Denver—Morrison—Platte Canyon—Kenosha Pass—South Park—Junction US 24 (Buena Vista)—Salida—Poncha Pass Saguache— Monte Vista—Alamosa—Antonito—Cumbres Pass—(Chama, N. M.); US 285. Denver to New Mexico Line, 315.9 miles. Concrete-paved between Denver and Morrison; elsewhere graveled or oiled. Denver & Rio Grande R.R. parallels route between Buena Vista and Salida, and between Alamosa and New Mexico Line. Good accommodations.

The northern section of this tour leads through rugged, thinly populated country roughly paralleling the Continental Divide, a popular recreational area, with many camp sites and streams well-stocked with trout. The highway crosses South Park and the San Luis Valley. Much of the area, once rich mining country, retains some of the color of the boom days. The southern portion of the route traverses a region devoted to ranching and agriculture, and dotted with Spanish-American settlements.

Section a. DENVER to JUNCTION US 24; 122.4 miles US 285

Through rolling foothills dotted with farms, the road winds up through the Denver Mountain Parks Game Preserve, crosses Kenosha Pass into South Park, then climbs Trout Creek Pass to descend into the Arkansas Valley.

In DENVER, 0 miles (5,280 alt., 287,861 pop.) (see Denver), US 285 proceeds west by way of Alameda Avenue, striking directly toward the foothills of the Front Range through a suburban district of small farms and country houses, passing the green fairways and white-columned buildings of the GREEN GABLE COUNTRY CLUB (private), 7.4 miles

MORRISON, 14.7 miles (5,669 alt., 177 pop.), a resort at the mouth of Bear Creek Canyon, is one of the principal entrances to the Denver Mountain Parks System. The site was homesteaded .by George Morrison in 1870. The town was laid out two years later "in one of the most romantic spots in Colorado," so ran an item in the Rocky Mountain News at the time, "where a beautiful mountain stream runs a sawmill, a plant for the manufacture of plaster of paris, and furnishes abundant water for irrigation." Golden near by was greatly disturbed for the moment, fearing the new town would become a dangerous rival. In the town is a STATE FISH HATCHERY (open 9-5 daily).

Morrison is at the junction with State 74 (see Tour 15A).

Left from Morrison on a graveled road to the COLORADO INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS (open daily by permission), 3 miles, a State institution established in 1900 for juvenile offenders.

Southwest of Morrison the highway crosses the high ridge separating Bear and Turkey Creeks. The great red sandstone spires jutting through masses of evergreens are similar to those in the Park of the Red Rocks (see Tour 15A). The road ascends Turkey Creek Canyon, winding along tree-crowned slopes high above the brawling stream. In the canyon are numerous summer houses, ranging from one-room cabins to elaborate log and stone lodges.

TINY TOWN, 20.3 miles, a summer settlement, was named for a miniature city (adm. 10¢) on the bank of the creek. Here, built to scale, one inch to a foot, are stores, dwellings, a filling station, a church facing a park, a broadcasting station with aerial towers, a large terracotta office building, a railroad station, and an old-fashioned river steamboat on a diminutive pond. Five mines dot the surrounding hillsides; near by are an ore mill and supply house. The miniature city, built by George E. Turner of Denver as an attraction for children, has been twice destroyed by flood and once by fire, and promptly reconstructed.

At 22.6 miles is the junction with State 124.

Left on this road is PHILLIPSBURG, 3.5 miles, a scattered settlement, formerly a supply town. Of the original buildings only a log house and a clapboard general store remain.

Right from Phillipsburg 5.5 miles on a country road to the SITE OF HILL CITY, once a prosperous mining town and the first sizable settlement in the Deer Creek section, having been established in 1895. Much prospecting had been done in the Deer Creek region as early as 1888.

Right from the site 3 miles on a country road is the junction with an old wagon road (ascent must be made on foot) ; R. here 0.3 miles to the SAMPSON MINE, on the southeast slope of Sampson Mountain, once the largest and richest in the region. The mine is reputed to have been discovered in 1874 by a Negro minister named Sampson, who worked it successfully until its sale in 1880. Rich in gold and silver, it continued operations until 1900.

South of Tiny Town the highway ascends by easy grades to the ridge separating Turkey and Elk Creeks. From the rim of the broad valley the higher mountain ranges are visible. The principal peaks in the Park Range, from north to south, are MOUNT CAMERON (14,233 alt.), MOUNT LINCOLN (14,284 alt.), and MOUNT BROSS (14,170 alt.).

