Photo courtesy John M. MotterModernization was slow to come to Pagosa Springs, but it finally came. In 1895, the Pagosa Springs town board ordered street lamps. And, so, if you have old pictures of Pagosa Springs that show street lamps, the picture could not have been taken before 1895.
In another move that showed the town was growing up, Mayor A.J. Lewis warned that the town ordinance prohibiting the riding of horses across sidewalks would be strictly enforced.
Referring to the railroad line being installed between Lumberton and Edith, the Pagosa News trumpeted, “Scott Morris is making the dirt fly on the Rio Grande and Pagosa Springs Railroad. Ties are now being delivered along the line. Steel rails for eight miles of track and a locomotive have been purchased. By and by an iron horse will be puffing into Pagosa.”
The competition between the New Mexico Lumber Company building a line to Pagosa through Edith and the Pagosa Lumber Company proposing a line to Pagosa from Pagosa Junction was resolved by the end of June in 1895. This item appeared in The News:
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