The First We Can Remember: Colorado Pioneer Women Tell Their Stories

Chapter 6 The Southwest: La Plata and Montezuma Counties

Coming out of the canyon, I was driving the lead wagon and there was a big tree sticking out into the trail. I could not stop, the wheel team could not hold the load, and if the leaders stopped we would have been piled up, so I swung the leaders out into the oak brush; the wagon nearly tipped over, but we made it. Sarah Ann Menefee Named for the mineral wealth to be found in the area, the county La Plata (Spanish for silver) on the New Mexico line in southwestern Colorado was established in 1874 from the area that had, for the most part, been Guadalupe (Conejos) County originally. Though initially the county seat was Guadalupe (Conejos), Parrott City—named for Tabucio Parrott, a San Francisco banker who helped finance the settlement —was county seat from 1876 to 1881. As such it is often mentioned in the narratives that follow. Durango—with its central location, its connection with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad by July 1881, and its smelter—became the trading and economic center of the county. In 1881 it also became the county seat, and Parrott City was thereafter essentially abandoned.1 In 1889 La Plata County was divided, and the western portion became Montezuma County. The town of Cortez, established in 1886, was chosen as the county seat. Big Bend, Chapter 6: The Southwest La Plata and Montezuma Counties Conejos River Durango (Animas City) Cortez Telluride Grand Junction Del Norte Alamosa Silverton Mancos Stoner Ridgeway Aztec Lake City Arboles Towaoc Lonetree SOUTHERN UTE INDIAN RES. Parrott City UTE MOUNTAIN INDIAN RES. Montrose Rico Conejos Bayfield Rockwood Pagosa Springs Ignacio Dolores (Big Bend) MESA VERDE NP C o l o r a d o River D o l o r e s R i v e r G u n n i s o n River Rio Grande A r k a n s a s R i v e r U n c o m p a h g r e R i v e r Disa p p ointment Creek San Juan Ri v e r San Juan R i v e r M c Elmo Creek Mancos R i v e r Piedra River C h e r r y C r e e k J u n c t i o n C r e e k Flori d a R . Anim a s R i v e r Beav e r C r . Lo s P i n o s R i v e r Cumbres Pass NEW MEXICO COLORADO UTAH AZ DELTA COUNTY GUNNISON COUNTY HINSDALE COUNTY MONTROSE COUNTY MESA COUNTY RIO GRANDE COUNTY MINERAL COUNTY OURAY COUNTY CONEJOS COUNTY ARCHULETA COUNTY MONTEZUMA COUNTY DOLORES COUNTY SAN MIGUEL COUNTY LA PLATA COUNTY SAN JUAN COUNTY N 50 mi 0 25 8. The southwest the southwest 191 referred to many times in the narratives, was so named for the bend in the Dolores River at its southernmost point. In 1878 Big Bend was essentially replaced by the town of Dolores, named after the Spanish for the river, Rio de Nuestra Senora de los Dolores (River of Our Lady of Sorrows), two miles upstream from Big Bend.2 In addition to mining, ranching and farming were inspirations for settlement in the area, and many of the narratives give pictures of daily life on the farms or ranches. There is one delightful moment, for example, when a narrator recalls that one farmer was discovered using his rifle as a plow. There are also many narratives of details that have come to represent the West: these narrators describe difficulties of overland travel, hangings by vigilantes, gunfights in the streets, the rustling of cattle, and attacks on and by American Indians. Although the American frontier is commonly thought of as a general westward movement from the eastern United States, these narratives demonstrate that settlement of “the West” came from many different directions. Although many are from the East, several settlers also arrived from Europe, Canada, and places within the United States such as Oregon, Utah, and Texas. Given their proximity to the Southern Ute Reservation, these women frequently encountered Indians, especially Utes and Navajos, and not all encounters were peaceful. As several narrators note, however, white settlers rather than the Indians usually initiated the troubles. Mary Hansen asserts, for example, that “the only Indian uprisings seem to have been when...