At the bottom of the canyon is SHAFFERS CROSSING, 36.2 miles (7,938 alt., 14 pop.), a summer resort and supply town. The old Denver-Leadville Stage Line forded Elk Creek here. Previously, the isolated country along Elk Creek had been a rendezvous of robbers and other desperadoes.

The road traverses a wooded ridge separating Elk and Deer Creek Valleys and ascends CROW HILL, 38.3 miles, from which can be seen traces of the old stage road at the bottom of the ravine; the highway crosses the northern boundary of Pike National Forest (see Tour 5b), 47.8 miles, to the North Fork of the South Platte (good fishing).

In BAILEY, 47.9 miles (6,000 alt., 50 pop.), the highway crosses an abandoned narrow-gauge roadbed of the Colorado & Southern Railroad. When begun in 1873 as the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad, it was an ambitious venture; plans were made to lay track to the Pacific Coast. Construction was hampered by the panic of 1873, but the delay was fortunate, for the Platte Canyon route was found to be more feasible than that originally planned up Bear Creek. By 1880 the line had been extended almost to Leadville, then at the height of its great boom.

Travel and shipping rates were exorbitant; passengers were charged 10¢ a mile from Denver to the terminus; freight rates ran as high as $29 per ton, more than charged for goods shipped from New York to California by way of Cape Horn. Furthermore, stage accommodations at the terminus being limited, travelers and their luggage were frequently shipped back to Denver to await another train. The lucrative enterprise was bought by the Union Pacific Railroad, backed by the millions of Jay Gould, and stockholders in the original company received $248 for every dollar invested. The Union Pacific extended the line to Leadville late in 1880, and a maze of branch lines was constructed. By 1886 capital stock had increased to $6,235,400. The collapse of the Leadville boom brought disaster to investors, and in 1889 the line was sold under foreclosure. Union Pacific interests bought it back and reorganized it as the Denver, Leadville & Gunnison Railroad, but this project also failed, and when the panic of 1893 again forced the line into receivership, it became part of the Colorado & Southern System.

West of Bailey the highway pursues a winding course through dense forest of spruce and lodgepole pines, home of the pine squirrel, or chickaree, cousin of the eastern red squirrel. This squirrel builds not one but many nests of grass and moss amid the branches of the pines. Only a few are occupied; the others are apparently constructed for the fun of doing it. Seeds of spruce and pine constitute their diet; cone scales stripped away and dropped to the ground often form mounds several feet high.

Passing SHAWNEE, 53.4 miles (8,125 alt., 50 pop.), a resort on a wooded slope, the road follows the river to SANTA MARIA CAMP CASSELS (open daily), 57.9 miles, a camp for girls, maintained by Mrs. John L. Dower of Denver. Each summer four groups of 160 girls, selected by charitable agencies among underprivileged Denver families, are brought here for two-week vacations. Much of the foodstuff used at the camp is grown on the terraced and cultivated hillsides. On a hill across the river (R) looms the 75-ton CHRIST OF THE ROCKIES, dedicated in 1934, modeled in cream-white glazed porcelain, 52 feet from base to top, flood-lighted at night. A life-size figure of the dead Christ, guarded by two angels, reclines in the crypt at the base of the statue.

The road follows the narrow canyon of the Platte and ascends to

KENOSHA PASS, 67.1 miles, a broad grassy saddleback between two comparatively low mountains, the divide between the North and South Forks of the South Platte. Since early days the pass has been an important route to South Park. The Leadville Stage Line used it, as did the railroad later.

From a broad curve of the highway is a magnificent view of the treeless, almost-level expanse of SOUTH PARK, which stretches away 40 miles to the south and west. Rimming the valley are snow-capped mountains, their lower slopes blanketed with pine forests, which terminate abruptly at the valley floor, leading geologists to believe that the park was once the bed of an ancient sea. Innumerable streams, tributaries of the South Fork of the South Platte, weave a network of silver through green haylands; the park is dotted with lakes.

