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| Drawing of Fort Garland, 1868 |
Courtesy, Colorado Historical Society
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Los Caminos Antiguos
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Segment 4: A New Flag
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| At the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848, the San Luis Valley became part of the United States. In 1858, attempting to protect its new citizens from Native American tribes who also laid claim to the region, the U.S. government built Fort Garland. After the Civil War broke out in 1861, volunteers manned the fort. A regiment of 200 volunteers, which included many Spanish-speaking settlers, was organized in the San Luis Valley for this purpose. |
| When the Territory of Colorado was created in 1861, William Gilpin, first governor of the Territory, advocated that the Utes be removed from the mining regions of the San Juan Mountains to reservations elsewhere in the Territory. In 1862 John Evans replaced Gilpin as the territorial governor. Evans, too, was interested in mining, and also advocated the removal of the Utes from mining lands. In 1863 Governor Evans held a meeting with the Utes in Conejos. At the meeting were representatives from the Tabeguache, Capote, and Weminuche Utes. The Muache Utes refused to attend the meeting. Under Chief Ouray, the Tabeguaches agreed to the treaty offered by Evans and were placed on a large reservation on the Western Slope of Colorado. The Capote and Weminuche Utes were persuaded to accept land in southwestern Colorado. The Muaches resisted efforts to place them on a reservation and conducted several raids east of the Sangre de Cristos between 1864 and 1865. Finally, hoping to avert a tribal war, Chief Ouray captured the Muache chief and turned him over to Kit Carson at Fort Garland. |
| In 1868 a new treaty was negotiated which placed all Utes on a reservation in southern and western Colorado in an area totaling one-third of the Territory of Colorado. The treaty promised 160 acres per family, seeds, farming tools, livestock, schools, and sawmills. However, almost as soon as it was ratified, another Territorial governor, Edward M. McCook, expressed dissatisfaction with what he believed were the overly generous terms of the treaty. Shortly thereafter, in 1873, under terms set forth in the Brunot Agreement, a large portion of the San Juan Mountains was removed from the reservation system and opened up to settlement and mining. By 1881, the Utes had been removed from all but a small corner in southwest Colorado. |
| With the removal of the Utes in the region, Los Caminos Antiguos was increasingly traveled by newly arriving settlers. Publicity attending the gold rush, changes in territorial jurisdiction, legislation enabling homesteading, and the presence of Civil War veterans all contributed to the pattern of growth and change. However, no event manifested greater change in the region than by the building of the railroad. |
| In early 1870, William Jackson Palmer, supervisor of surveys of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, had a vision of a railroad that he and his friends would establish to link Denver with Mexico City. A part of the plan was for the railroad to be built through the San Luis Valley. In the fall of 1870, Palmer took the first step by filing for the incorporation of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway. Construction of the narrow-gauge railway got under way quickly and by 1873 it reached Pueblo, about 100 miles south of Denver. Economic slowdowns delayed construction and it took another four years to lay tracks from Pueblo, over La Veta Pass, to Garland City, six miles northeast of Fort Garland. Again, economic troubles plagued construction and it took another year for the tracks to reach Rio Bravo, site of the modern-day city of Alamosa, Colorado. In 1880, following line disputes with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, the D&RG railroad began to build a link from Alamosa to Española, New Mexico and another link from Antonito to Chama: New Mexico. Bypassing established settlements, the railroad bought unoccupied land and created its own towns. Antonito, for example, was established in 1880 by the railroad just a mile from Conejos, the county seat. Antonito became the principal community of the area, while Conejos struggled to survive. |
| During the next 10 years, the D&RG railroad, as well as a couple of smaller railroad companies, continued to build lines throughout the region. The lines served passengers, agriculture interests, lumber interests, and mining interests. Towns such as Del Norte, Creede, Monte Vista, and Crestone grew and flourished. In the late 1800s, along with the iron horse and its iron road, Los Caminos Antiguos transported many people who brought significant and lasting economic and cultural change to the region. |
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