Mexico, he took up a homestead near Granger, Colorado, where he was adopted into the Ute tribe, receiving the name of "Tata" Pfeiffer.

West of Pagosa Springs, US 160 follows the abandoned grade of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. The highway winds across a series of barren hills where weather stumps and a sparse growth of grass are all that remain of a once-dense forest.

Right on this road across the southern boundary of the San Juan National Forest, 3.4 miles, and upward through mountain forest to DUTTON CREEK. 3.5 miles, MARTINEZ CREEK, 5.5 miles, and O'NEIL CREEK, 13.5 miles, all good trout streams. North of GORDON CREEK, 13.6 miles, the road swings west to the PIEDRA CAMP GROUND (free; information at Bridge Ranger Station), 16 miles, on the PIEDRA RIVER, also noted for its fishing.

At WILLIAMS CREEK, 18 miles, the road turns again northwest, following the trout stream to the junction with a dirt road, 21 miles; R. here 3 miles, along Williams Creek, to the edge of the SAN JUAN PRIMITIVE AREA, at the foot of the Continental Divide.

The route passes DYKE, 101.5 miles (6,081 alt., 10 pop.), a rural community, and crosses another boundary of the San Juan National Forest, 103.5 miles, to a junction with State 151, 105.3 miles.

Left on this unimproved road is ARBOLES, 18 miles (6,005 alt., 48 pop.), the only railroad outlet in Archuleta County.

Left on this trail to CHIMNEY ROCK, 1.5 miles (approximately 1^2 hours each way), a formation standing on a high mesa that contains architectural remains believed to date back more than 1,000 years. These ruins are important as they indicate the limits of the territory inhabited by the prehistoric people of the Southwest. A pueblo chamber, 200 feet long and 80 feet wide, the only one excavated, is in a fair state of preservation. In the vicinity are approximately 100 mounds believed to cover other structures containing stone relics of archeological importance. Remains of signal fires indicate the manner in which these tribes communicated with each other.

US 160 crosses the RIO PIEDRA (Sp. stone river), 111.5 miles, a clear stream named, it is believed, by the Escalante expedition in 1776. At its headwaters lies untouched wilderness, one of the popular pack-trip regions of the State. There are no roads, and horse trails are few and difficult to follow. The country at the source of the Piedra has been set aside as a primitive area in which no commercial development is permitted. Box canyons, dead-end chasms, are a peculiarity of the region. Waters fall into the upper ends of these gorges in roaring cataracts and foam across the stony floors between sheer granite walls to emerge in the foothills. Wild game is abundant; bear are seen in numbers, although the grizzly, most ferocious of the species, has disappeared. Deer, elk, and antelope are also found; as few fishermen penetrate this high country, fishing is exceptionally good.

The road winds up and down foothills that form the divide between the drainage basins of the Piedra and Los Pinos. The hills are covered with rich stands of pine interspersed with aspen. The San Juan is the only forest in the State in which the aspen is not native; all have been planted in reforestation operations.

The route crosses the southwest boundary of the San Juan National Forest, 129.3 miles, to BAYFIELD, 131.5 miles (6,500 alt., 277 pop.), in a grove of cottonwoods and willows on Los Pinos River; the community resembles a New England village.

Right from Bayfield on a graded dirt road, which parallels Los Pinos River and crosses the western boundary of the San Juan National Forest, to the VALLECITO CAMP GROUNDS (free; information at Vatlecito Ranger Station), 15.3 miles, there is good trout fishing here in the river and its tributaries.

Left on this road to the junction with State 172, 4.1 miles; L. here 3.9 miles to IGNACIO, (see Tour 11D), headquarters of the Consolidated Ute Agency.

CARBON MOUNTAIN (L), 148.8 miles (7,834 alt.), has been one of the most discussed mountains in North America since it first showed signs of tumbling headlong into the valley. Fear that the mountain will some day engulf the city of Durango, or will dam the Animas River so that the backing waters will flood the town and make it uninhabitable, are pronounced groundless by scientists; nevertheless, its strange proclivities have given birth to the nicknames "moving mountain" and "walking mountain."

In 1932 sections of the mountainside began to slide toward the river, and the movement has since continued intermittently. Volcanic activity, earth tremors, and the burning of coal veins have been cited as causes for the phenomenon. But experts of the National Park Service and the Geological Survey ascribe the movements to the fact that Carbon Mountain is composed of three rock formations differing greatly in their resistance to natural forces. The Animas River, having cut into the mountain's side, has exposed a stratum of tilted sandstone on which rests a stratum of shale; these shale beds, cut loose from their sandstone anchorage, are sliding toward the river under the pull of gravity. Water has seeped into the shales, "greasing" the surface on which the slide moves, so that the ordinarily slow process of nature has been speeded.