The SOUTH PARK MARKER (R), 65.7 miles, erected by the State Historical Society, recounts briefly the history of the park. One of the first white men to enter the valley, James Purcell, a Kentucky trader, told Lieutenant Zebulon Pike that he had found traces of gold here in 1803—apparently the first report of gold in this section that was to prove one of the richest placer-mining regions of the State. Pike entered the park with his party in 1806; in 1844, Lieutenant John C. Fremont crossed the basin on his way to California, reporting it alive with "buffalo and other game." Bison and antelope made it a hunters' paradise for the Ute and the plains tribes, as well as for the Mountain Men, who knew it as Bayou Salado because of its salt marshes. George Frederick Ruxton, a young Englishman who visited the Rocky Mountains in 1847, met hunters and trappers here. In his Life in the Far West he described the process of "making meat," or butchering, as the Mountain Men practised it. Dead buffalo were turned upon their bellies, supported by their outspread legs, and by transverse cuts at the neck and along the spine the skin was stripped away. The shoulders were then severed, ribs chopped off, and the coveted back fat skinned from the spine. The tongue and entrails (boudin), choice portions, were removed last. Much was eaten during the process—liver and entrails, often raw—but most of it was "jerked," or cured by drying in the sun. In the form of sticks of almost wooden consistency, it was easily carried and became savory with cooking. Indian wives of the Mountain Men were expert in preparing pemican, a concoction of dried meat, blood, melted fat, berries, and certain roots, a nutritious and portable foodstuff.

Prospectors working southwest in 1859 from the overcrowded Gilpin County gold fields (see Tour 6) found "color" along the streams in the northern section of the park, founding the camps of Hamilton and Tarryall (see below) and Fairplay (see Tour 16). Other gold-seekers, among them H. A. W. Tabor, came in from the east by way of Ute Pass; his wife Augusta, one of the really remarkable pioneer women, found the park "gorgeously beautiful." Tabor and his party attempted to guide themselves by Fremont's published maps and letters, but without success; they finally tossed a stick in the air and proceeded in the direction to which it pointed when it fell—a course that took them westward to the Arkansas River, along which they made their way to California Gulch (see Tour 5b and Leadville). Most of the placer mines in the park were short-lived, and within a few years only one or two camps remained. Gradually South Park filled up with cattlemen. The now-abandoned Denver & South Park Railroad entered it in 1879. Today (1940) most of it is broken up into large ranches; wild hay for winter feed is cut in the lush meadows. South Park is noted for its fine trout fishing; although many of the streams are overfished, some of the largest trout taken annually in Colorado are caught here.

At 67.6 miles is the junction with a dirt road.

Left on this road through rough and uninhabited country to LOST PARK, 17 miles, surrounded on three sides by swamps, one of the most primitive areas in the State. Fishing is good; deer, elk, black and brown bear, and mountain lion are numerous. It was here that the last wild buffalo in Colorado, perhaps the last in the country, were killed in 1897, fifteen years after the enactment of the law forbidding the shooting of bison. The hides of the animals, three adults and a calf, were hidden in the hills, but were discovered and confiscated by the authorities. In 1928 they were mounted and sold to the Canon City Municipal Museum (see Tour 9b).

The highway descends across broad meadowlands to JEFFERSON, 72 miles (9,500 alt., 50 pop.), a shipping point for cattle and timber.

Left from Jefferson on State 77, a graveled road, to 700-acre TARRYALL LAKE, 16 miles, used by the State Game and Fish Department as a spawning place for trout. NORTH TARRY ALL PEAK (11,400 alt.), 5 miles northwest, is the highest of a series of peaks along the route.

The road follows Tarryall Creek through a rugged canyon to TARRYALL, 30 miles (10,254 alt., 10 pop.), a diminutive offspring of the original camp that lay farther up the creek (see below).

At 41.5 miles is LAKE GEORGE (see Tour 6b), at the junction with US 24 (see Tour 6b),

The road crosses Tarryall Creek, 76.8 miles, where a granite marker points (R) to the SITES OF TARRYALL AND HAMILTON, true ghost towns.

Right along Tarryall Creek 2 miles to the TARRYALL DIGGINGS (accessible only on foot), which extended west along the creek to the base of the mountains. During the 1860's both banks of the creek were lined with tents and cabins of miners. The rival camps of Hamilton and Tarryall were separated only by the creek, but refused to merge. Gold was plentiful; life, hard and exciting. Saloons and dance halls lined the crowded streets. A private mint was established at Tarryall in 1861 by John Parsons, who minted $2.50 and $5 gold coins. Gold deposits were discovered here in 1859 by prospectors from Central City who found all the good lodes there staked out. At first Tarryall Creek proved a disappointment, but pay dirt was struck just as they were preparing to leave. "Let us tarry all," said a miner, so the story goes, and thus the creek and camp were named.

