Pagosa Springs History and Culture:
1860-1930

by Larry Larason
Four Corners Excursions

Charles Baker discovered gold in 1860 near the present location of Silverton, but miners who entered the area encountered hostile Utes and found little gold in the placer deposits. Mineral wealth in the Rockies usually required hardrock mining to recover. The placer deposits that most prospectors were equipped to mine, were often rich at first, but played out quickly. Animas City was founded in 1861 near present day Durango by some of those who had accompanied Charles Baker into the San Juans. In 1868 a treaty was negotiated with the Utes that ceded them roughly the western quarter of Colorado Territory, clearly including the site of Animas City.

The Utes kept most intruders off their land until 1870, when discovery of rich lodes in Baker's Park, lodes that had been unknown to Charles Baker, began another gold rush. Then, following more incursions by gold seekers, in 1873 Felix Brunot negotiated a treaty with Chief Ouray to free the "San Juan Cession," an area of 6000 square miles, from Ute control so that miners and settlers could legally enter this zone.

Who was Charles Baker? I've run into a lot of conflicting stories about the history of southwestern Colorado, and especially about Charles Baker. Everyone seems to agree that he found gold near the location of Silverton about 1860, but after that it gets cloudy. Let's start with stories about his death. Three authors I've found say that he died in 1868; all these accounts, with variations, say he was killed by Indians while prospecting. However, the best information seems to be that presented in the book by Adams. She says that in 1867 Baker led two other men on a prospecting journey that ended near the Colorado River, where they were ambushed by Indians. Baker was killed early on in the fracas, and the two survivors fled to the river, hastily built a raft and put into the water. The second man drowned in a rapid, but James White was pulled from the water, nearly dead, at Callville, Nevada after having floated through the Grand Canyon. This was two years before the "first" trip through the canyon was made by John Wesley Powell, and White's claim has been disputed ever since. But the point here is that Baker was killed in 1867. Death is a tough act to follow, but a man named Baker was in the party that discovered the lodes at Summitville in 1870. Was it Charles?

According to another book, a toll road through Pagosa Springs, supposedly built by Baker, was chartered by the Territorial Legislature in 1877, the same year that Baker planned the town of Pagosa Springs and began selling lots -- a decade after his reported death! Baker is a common name. Were there two Charles Bakers in Southwest Colorado in the mid-1800s? I don't have access to primary sources, so rather than perpetuate suspect history, I'll report a general outline that all seem to agree on and leave it to historians to sort out the rest.

Pagosa Springs had been recommended as a good site for a military post in 1867. Fort Lewis was built there in 1878 to control the Utes. The military built a road from Antonito/Conejos across Elwood Pass to facilitate the transport of supplies to Fort Lewis. A town site of about 1 square mile around Pagosa Hot Springs was staked out to provide winter quarters for travelers, miners, and settlers. There were already a few people living near the hot spring, and a post office had been opened about four months before the army moved in.

The Meeker massacre in the northern part of the territory resulted in dissolution of the Ute Reservation and the removal of the Indians to a narrow strip of land along the New Mexico border, or to Utah, in 1880. Fort Lewis was moved to Hesperus at the foot of the La Plata Mountains in 1881 to protect the growing population in that region. In 1885 lots were auctioned at Pagosa Springs, Archuleta County was formed, and Pagosa Springs grew. Several of the buildings in the long block of downtown Pagosa Springs facing the river were built between 1885 and 1910 on grounds that had been part of Fort Lewis. In 1891 Pagosa Springs was incorporated. Settlers were interested in ranching, lumbering, and coal mining.

The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad connected Antonito with Durango in 1881. The train line was a boon to logging companies. About 1896 A. T. Sullenberger built a sawmill near Gato [Pagosa Junction] and began planning his own railroad that would haul logs to his sawmill and connect to the D&RG at that point. The 31 mile route up Cat Creek to Dyke and Pagosa Springs was completed in October of 1900, and the Rio Grande, Pagosa & Northern R. R. began operations. Spurs were built to prime logging sites. Sullenberger also built a mill in Pagosa Springs, and rail tracks traveled through the town. In 1909 his franchise expired and he was required to remove the tracks.

The D&RG eventually took over management of Sullenberger's line. After the company fell on hard times the Pagosa route was the first to be abandoned. The tracks were removed in 1936, but old grades and a few crumbling buildings can be seen if you know where to look.

For more history of the region consult the book by Quintana cited in the bibliography.


Bibliography
Baars, Donald L. The American Alps; the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado. Univ. of NM Press, 1992
Hughes, J. Donald. American Indians in Colorado. Pruett, 1987.
Lister, Florence, C. In the shadow of the rocks; archaeology of the Chimney Rock District in Southern Colorado. Univ. Press of Colorado, 1993
McTighe, James. Roadside history of Colorado. Johnson Books, 1984.
New Mexico Geological Society.
* Guidebook of Rio Chama Country. 1960.
* Mesozoic geology and paleontology of the Four Corners region. 1997
* San Juan - San Miguel - La Plata Region. 1968
Quintana, Frances Leon. Pobladores; Hispanic Americans of the Ute frontier. Privately printed by author, Aztec, NM, 1991.
Smith, Duane A. Rocky Mountain West; Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, 1859-1915. Univ. of NM Press, 1992.
Sprague, Marshall. Colorado; a history. Norton, 1984.
[Newspaper, Internet, and magazine articles are not cited.]

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