DURANGO, 151.6 miles (6,505 alt., 5,400 pop.), seat of La Plata County and center of the San Juan Basin, is the chief shipping point of the rich farming section along the Animas River and the cattle ranges in the mountains and plateaus to the west. The Spanish Trails Fiesta, similar to other western rodeos, but with many Ute and Navaho Indians in attendance, is held here annually in mid-August.

The town was founded in 1880 by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, which avoided Animas City (see Tour 18) when building through this region and established its own town here to profit from the business created by the building of the road. This provoked the Animas City Daily Southwest to comment, "Where the new town of Durango is to be, or not to be, God and the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad only knows."

The first mail was carried in by anyone who happened to be coming this way, and was dumped into a cracker box in a store, where those expecting letters were at liberty to rummage. Water, hauled from springs several miles away, sold at 40^ a barrel. Court was held in a large room over a general store, and on one occasion when the jury in a murder trial was out, the spectators cleared the floor and had a dance. When the jurors returned, the judge ordered silence while the verdict of guilty was pronounced, after which the dance was resumed, with the judge, lawyers, and jurors, but presumably not the prisoner, participating in great glee.

The town was a rough-and-tumble community during its early days, and the cattle industry played a large part in its development. Cowhands rubbed shoulders with prospectors, miners, gamblers, freighters, and railroad construction hands. Feuds were many, and the notorious Stockton-Eskridge gang of desperadoes carried their warfare throughout the county, rustling cattle and jumping claims. They clashed with Vigilantes one day on the main street and engaged in an hour's gun fight. A street car line ran less than a year because "the crews were abusive and insulting to patrons, and the cars invariably pulled away from the railroad station before all incoming passengers could get aboard."

The Durango Idea reported in 1885 that a group of local men, organized in military formation with a major, captain, and several lieutenants, had left to explore recently discovered ruins near La Boca, New Mexico, where they were to "dig up Aztecs." A caravan of 30 horses and 15 burros was required to transport the "explorers" and "the following necessities to military life: 5 cases of chewing tobacco, 3 cases of beer, 10 gallons of heavy liquids, 4 burro-loads of the stuff that busted Parliament, 7 reels of fuse, a box of soap, 2 boxes of cigars, a fish line, 20 pairs of rubber boots, 200 loaves of bread, a can of lard, and one pound of bacon." In a footnote the editor added: "Ranchmen, beware! These folks are bad after chickens and other ranch truck."

The Durango Herald-Democrat was formerly published by "Dave" Day, pioneer editor, who established it in 1892, moving his printing plant from Ouray where he had previously published The Solid Muldoon. Both newspapers were widely quoted for Day's salty and often rather profane wit; at one time he had forty-two libel suits pending against him as a result of his stinging paragraphs. Stories about him are legion. On one occasion, it is said, Congressman "Jim" Belford was addressing a local political rally, and as his remarks were more and more extended, Day stretched himself out full length on some chairs just below the speaker's platform. Noting this, Belford rather apologetically observed that he would soon conclude his remarks. "Don't hurry, Jim," said Day, who championed the political opposition. MWe can lie down here as long as you can lie up there."

The PUBLIC LIBRARY (open 9-9 daily; 2-6 Sun., Sept. 1 - June 1), corner of Second Ave. and 12th St., a one-story building of brown brick and stucco, built in 1907, contains 18,700 volumes, including a good collection on the archeology of southwestern Colorado.

The walls in front of KIMBALL'S INDIAN STORE, 700 Main St., bear pictures of prominent Ute chiefs, including Ignacio, Buckskin Charlie, Ouray, and Ute Jack. On exhibition are peace pipes, bows and arrows, head-dresses, buckskin squaw dresses, blankets, and numerous modern articles made by the Ute and Navaho Indians.

West of Durango the highway traverses the flat cultivated valley into low rolling hills. On the west the granite LA PLATA MOUNTAINS are a saw-tooth edge against the horizon, sloping southward to fade into the high plateau country of Mesa Verde. Much of this country is good grazing land, and cowhands are occasionally seen rounding up cattle. In early days the native Ute were regarded as nuisances by cattlemen, who viewed "trespassing" Indians with suspicion, particularly when stock was missing. While searching for a horse, so runs the story, a rancher met and questioned a Ute who said that he was headed for the reservation. "You just come from the timber?" The Ute nodded. "Seen anything of a bell horse?" The Ute grunted and nodded. "Hobbled?" Another nod. "A light bay with U-X brand on the left shoulder?" Again the Indian nodded. "Well, he's mine," the rancher declared. "Where'd you run across him?" "No see um," the Ute responded.

Left on this road to the FORT LEWIS AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL (open), 4 miles, originally a military post, now a State institution. The post, established in 1880, was garrisoned with troops moved from Fort Garland (see above) to protect the first white settlers in this region. After the Ute had been confined to reservations in 1892, the garrison was withdrawn, and the buildings at Fort Lewis utilized as an Indian school. For a time the Indian children could not understand and did not take kindly to "white-man schooling." They started fires that destroyed many buildings, including the barracks and most of officers' row. The 6,300-acre grounds included in the military reservation and the remaining buildings were turned over to the State by the Federal government in 1910 as part of the land grant college system, with the proviso that "Indian pupils shall at all times be admitted to such school, free of charge for tuition, and on terms of equality with white pupils." The State maintains a junior college here as a branch of the Agricultural College at Fort Collins, offering coeducational courses in agriculture, engineering, home economics, and rural education.

