— Subscribe to this topic on PagosaSUN.comEntering Pagosa from the east
Before and during the first years of settlement in Pagosa Country, the most used entry route from the east was the Elwood Pass Road. This route crossed the Continental Divide…
More early routes to Pagosa Country
Last week, we pointed out that the first settlers in Archuleta County built their homes along existing travel routes. Then we began a discussion of the first north/south routes through…
Entering Pagosa Country: the early routes
Pagosa Country’s first pioneers settled along the roads that already passed through what was to become Archuleta County. The major north-south road entered from New Mexico Territory. The points of…
Why not Pagosa Springs?
Fired with unabashed enthusiasm, pioneers began permanent settlement in Pagosa Country in 1876 and in Pagosa Springs in 1877. They entered with a variety of skills and hopes. The greatest…
Settling Pagosa Country: From gold to treaties, forts and more
Affairs concerning the settlement of Pagosa Country during the 1870s were a bit confusing and subject to change. The discovery of gold at various places in the San Juans starting…
From Army posts to Juanita
The first Army post built near Pagosa Springs was Camp Plummer, established Nov. 6, 1866, near Tierra Amarilla in New Mexico Territory, a few miles south of the Pagosa Hot…
Treaties and changing territories
The early years of contact between Utes and whites were governed by a series of treaties, beginning with the Calhoun Treaty of 1849 in which the United States promised to…
Trapping and trading come to Pagosa Country
Fur trappers started working the waters of Pagosa Country circa 1820. The first trappers, appropriately called the Taos trappers because they worked out of Taos, entered New Mexico and this…
Life after Spanish colonizers contact the Utes
Spanish colonizers were the first to contact the Ute peoples. This happened in New Mexico late in the 16th century. Contact with the Spanish was the beginning of the end…
Settling in Ute territory
We’ve been writing about the relationship between our pioneer forefathers in Pagosa Country and the Native Americans who occupied Pagosa Country when the first non-Native American settlers entered. Primary among…
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