Alamosa

The first U.S. citizen known to have seen the site of present-day Alamosa, Lt. Zebulon M. Pike, was arrested nearby in 1807 for trespassing on Spanish soil. But the Spanish were trespassers themselves, the Utes occupied the land. The conflicting territorial claims were resolved after the Mexican War, when the United States acquired this region and before long forced the Utes westward. Founded by the Denver and Rio Grande Railway in 1878, Alamosa (Spanish for "place of cottonwoods") soon emerged as a commercial center, providing essential services to the San Luis Valley's farmers, ranchers, and miners in the San Juans. Today, Alamosa remains the dominant town for the entire region, continuing to serve farmers and ranchers as well as college students, tourists, and outdoor recreationists.

"I believe I can say with safety that no other locality with equal advantages can be found between the Gulf of Mexico and the British possessions." , , Alexander Hunt, construction chief for the Denver and Rio Grande, 1877.

Alamosa was both railroad-born and railroad-borne: in June 1878, its first buildings were carried intact from nearby Garland City on Denver and Rio Grande flatcars. Miners, freighters, bankers, innkeepers, and merchants rode in on the same tracks, and overnight the town took shape. During its three years as the D&RG's terminus, Alamosa was the main supply and shipping point for the mineral-rich mountains west of here, handling freight headed to and from the mining camps. By 1890 it ranked as the nation's busiest narrow-gauge rail hub, with tracks running in all directions, a bustling passenger depot, and the world's only triple-rail switchyard (to accommodate narrow- and standard-gauge trains). Though air and auto travel sent railroading into decline after World War II, the industry had already delivered its most important cargo: an enduring city for Colorado's largest mountain valley.

[Photo captions, top to bottom, read] , . Alamosa, Colo. 1882 [birdseye view]

. The San Luis Valley became an agricultural giant by tapping Colorado's largest artesian basin and using canals for irrigation. Potatoes and barley are the dominant cash crops. Here potatoes are being sacked for storage in a San Luis Valley potato shed in the 1920s.

. Alamosa was known as the "narrow gauge capital of the world" well into the 1940s although the D&RG had integrated into the national rail system by laying standard-gauge track. Both types of tracks are visible as this train heads south from Alamosa in 1966.

. Built in 1883, engine No. 169 operated in every D&RG Colorado division during its fifty-five years of service. It was taken out of retirement to represent the D&RG at the 1939 New York World's Fair and now is displayed in Alamosa's Cole Park.