Passing HESPERUS, 164.5 miles (8,113 alt., 125 pop.), a farm village, the route crosses the southern boundary of Montezuma National Forest, 169.3 miles, and ascends into higher plateau country to the crest of the divide between the watersheds of the Rio Mancos and Animas River. To the west is SLEEPING UTE MOUNTAIN; according to Indian legend, the Ute of this region were once a tribe of giants as large as this prostrate form. One year, departing to hunt in the north, they left a lone brave to guard their possessions. The faithful sentinel remained at his post day after day, year after year, for centuries. Finally, he stretched out on the ground and slept. His tribe, whose return he had vainly awaited, had offended the Great Spirit, it seems, and as punishment they had been reduced in stature to that of ordinary mortals. Only the faithful watcher, fast asleep, was spared. When, after many ages, the Ute returned home, they found him recumbent upon the ground, and here he still sleeps.

MANCOS, 182.5 miles (7,035 alt., 646 pop.), a shipping point for stock, is also an outfitting place for tourists, miners, and prospectors bound for La Plata Mountains, noted for their silver lodes. Much mining was done above timberline, lending support to the old prospectors' maxim: "A good silver mine is above timberline ten times out of nine."

West of Mancos the highway traverses what is known as the purple sage country, a broad level plateau. The sweep of purple and gray, accented by flashes of bright green where juniper or scrub cedar has found root, lends the region an indescribable beauty. The first impression is one of extreme monotony, but under the play of sunlight and shadow the brush changes from gray to an almost metallic silver, or deepens to dusky purple; the pungent scent of sage permeates the air.

At 190.1 miles is the junction with State 146, leading into MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK (see Mesa Verde National Park).

The route continues across the plateau and descends into a pleasant valley watered by one of the many small tributaries of the Dolores River. Small farmhouses are scattered among the cottonwoods along the stream, and green slopes provide excellent range for livestock.

CORTEZ, 200.5 miles (6,198 alt., 921 pop.), seat of Montezuma County, is a trading center for sheep and cattle raisers who pasture their herds on the sage flats to the west. The town was founded in 1887 when ranchers first pushed into the Montezuma Valley; many of the tan sandstone buildings were erected during that period. Cortez is interesting on Saturday nights, when its main street is filled with ranchers, farmers, and Indians; the latter are usually dressed in brilliant velveteens and calicoes, and aglitter with silver and turquoise jewelry. Ordinarily an Indian family, including many children, arrives in a body to examine and trade for trinkets. The majority are Ute, although there is a sprinkling of Navaho and Piute.

Veering to the northwest, the highway traverses sage-covered plateaus for almost 100 miles. Sheep and cattle, fed on the meager grass among the sage, are the basis of economic life in the region, one of the most sparsely settled in the State. Dugouts, occupied by herders, are sometimes seen. These pits, 10 to 12 feet wide, 14 to 20 feet long, and about four feet deep, are roofed with boughs and brush, covered with dirt, and topped with a layer of sod. The door, often a flap of canvas, is the only aperture, as most of the cooking is done outside.

YELLOW JACKET, 215.6 miles (7,035 alt., 7 pop.), a general store and post office, was named for a near-by canyon, the walls of which are plastered with numberless yellow jacket nests.

ACKMEN, 218.9 miles (7,000 alt., 50 pop.), is a trading post for Indians and tourists. Stock raising is the principal occupation of the surrounding country, which is slashed with dry arroyos and rocky canyons.

Left from Ackmen on a dirt road to RUIN CANYON (Inquire directions locally), 6 miles, site of one of the many groups of prehistoric ruins of southwestern Colorado. Here in what at first appears to be a mound of quarried stones are discernible the crumbling walls of a 22-room pueblo.

Northwest of CAHONE, 225.8 miles, is DOVE CREEK, 235 miles (6,600 alt., 120 pop.), a frontier town resembling a movie set with its false front frame structures—one bearing in faded two-foot letters "Dove Creek Opera House." In new buildings are tractors and farm implements displayed for sale. Development of the area was slow until the completion of the new highway in 1936. Farmers from the Dust Bowl in eastern Colorado, western Oklahoma, and Texas, have come in and grubbed sagebrush from the rich productive soil; the area is experiencing a small boom.

In his younger days Zane Grey, writer of western fiction, lived for a time in Dove Creek, and much of his novel Riders of the Purple Sage is said to have been written here. There are several elderly townsfolk who identify themselves with characters in the book.

US 160 crosses the UTAH LINE, 243.4 miles, 10 miles east of Monticello, Utah (see Utah Guide).