‘One of the most remarkable hot springs on the continent’

Photo courtesy John M. Motter
This 1888 photo of the Pagosa Hot Spring and two bath houses shows buildings from Old Fort Lewis still standing across the river where downtown Pagosa Springs currently exists.

One early visitor to the Pagosa Hot Springs was Capt. John M. Macomb, an Army engineer who visited the Hot Springs in 1859 when they were as yet undisturbed by Anglo progress.

Macomb wrote: “In the upper part of this valley is the Pagosa, one of the most remarkable hot springs on the continent, well known, even famous among the Indian tribes, but up to the time of our visit never having been seen by the whites.

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