The Spanish in Colorado

[djui5]

I read somewhere recently about someone wondering if the Spanish had made their way up to Colorado. Can't find the post so I'm starting this thread:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3957074

 

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[Celtic Crusader]

Great thread! Most of the "stories" I have researched have some sort of connection to the Spanish. Well, the most memorable stories at least.
Thanx -CC

 

[Old Dog]

Djui5,

A lot of old timers will tell you (at least the ones I listen to) about a rout that went from Wyoming area to mexico bypassing Santa Fe NM. They would do this carying gold because the then Governor of Santa Fe would demand taxes from the miners, which they knew they would have to pay again once they reached Mexico city.

I was courious about this when I was younger as I have seen a Name and date chiseled into a rock face. I was 16 and on a hunting trip at the time. (the date was 1679) I saw this in NW colorado,

The old timers tell me that one of Fry Escalante's unrecorded missions was to find this trail.
NW Colo and NE utah are full of the spanish signs and lost spanish mines..

BTW... Escalante never found the rout the miners used to go around Santa Fe.

Old Dog

 

[djui5]

Well that's interesting! Now I got more terrain to cover

Have you ever found anything in Utah

 

[Old Dog]

Utah into Wyoming is covered with spanish sighns. There are old stories of lost mines and caches of spanish loot all over the state.

OD

 

[dennisdunigan]

I have a lot of stories, & photos about the spanish in Colorado. I don't mind sharing.
Here are some of the books I have.
"San Luis Valley Rock Art" by Ron Kessler it has some intresting photos in it. Crosses
"Treasure Tails of the Rockies" by Perry Eberhart has cool stories in it.
The spanish trail came into the San Luis Valley, there was a fort here. Glad to share more.
I have maps too.

 

[morbiusandneo]

Utah into Wyoming is covered with spanish sighns. There are old stories of lost mines and caches of spanish loot all over the state.

OD

This sounds like a "YES!" to me......steven.

 

[CoinMiner]

Interesting to note that the Spanish must have come through Colorado and Wyoming trying to catch up with Louis and Clark. According to the article I read (can't remember where) the Spanish weren't happy about them cutting through. They missed Louis and Clarks expedition by 2-4 days if I remember correctly.

I was actually trying to research Spanish routes through Colorado and Wyoming today.

Mitch

 

[Shecker]

The Spanish did in fact mine in Colorado. Recently I found a series of Spanish markings on trees near Powderhorn, CO. The Spanish were there for the easy to process silver ores of the area.

 

[Old Dog]

Shecker,

Welcome to TN
I hope you have many happy hours scouring these threads for information

Yes the Spanish were in CO and many prospectors trails go through the Grand valley into Utah and north into Wyoming.
But if they were after silver in the Grand Valley or on the Grand Mesa .....
What info do you have, Just curious.
The silver that I am familiar with is around the Leadville , Mintern area. and across into Silverton and Durango.


There are Spanish Marks on trees made by Fray Dominguez by the Escalante Canyon But the trees didn't give the Spanish much of an opportunity for markers. If you have found more, You have made a find. I would like to see them.
Give me a pm or an Email and we can trade some info.

Welcome again

Old Dog

 

[Leones Corazon]

Collbran...interesting as it shows similiar styles as used in arizona....the pack mule portion caught my attention....then as i got closer the the face and the pointer came out plain as day....

 

[Old Dog]

This part of the country is covered with those.
Give me an afternoon and I can show you a dozen really quickly.

Some are even pretty famous
others are said to be sheep herders markers ,

Most are Spanish.

OD

 

[Oroblanco]

Just found this thread, pretty interesting stuff! Thought perhaps I could add a little bit:

The Colorado area, first claimed by Spain in the16th century, and France in the18th century. Spain traced its claim to the southwestern US to the 1540 Coronado expedition that explored much of New Mexico and Arizona. While he probably didn't reach present day Colorado, that didn't keep Spain from citing the trip as precedence for a claim to the Rio Grande and Colorado river basins.

The first Spanish settlements on the middle Rio Grande were in 1598. Spanish explorers had to have reached Colorado prior to 1694 since the written record from the Don Diego de Vargas 1694 trip into southern Colorado refers to already named landmarks that he passed.