Word of the strike brought a general rush into South Park. The chief pay streak at Tarryall was the course of an old creek channel where the gravel was filled with scales of gold as large as watermelon seeds. Mining declined in the early 1870's, and population of the camps dwindled rapidly. When the railroad was extended into the park in 1879 the remaining inhabitants moved to Como (see below).

Still visible at the site of Tarryall is a deep pit known as WHISKEY HOLE, a placer claim worked one winter by 150 miners who spent most of their earnings for whisky. During boom days men who desired a drink and had no money were permitted to pan gold on the premises to pay for their liquor.

At 78 miles is the junction with a dirt road.

Right on this road is COMO, 0.8 miles (9,796 alt., 80 pop.), a mining and railroad town that prospered during the 1880's and 1890's. The railroad shops here were destroyed by fire in 1909 and never rebuilt. A second disaster was an explosion in the King Cole Mine, largest in the district, when 16 miners were killed. Some small-scale placer mining is carried on south of the town.

At 88.4 miles is the junction with State 9 (see Tour 16).

The highway proceeds through comparatively level, sparsely settled country to the junction with US 24 (see Tour 5), 109.5 miles, which unites with US 285 for 13 miles (see Tour 5b).

Section b. JUNCTION US 24 to ALAMOSA; 122 miles US 285

This section of the route follows the Arkansas River downstream to Salida and then crosses Poncha Pass into the great flat expanse known as the San Luis Valley, one of the most productive agricultural regions of the State. High mountains rise on every hand, and the scenery is richly varied.

US 285 branches south from US 24, 0 miles (see Tour 5b), 2 miles south of Buena Vista (see Tour 5b). Beyond the sheltered and cultivated fields of the Arkansas Valley are the majestic peaks of the COLLEGIATE RANGE; the northernmost is MOUNT HARVARD (14,399 alt.); almost due west is MOUNT YALE (14,172 alt.) ; straight ahead is MOUNT PRINCETON (14,177 alt.). Rimming the valley to the east are the lower mountains of the Park Range.

SALIDA, 23 miles (7,050 alt., 5,065 pop.) (see Tour 9b), is at the junction with US 50 (see Tour 9), which unites with US 285 as far as PONCHA JUNCTION, 25.5 miles (see Tour 9b).

PONCHA SPRINGS (Sp. mild), 27.5 miles (7,500 alt., 80 pop.), is built along a mountain slope from which bubble 99 mineral springs. Their waters, varying in temperature from 90 to 185 degrees, contain salts similar to those at Hot Springs, Ark.

The route ascends through heavily forested foothills to PONCHA PASS (8,945 alt.), 35.4 miles, chief northern entrance to the San Luis Valley, one of the lowest mountain traverses in the State, usually open throughout the winter. Indians and the Mountain Men used this pass over which Otto Mears constructed a toll road in 1875.

Otto Mears, highway and railroad builder, was born in Russia in 1841 and came to San Francisco with his parents in 1854. At the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the First California Volunteers, serving for a time with Kit Carson in the Indian campaign. After his discharge he explored New Mexico and Arizona Territories, then settled at Conejos (see below) in the San Luis Valley. With Major Lafayette Head he built a sawmill and a grist mill. As iron was scarce, everything in the mills except the saw and grinding stones was of wood. Rawhide thongs and pegs were used in place of nails; stone for the grist mill were of lava rock found near the town.

Mears brought one of the first mowers and steam threshers into the San Luis Valley in 1867, but Mexicans refused to have their wheat threshed by the machine, claiming it stole much of their grain. To reach a market for his flour that sold as high as $20 a hundred pounds, Mears constructed a road over Poncha Pass to the Arkansas Valley, the beginning of the Mears system of toll roads that comprised about 300 miles in the San Luis Valley. Several roads were later utilized as railroad beds, notably the route over Marshall Pass.

Mears was a presidential elector from Colorado in 1876. Always active in Indian affairs, he had charge of the removal of the Ute to their new reservation in Utah. Later he was appointed one of five commissioners to make a new treaty with the Indians for 11,000,000 acres of land now included in Montrose, Delta, and Mesa Counties. The Ute complained that the Federal Government had not kept its promises in the past and demanded cash. Mears paid them $2 each, and they signed the treaty. Charges of bribery filed against him were dismissed when he explained to Secretary of the Interior Kirkwood that the Ute preferred the small cash payment to the uncertain payment of interest on $1,800,000. The $2,800 he spent for the purpose was refunded. Mears constructed a section of the Denver & Rio Grande Southern Railroad, later becoming its president. He died at Pasadena, Calif., in 1931; his portrait in stained glass occupies a window in the State capitol dome.

