This replica is an exact copy of a large dinosaur bone unearthed in 2008 from a quarry located in Picket Wire Canyonlands. Apatosaurus is among the most massive land animals ever to exist. A member of the long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur is called . . . — — Map (db m184919) HM
This Catholic church and cemetery are important components of the small Hispanic community in Picket Wire Canyonlands dating from the late 1870s through 1890s. In 1889, Damacio Lopez, the original owner, sold this land to Reverend Bishop Mattz of . . . — — Map (db m182455) HM
Farmhand to Cattle Baron Eugene Rourke was born on St. Patrick's Day in 1849 in Wicklow County, Ireland. The younger of 10 children, Eugene and his
family immigrated to La Salle, Illinois in 1852. Tragically, his
parents died . . . — — Map (db m181884) HM
Today the Purgatoire River rolls through a rugged, arid landscape in a deeply carved
canyon—but imagine a lush conifer forest and verdant ferns right where you're standing!
Learning from the Layers
The layers of rock at the . . . — — Map (db m181056) HM
The Rourke Ranch Historic District, listed on the National
Register of Historic Places in 2000, is a striking example of a late
19th century cattle ranching enterprise. The ranch played a significant role in the settlement and . . . — — Map (db m181947) HM
A famous discovery was made right here along the Purgatoire River! During the Jurassic Period, hundreds of dinosaurs once inhabited this area when it was a vast lake. As they plodded through the mud along the lakeshore, the dinosaurs left behind . . . — — Map (db m181254) HM
From the air, you can see
the tracks of two sauropod
dinosaurs walking side by side
along the ancient lakeshore. The
discovery that some types of
dinosaurs lived in large herds like
modern animals happened because
of parallel tracks . . . — — Map (db m181013) HM
A day of festivity was followed by one of the darkest in American Labor history.
The state militia was on guard
Because tensions between the strikers and the company had been steadily escalating, the state militia was stationed on . . . — — Map (db m100513) HM
Most miners lived in company-owned towns like Berwind.
The miners often lived in company-owned towns near the mines where they worked.
Because of their isolated location, miners were forced to buy provisions at company stores, live in . . . — — Map (db m193636) HM
Excavations of the Ludlow tent cellars permitted archaeologists to contribute to the historical record.
The cellars provided the most comprehensive snapshot of daily life in the tent colony.
The goals of archaeology at Ludlow were to . . . — — Map (db m193557) HM
The legacy of those who fought and died in the strike is evident in workplace rights enjoyed today.
Miners lost the strike but paved the way for labor reform.
The coalfield strike ended in December, 1914, when the UMWA was forced to . . . — — Map (db m193556) HM
Between 1997 and 2002 archaeologists studied the living conditions of miners in southern Colorado.
Archaeologists carried out excavations at the Berwind coal camp and the Ludlow tent colony - two sites from the 1913-1914 Colorado coalfield . . . — — Map (db m193558) HM
Even though conditions were harsh, colonists forged friendships and a sense of community.
Approximately 1200 people lived in 200 tents made of canvas and wood.
Based on excavations, tents averaged 10 x 14 feet in size and were . . . — — Map (db m193627) HM
The following statements are from people who were involved with the tragedy. They come from official records and oral histories.
"They used to scrub by hand, go fetch the water a mile [or] two, [at] 3:00 in the morning. We used to make . . . — — Map (db m193570) HM
On April 20, 1914, the State Militia unleashed an un-warranted attack on striking coal miners and their families living in a tent colony at this site. Eleven children and two women suffocated in a cellar beneath a tent when flames engulfed the . . . — — Map (db m100509) HM
History often neglects or omits the 1913-1914 Colorado coalfield strike and massacre
Looking onto this prairie, you see one of several places where coal miners lived during the strike.
Miners demanded better wages, an eight-hour work . . . — — Map (db m193668) HM
The United Mine Workers of America has fought for workers rights at home and abroad.
The UMWA accepts all mine workers regardless of race, religion or national origin.
The UMWA was founded in Columbus, Ohio, on January 22, 1890. It . . . — — Map (db m193590) HM
On the morning of 21 August 1944, two B-24 Liberator Bombers collided in mid-air and plunged to earth killing eighteen men.
