Read Reflections from the Past- Part 5 here.
By Billy Willett
Our home on Lewis street was a treasure trove of early Pagosa history. It has served as a military barracks, a boarding house, and home to at least two previous families.
There were winters that snow would pile up to the eves of the back porch, we would open the bedroom window and sled off the roof. One time, as my father was remodeling, he found an old tobacco pouch between the walls of the old coal shed that contained small nuggets of gold still embedded in rock. When the chicken coup was being torn down to make way for a garage we found an old Springfield rifle between the walls dated 1878. The old coal shed attached to back of the house became my father’s print shop. I hope that the visitors to this old house enjoy not only the beauty of the San Juans but the history that the old timbers of this place would love to tell. Who knows but maybe in some peaceful still of the night, some past resident may return looking for that stash of Red Ryder Comics somewhere within.
