Duncan is an extinct town in Saguache County, Colorado, about 8 miles south of Crestone, Colorado. Only one house remains, John Duncan's cabin. Duncan was on the Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4 and is now within Rio Grande National Forest.
Duncan, Colorado was first founded in 1874 when John Duncan found gold ore in a nearby river. Other prospectors soon settled around his cabin, and by 1890 a town was established. [1] The town was plotted by John Duncan, lots were sold, gold mines promoted, home were built, businesses established, even a newspaper, The Duncan Eagle. At that point, he sold lots in town for $25 a piece. The Duncan post office operated from November 21, 1892, to September 15, 1900. [2] Mail came six days a week and served 250 residents of the area. A school district formed in 1893 to serve the community and the last classes were held in 1899.
In 1900, George Adams purchased the Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4, which allowed him to claim property and mineral rights. [1] This caused the settlers to be considered squatters, and after a supreme court battle, settlers were pushed off the land. Settlers were paid $125 for each structure. Some of the residents of Duncan moved to a new townsite, just off the Grant property to the south, Liberty, Colorado. [3]
In 2011, Duncan Cabin was renovated and is now able to be rented out to visitors. [4]
The Town of Crestone is a Statutory Town in Saguache County, Colorado. According to the 2020 United States Census, the town's population was 141. Crestone is located at the foot of the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range, in the northern part of the San Luis Valley. Crestone was platted in 1880 by George Adams, owner of the neighboring Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4. In the 1970s, the Baca Grande land development was established on the lands of the Baca Grant to the south and west. Several hundred homes have been built there.
Costilla County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,499. The county seat is San Luis, the oldest continuously occupied town in Colorado.
The Town of Hooper is a Statutory Town located in the San Luis Valley in Alamosa County, Colorado, United States. The population was 81 at the 2020 census.
Campo is a Statutory Town located in Baca County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 103 at the 2020 United States Census. The town is situated on the High Plains, straddling U.S. Route 287/385.
Ward is a home rule municipality in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The population was 128 at the 2020 census. The town is a former mining settlement founded in 1860 in the wake of the discovery of gold at nearby Gold Hill. Once one of the richest towns in the state during the Colorado Gold Rush, it is located on a mountainside at the top of Left Hand Canyon, near the Peak to Peak Highway northwest of Boulder at an elevation of 9,450 feet (2,880 m) above sea level.
La Veta is a statutory town in Huerfano County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 862 as of the 2020 United States Census.
The Town of Moffat is a statutory town in Saguache County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 108 at the 2020 United States Census.
The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado.
Animas Forks is an extinct mining town located 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Silverton in San Juan County, Colorado, United States. The area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. At an elevation of 11,185 feet (3,409 m), Animas Forks is one of the highest mining camps in the North America.
Chama is an unincorporated community and U.S. Post Office in Costilla County, Colorado, United States.
Caribou is an extinct silver mining town located near Nederland in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. It was named after the Caribou silver mine nearby. The Caribou post office operated from January 31, 1871, until March 31, 1917. The Caribou Ranch recording studio was located several miles away, on the road from Nederland up to Caribou.
Arapahoe was one of the first settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Colorado. Nothing remains of the now deserted ghost town in Jefferson County, except a historical marker on the south side of 44th Avenue, between the towns of Golden and Wheat Ridge.
The Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4, south of Crestone, Colorado, was a large land grant made in 1860 by the United States to the heirs of the original Vegas Grandes Grant to Baca family of New Mexico at Las Vegas, New Mexico. Title to the grant at Las Vegas was clouded by a second grant of the same land. The Baca heirs were offered alternative lands from the public lands of the United States. The largest of the tracts selected, near what is now Crestone, was 12.5 miles (20.1 km) on a side and was located to the south of what is now Saguache County Road T, about 1-mile (1.6 km) south of the 38th parallel. The Bacas deeded the land to their attorney, John Sebrie Watts, but it soon passed by tax sale to a third party. The ranch headquarters was on Crestone Creek to the southwest of Crestone. The Baca Grant was one of the first large tracts of land to be fenced in the West and in its heyday was the home of prize Hereford cattle.
Madrid is a ghost town in Las Animas County, Colorado, United States. It is east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 6,590 feet (2,010 m). The town is the west side of the county along State Highway 12, fourteen miles (23 km) west of Trinidad. Madrid is named for Hilario Madrid, who settled there in the 19th century from New Mexico, not after Spain's capital. Originally called Madrid Plaza, it was established as a settler's post in 1864. Hilario and his brother Juan Madrid homesteaded there in September 1879. There was a Post Office in the town from 1882 to 1917.
Beshoar is an extinct town located in Las Animas County, Colorado, United States. The townsite is located at 37.2181°N 104.4066°W at an elevation of 5,922 feet (1,805 m).
Eastdale is an extinct town in Costilla County, in the U.S. state of Colorado.
Edgerton is an extinct town at the confluence of Monument Creek and West Monument Creek eight miles north of present-day Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It was across from Black Forest. The Edgerton post office operated from June 16, 1870, until August 28, 1902.
The Sangre de Cristo Land Grant in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico consists of 1,000,000 acres (4,000 km2) of mostly arid land. It was awarded by the government of New Mexico to the Beaubien family in 1843. The land grant was originally settled by Hispanics from New Mexico. Since the incorporation of the area of the grant into the United States in 1848, legal disputes between the descendants of the Hispanic settlers and Anglo ranchers about ownership of and access to some of the land in the grant area have been frequent and continued into the 21st century.
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Travel information from WikivoyageMunicipalities and communities of Saguache County, Colorado, United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| Towns |  | |
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