Colorado was acquired in part by the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and explored by U.S. Army officers Zebulon Pike (1806), Stephen Long (1819-20), and John Fremont (1842-43). Additional lands came from Mexico in 1848 as a result of the Mexican War, and from Texas in 1850.

Early Spanish explorers who came to Mexico heard the natives tell exciting tales of cities of gold and silver to the north. To find the precious metals many of these fortune hunters pressed northward, some of them coming into sections of the present New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. Some of these adventurers were the first white men to see the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the Rio Grande Valley, and other sections of the Rocky Mountain Territory. Escalante, the Catholic priest who tried to find a shortcut from Santa Fe to the Pacific coast, came through there on his unsuccessful trip in the summer of 1776.



(From Colorado State Historical Archives)

Also here is a breakdown of Spanish and Mexican land grants in Colorado:
http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/mlg/mlg.html

I remember the report of some folks finding of a small Spanish or Mexican mission church in ruins by a lake in a very remote spot in Wyoming, which hit the news when we were living there. I saved the newspaper clipping but have now lost that.

Oroblanco

PS Thom, hopefully we will get a chance some time - I look forward to it!

 

[Old Dog]

Oro,

Wish you had some time ......
I would be pleased to show yo some neat spanish things my friend.

Thom
OD.

 

[Oroblanco]

The map legend is here: http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/mlg/mlgmap.html

Thom, I hope we will get together some time - in fact I look forward to it. Good luck and good hunting, I hope you find the treasures that you seek.

your friend,
Roy ~ Oroblanco

Whoops, forgot to add this map shows the various Spanish/Mexican land grants within Colorado, color coded - the legend link is above. Just for those who claim there were NO Spanish or Mexicans in Colorado....

 

[Old Dog]

Roy,
Go a bit North and West. I am in Mesa county.
The Escalante Expadition came right through here.

I think you will be amazed to find out that there is even a Settlement here close.
I think it is one of the reasons that Escalante came up this way.
Another reason was (undocumented) that there was a significant decrease in mining traffic coming through the capitol In New Mexico. The then Governor asked Escalante to see if he could find the rout that bypassed the capitol.

Wen the miners came through they were required to pay (as a tax) 5+% of their gross to the Governor in passage. This would happen again when they reached Mexico City.

I think I would have found a way arround Santa Fe as well.
LOL
OD

 

[Oroblanco]

I think I would have found a way arround Santa Fe as well.

LOL!!!

I would be pleasantly surprised! I only wish I were free to make a visit SOON, but at the moment Mrs Oro and I are in the (long) process of getting packed up and moved to South Dakota. Danged developers bought up all the land around our little place here in AZ, and we have zero desire to live in the middle of a development so are putting this place up for sale - in the meantime we have a place in SD, which (thank God!) is also gold country.

As soon as our place is sold, I hope to be able to visit with you, I would love to see some of what you have found! Good luck and good hunting buddy, I hope you find the treasures that you seek. (And by the way, congratulations on your hard-earned discoveries!)

your friend,
Roy ~ Oroblanco

 

[Old Dog]

Thanks My friend,
The invitation is open to you and Beth anytime.

Please let me know if You need help in your move.
The house is almost finished,
so I will soon have more time to devote to the "beloved hobby". LOL

And maybe even more discoveries.

My prayers are Daily with your kids, Hope all remains well.
Keep me posted.
Thom
OD

 

[Shecker]

The old way around Santa Fe, NM, began in the San Juan's of Colorado -- specifically the areas of the Animas and San Juan rivers. Then it headed south to present day Grants, NM.
There use to be an old Spanish settlement at San Rafeal just South of Grants. From there it would travel down the east side of the lava flow from where they could cross over into Alamacito Creek. That would take them east to the Rio ?Grand River, not too far north of the old Mission at Socorro, NM. From there it was a straight trip south into Mexico. I am sure that there was an eastern route as well. No one wanted to go through Santa Fe heading south. The taxes demanded by the governor were quiet high.

 

[Old Dog]

The route was not a question in my mind as I have walked it.
I
believe it was one of the under lying reasons for Escalante's "unsuccessful" journey.

OD