Lawlessness seeps into Pagosa Country

Photo courtesy John M. Motter
This photo, circa 1885, shows old Fort Lewis on the left and Pagosa Springs on the right. In the center is a bridge across the San Juan River built in 1881 to connect the town on the east with the road on the west, which ran to Durango.

By January of 1881, two stage coach lines were running daily between the end of the Denver & Rio Grande narrow gauge railroad and Durango. The railroad was building westward and soon would reach Durango, but in early 1881 it had only reached Cumbres Pass east of Chama. Travelers and supplies unloaded at the end of the railroad and transferred to the stage coaches running through Pagosa Springs to Durango. As the railroad moved west, so did the transfer point.