South of Poncha Pass the highway runs between (L) San Isabel National Forest (see Tour 8b) and Cochetopa National Forest (see Tour 9b) ; slopes are heavily wooded with spruce, pine, aspen, and cedar.

ROUND HILL, 37.7 miles (8,677 alt., 5 pop.), a railroad repair siding and water station, was named for the mountain east of town. Local legend has it that an old miner once buried a donkey skin filled with gold on this hill, and innumerable holes pitting the slopes bear testimony to the industry of the credulous. South of Round Hill the highway roughly parallels the Sangre de Cristo Range (L) to VILLA-GROVE, 50.4 miles (7,952 alt., 125 pop.), a ranch center, typical of the villages of the more remote parts of Colorado.

Except for occasional upthrusts of rock, the SAN LUIS VALLEY, once the bed of an inland sea, is level. Broad expanses are covered with chico and greasewood, broken frequently by well-cultivated green fields. Potatoes grown on rich irrigated lands are the chief money crop of the valley. The Rocky Mountains and Mexico were the original habitat of the Colorado potato beetle, ever the pest of potato growers. Living almost exclusively on the sandbur, which is related to the potato, the beetle was happy to add "spuds" to its menu. Soon the pests swarmed eastward, to the consternation of growers. During the 1870's the rose-breasted grosbeak, closely related to the cardinal, developed a liking for the beetle, devouring them in such great numbers that it became known as the "potato-bug bird," and its appearance in the fields was welcomed.

At 51 miles is the junction with State 17.

Left on this road is MINERAL HOT SPRINGS, 5.3 miles (7,767 alt., 25 pop.), a resort with a cottage camp and outdoor swimming pool (25¢).

MOFFAT, 12 miles (7,564 alt., 100 pop.), a shipping point for an extensive cattle-raising district, is at the junction with an unmarked road.

Left on this improved country road is CRESTONE, 13 miles (7,500 alt., 86 pop.), on the site of an old Indian campground where numerous arrow and spear heads, and stone tools have been found. It is named for the CRESTONE NEEDLE (14,191 alt.), the high serrated spike of the Sangre de Cristos that lies to the southwest. Most of the country around Crestone once belonged to William Gilpin, first Territorial Governor of Colorado, whose holdings were acquired from the Bacas (see Tour 11b) and included 100,000 acres, chiefly grazing land. This great domain has since been broken up, either by purchase or by squatters.

South of Moffat, State 17 continues its straight course across dry and dusty flats to MOSCA, 26 miles, at the junction with State 150 (see Tour 11C).

US 285 turns southwest, crossing a bleak area where sheep and cattle are pastured. The Sangre de Cristos to the east and the Cochetopa Hills to the northwest alone break the monotonous level of the valley.

SAGUACHE (pronounced sa-watch; Ind. blue earth), 69.7 miles (7,800 alt., 1,010 pop.), a thriving but isolated community retaining some of the spirit of the old frontier, was founded by Nathan Russel in 1866 when excited throngs of prospectors rushed into the valley seeking gold. Among them were a number of Germans mustered out of military service at Fort Garland, who named one of the streets "Sauerkraut Avenue." They were soon followed by ranchers, who settled permanently. Today, ranching almost entirely supports the town, one of the few in Colorado where cowboys in high-heeled boots, blue denim jeans, and ten-gallon hats are seen on the streets.

During early days Saguache, then headquarters of the Ute Agency, led a riotous existence; almost every other building was a saloon. The town won the county seat from Milton by a margin of six votes, said to have been cast by the oxen of a local farmer. Old-timers still talk of the race held here on July 4, 1879, when Red Buck, a local horse, was beaten by Little Casino, a "foreigner." Red Buck was the favorite, never having lost a race, and Little Casino's owner, a traveler from Kansas, had difficulty covering all the bets offered at tremendous odds. The Kansan rode away with practically the entire wealth of the community, including the buffalo robes and ponies of the Indians.

Right from Saguache on State 114, used as an alternate route between the Western Slope and Pueblo during winter months when Monarch Pass (see Tour 9b) is closed. The highway follows the Saguache River, well stocked with trout. The bluish earth frequently exposed along the road, probably colored by copper content, caused this region to be called "blue earth" by the Indians.

