Pagosa's Past

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Pagosa’s Past: Chief Ouray: chief spokesman for the Utes

March 23, 2021

By John M. Motter PREVIEW Columnist I have been writing about the history of the Southern Utes, our Native American neighbors to the west of Pagosa...

Pagosa’s Past: The Meeker Massacre

March 16, 2021

By John M. Motter PREVIEW Columnist This week’s column is continued from last week. We’ve been writing about the creation in 1878-1879 of the Southern Ute...

Pagosa’s Past: Another agreement with the Southern Utes

March 9, 2021

By John M. Motter PREVIEW Columnist We’ve been writing about the Southern Utes of Ignacio and their contacts with the white settlers of Colorado during 1876. The...

Pagosa’s Past: Pioneers and Ute Indians

March 1, 2021

By John M. Motter PREVIEW Columnist We’ve been writing about the relationship between native Ute Indians and European settlers pre-1850 in the Rocky Mountains. By 1868,...

Pagosa’s Past: Fort Lewis, Fort Massachusetts, Fort Garland and Fort Lowell

February 23, 2021

By John M. Motter PREVIEW Columnist In the early days when white and Hispanic settlers first started exploring San Juan Country in search of gold, the...

Pagosa’s Past: Government treaties and the Utes

February 16, 2021

By John M. Motter PREVIEW Columnist During Pagosa Country’s pioneer days, relations between the invading whites and the Utes followed a precedent repeated frequently across the...

Pagosa’s Past: Searching for gold in Colorado

February 8, 2021

By John M. Motter PREVIEW Columnist In 1859, thousands of Americans stampeded into the Denver area. The Pikes Peak gold rush was on. Many of the prospectors...

Pagosa’s Past: Entering Ute Country

February 2, 2021

By John M. Motter PREVIEW Columnist The Spanish government tried to prevent unauthorized trade with the Utes. Spanish frontiersmen living in remote frontier outposts such as...

Pagosa’s Past: A look at the Southern Utes

January 27, 2021

By John M. Motter PREVIEW Columnist Pagosa is a Ute Indian word meaning “stinking waters.” It is appropriate that Pagosa Country was named by and for...

Pagosa’s Past: The Basketmakers and the Great Basin

January 19, 2021

By John M. Motter PREVIEW Columnist We’ve been writing about our neighbors, the Jicarilla Apaches, who were greatly affected by events happening around them in the...