Settling in Ute territory

Photo courtesy John M. Motter
These are the remains of the Joe Mann cabin located on Elwood Pass near the headwaters of the San Juan River. One of the earliest and most colorful of Pagosa Country’s pioneers, Mann spent the end of his life in this cabin built of aspen logs. The Warr family operated a mine a short distance downstream. When Mann suffered his final illness, the Warr family took him in until he passed on. I took this photo circa 1980.[/caption]

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 those Native American tribes were the Southern Utes, although the Jicarilla Apaches and Navajo were also involved.