The route crosses the Continental Divide over COCHETOPA PASS, 41 miles, to a junction with US 50 (see Tour 9b), 61.5 miles.

South of Saguache, US 285 is known as the Gunbarrel Road for its singularly straight course.

MONTE VISTA, 105 miles (7,500 alt., 2,610 pop.) (see Tour 11c), is at the junction with US 160 (see Tour 11), which is united with US 285 for 17 miles (see Tour 11c).

In ALAMOSA, 122 miles (7,500 alt., 5,107 pop.) (see Tour 11b), is the western junction with US 160 (see Tour 11).

Section c. ALAMOSA to the NEW MEXICO LINE; 71.5 miles. US 285

South of ALAMOSA, 0 miles, the route traverses the lower portion of San Luis Valley, a level barren region covered with sagebrush, greasewood, and mesquite, and whitened by alkali. Distant blue mountains encircle the valley, populated largely by people of Spanish descent whose customs have changed little since early days. Many Spanish families settled along the river bottoms here in the early 1850's.

At 3.5 miles is the junction with a graveled road.

Right on this road to the junction with another graveled road, 3.5 miles; R. here 0.5 miles to the SAN LUIS VALLEY FARMS PROJECT of the Farm Security Administration. During 1938-39 the Administration here resettled 84 families whose submarginal farm lands in eastern Colorado had been purchased by the Federal Government under the land-use program. Identical six-room houses and other buildings have been built on the farm units, the majority occupied under a 40-year lease and purchase contract. An extensive irrigation system is under construction. Potatoes will be the chief cash crop.

The rambling, one-story, white frame COMMUNITY HOUSE (open 8:30-4:30 daily) contains an auditorium, school rooms, kitchen, dining room, and office,

LA JARA (Sp. rock rose), 15 miles (7,600 alt., 602 pop.), is the center of a large truck-farming area growing peas, lettuce, and cauliflower. In long low wooden sheds along the railroad, vegetables awaiting shipment are stored. Cattle, sheep, and hog raising are important here.

Left from La Jara on graveled State 136 is SANFORD, 4.5 miles (7,560 alt., 597 pop.), colonized in 1880 by Mormons from Salt Lake City, who first established a settlement called Ephraim on low swampy ground at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Conejos River. Unhealthful conditions caused them to move to the present site in 1885.

Left from Sanford 5 miles on an unimproved country road to the State-owned SITE OF PIKES STOCKADE, marked by a peculiarly shaped rock standing in a grove of trees on the bank of the Conejos River. In the winter of 1806-07, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike entered San Luis Valley over the Sangre de Cristos by way of Mosca Pass while searching for the source of the Red River. Noting the Great Sand Dunes at the foot of the pass (see Tour 11C) he proceeded to the banks of the Rio Grande (Rio Grande del Norte), which he believed to be the Red River. In February 1807 he built a stockade here to serve as a winter base for his explorations. It was constructed of cottonwood poles set on end to form a wall, and was protected by a moat spanned by a drawbridge. Here, unaware that he had overstepped the vague boundary between the United States and Mexico, Pike raised the Stars and Stripes. When Spanish officials became aware of this, an armed force of 100 was sent to the fort, ostensibly to offer protection against the Indians, but in reality to arrest the explorer for trespass. On the morning of February 26, 1807, so Pike recorded in his journal, he invited two Spanish lieutenants into his stockade where, after breakfast, the commanding officer said: "Sir, the Governor of Mexico, being informed you had missed your route, ordered me to offer you, in his name, mules, horses, money, or whatever you stand in need of, to conduct you to the head of Red River . . ."

This was Pike's first intimation that he was on the Rio Grande del Norte. The commander further stated that the Governor should be visited and acquainted with Pike's business on the frontier. Pike immediately surrendered the fort and lowered his flag. "I was induced to consent to the measure," Pike wrote, "by conviction that the officer had positive orders to bring me in, and I had no orders to commit hostilities." Pike added that as he had innocently violated Spanish territory, *'it would appear better to show a will to come to an explanation than to be anyway constrained."

Pike and his party were conducted to Santa Fe, where he was closely questioned and many of his credentials taken. Later, he was sent to Chihuahua, Mexico, and subsequently released on his promise not to return again to Mexico.

ROMEO, 21.8 miles (8,360 alt., 188 pop.), is a farm hamlet with a general store, grain elevator, and potato exchange.

Left from Romeo on State 142 is MANASSA, 3 miles (7,700 alt., 953 pop.), founded in 1878 by Mormon colonists from Alabama and Georgia, who are said to have so named it because they believed that the Spanish-Indian settlers they met in the area were direct descendants of Manasseh, eldest son of Joseph.

The town is best known as the birthplace of William Harrison (Jack) Dempsey, former world's heavyweight boxing champion (1919-1926), whom sports writers christened "the Manassa Mauler." The JACK DEMPSEY HOUSE (visitors admitted), a one-story adobe and clapboard structure west of the high school, was Dempsey's home between the ages of eight and seventeen. The house in which Dempsey was born, which stood on a near-by lot, was burned many years ago. During his early youth Dempsey roamed over western Colorado and eastern Utah, working in mines and on railroads; he began his career as a professional fighter in the mining camps.

South of Romeo the countryside is well cultivated, and good crops are grown under irrigation.

At 28 miles is the junction with an unimproved country road.

Right on this road is CONEJOS, 1 mile (7,880 alt., 90 pop.), seat of Conejos County; founded in 1854, it is one of the oldest towns in Colorado, but is not incorporated. With its squat dwellings and dusty streets it retains perhaps more of the old Spanish atmosphere than any other village founded at a contemporary date. Young men and women with flashing eyes and indolent grace, plodding old women, and older men with patient faces, wrinkled like parchment, move through the little community, intent upon affairs that have little in common with the life of the gringos, many of whom have absorbed some of the "live for today" attitude of their Latin neighbors.

South of the courthouse is the CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE, established in 1856 by Padre Juan Vigil. The adobe building of typical Spanish design, although damaged by several fires, has not been greatly altered. North of the courthouse is the long, low, adobe MAJOR LAFAYETTE HEAD HOUSE. Long prominent in the San Luis Valley, Head served in the legislatures of both Colorado and New Mexico. When Colorado became a State in 1876, he was elected its first lieutenant-governor.

North, across the river, is the SITE OF GUADALUPE, the original settlement in this vicinity. According to legend, this settlement was founded because a mule in the pack train of a Spanish traveler balked here. The animal was bearing a small image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and when threats, beatings, and cajolings failed to budge him, the traveler decided that the image was in some way concerned and vowed to erect a church upon the spot. The mule, apparently satisfied, moved on. As good as his word, the traveler returned with some of his countrymen, and a church and settlement were reared to bear witness to the miracle. Major Head fortified the town against the threat of the Tabeguache Ute who claimed this territory, and the fort was attacked soon after its completion in 1855 by a large force under Chief Kanakache, who carried a shield of buffalo hide so thick that it deflected bullets. During the fight Kanakache lowered his shield for a moment and was severely wounded by Major Head. The Ute withdrew, and did not again attack the settlement. Guadalupe was finally abandoned because of the threat of floods. Cloudbursts have obliterated all traces of the early town.

ANTONITO, 28.5 miles (7,888 alt., 858 pop.), is economically the most important of the small valley towns. Although still colored by Spanish influence, it is a modern village; up-to-date business houses line the main street, and long sheds for the storage of potatoes and other vegetables adjoin the railroad station. Situated at the junction of two lines of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, one south to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the other—narrow-gauge—west to Du-rango, Antonito is the chief shipping point for a large agricultural region.

MAGOTE, 33.8 miles (7,800 alt., 360 pop.), a community of Spanish-Americans, retains the atmosphere of the old Southwest. Adobe houses are gay with strings of red peppers hung from rafters, and beside them are domed outdoor ovens for cooking. Women of the village practice primitive handicrafts, weaving Mexican-Indian blankets, shawls, and wearing apparel; the men are adept at carving and other simple arts.

The highway crosses the Conejos River to ascend the eastern slope of the SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS, one of Colorado's last frontiers. Along their densely forested crests are almost inaccessible areas where snow lies unmelted most of the year. A few cattlemen and sheepmen live in this inhospitable land. The highway ascends to CUMBRES PASS (Sp. peaks), 66 miles (10,003 alt.), a narrow gap in the San Juan Range; Indians used this pass, and early Spanish explorers came north through it in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

US 285 crosses the NEW MEXICO LINE, 71.5 miles, 9 miles north of Chama, New Mexico (see New Mexico Guide).