Crew of 42-51517
Lt. Horace M. Jenkins, Cheyenne, WY
Capt. Royal J. Brock, Columbus, OH
Lt. Clair A.Clark, . . . — — Map (db m77885) HM WM
Trail of Commerce
The heavily laden freight wagons traveled in parallel columns to minimize dust and for convenience when circling the wagons at night or when danger threatened. A circle of wagons provided a fine defensive position. But the . . . — — Map (db m77883) HM
Bent's Ranch on the Purgatoire River
In the fall of 1846, William Bent, supervising partner of Bent's Fort, selected a site on the Purgatoire River, about five miles downstream from here, to create one of Colorado's first farming-ranching . . . — — Map (db m77886) HM
Before homesteaders began farming the plains, before barbed wire sliced the prairies into neat squares, and before windmills spiked the horizon, huge open-range ranching operations controlled thousands of square miles of grasslands. Enormous herds . . . — — Map (db m280698) HM
In the late 1860s, directly across the street stood the Colorado Hotel, a two-story adobe building fronted by a wooden arcade. It was the station for the Denver Santa Fe Stage Line and, for several days, the refuge of some 60 Anglo town residents . . . — — Map (db m100505) HM
At a time when the military banned women, former slave Cathay Williams disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the all-Black 38th Infantry in 1866. She served honorably as Pvt. "William Cathay" for nearly two years. Ready to give up army life, . . . — — Map (db m135774) HM
South West Side (front)
Coal Miners' Memorial
Southern Colorado Miners Memorial 1996
Ben Johnson - Artist
Thomas S. Espinoza •
Charles Dintelman •
Mike Butero •
Paul Butero, Sr. •
Jasper Butero, . . . — — Map (db m100504) HM
Established in 1973, this National Historic District encompasses about 40 irregularly shaped city blocks in the Heart of Trinidad. The first log cabins and adobe houses were built here in 1861. Most of the existing buildings were constructed . . . — — Map (db m282383) HM
Erected through the cooperation of Federal, State and local governments by Works Progress Administration. Dedicated to the enrichment of human lives. A record of permanent achievement. — — Map (db m282499) HM
From this spot in August 1846, you could have watched a U. S. Military Force invading the Republic of Mexico. The U.S. Army of the West was already well into Mexican territory, for the International Boundary was then the Arkansas River, about 80 . . . — — Map (db m281896) HM
Commercial Street, which you are now facing, is a paved-over wagon trail that was here before the town was built. It was one path of the Mountain Route of the famed Santa Fe Trail. Thousands of ox-drawn freight wagons rumbled past here from 1821 . . . — — Map (db m281682) HM
"Raton" is Spanish for "Mouse".
On mountain branch Santa Fe Trail.
Crossed by Kearny's Army of the
west in the Mexican war and by
first regiment, Colorado Volunteers
in the civil war. "Uncle Dick"
Wooten's toll road built 1865.
Railroad . . . — — Map (db m77853) HM
With the faith and courage of their forefathers who made possible the freedom of these United States, the Boy Scouts of America dedicate this replica of the Statue of Liberty as a pledge of everlasting fidelity and loyalty.
40th . . . — — Map (db m280496) HM
Panel 1
Road to Santa Fe
"...for it begins upon the outside line of the outside State (Missouri) and runs directly toward the setting sun..." - Sen. Thomas Hart Benton, following the Santa Fe Trail survey, 1825
For . . . — — Map (db m97715) HM
This monument
marks the route of the
Santa Fe Trail
1822 - 1879
placed by the
Daughters of the
American Revolution
and the
State of Colorado
It also commemorates
the faithful work of
Harriett Parker Campbell . . . — — Map (db m77856) HM
Jews have been part of Trinidad's social, economic and political life since first arriving as traders along the Sante Fe Trail. Maurice and Isaac Wise opened a store on Main Street in 1867. The Jaffa Brothers' Trading Company was established in . . . — — Map (db m135690) HM
Trinidad is uniquely blessed to have over 100 years of its history preserved in photographs taken by a father-son team of camera artists, Oliver and Glenn Aultman, ably assisted by their wife and mother, Jennie. Through the years, their camera . . . — — Map (db m282473) HM
The two-story building across the street, with ornate lintels above its windows and a pressed-tin cornice, was built in 1883 by one of Trinidad's most famous citizens, Casimiro Barela. Known as the Perpetual Senator because he served in the state . . . — — Map (db m280697) HM
For centuries, miners have been taking canary birds down into their mines to warn them of potential disaster. If a tunnel or shaft collapses or is blocked, thereby diminishing the oxygen supply, the canary will be the first to react, usually dying, . . . — — Map (db m100501) HM
The first stage line began running past this spot in early 1861, before Trinidad developed. Stages carrying passengers and mail took about two weeks between Independence, Missouri, and Santa Fe. Trinidad's first stage stop, located directly across . . . — — Map (db m280687) HM
Engine 638 was manufactured in 1906 and put into service with the Colorado & Southern R.R. for service at Trinidad for hauling coal, cattle, agricultural products and general merchandise.
Later the engine saw service in other areas of . . . — — Map (db m116849) HM
Panel 1
The Ludlow Massacre
By April 1914, the striking coal miners encamped at Ludlow (ten miles northwest of here) had nothing to lose but their lives. Poor, powerless, largely immigrant, they had held out for . . . — — Map (db m97716) HM
One of the oldest churches in Colorado, and the first of the Protestant faith to be established in this community, was founded by E. J. Rice, pioneer Methodist preacher from Kansas, in October of 1869. The first edifice was erected on what is now . . . — — Map (db m280700) HM
The flat-topped mountain visible between the buildings, looking south on Commercial Street, was an important landmark for wagon trains on the Mountain Route of the Santa Fe Trail. This landmark guided them to the foot of Raton Pass over which . . . — — Map (db m280781) HM
This memorial is the
Property of the State of Colorado
The Santa Fe Trail
1840 - 1878
Two roads or forks of the Mountain Branch
of the Santa Fe Trail-Bent's Old Fort to
Taos and Santa Fe-joined . . . — — Map (db m104912) HM
The Santa Fe Trail was a major trade route to and from Santa Fe, New Mexico between 1821 and 1880. Wagon ruts, visible from the highway, evidence the thousands of caravans that traversed the route during its 59-year period of use. The Santa Fe Trail . . . — — Map (db m191749) HM
Welcome to Colorado. You have reached a traditional jumping-off point — one used for centuries by people traveling into this region. Native Americans passed this way seasonally on their way to and from hunting grounds. Spanish explorers marched . . . — — Map (db m280682) HM
The entire block across Main Street from you is the Trinidad History Museum, a complex of three museums and historic gardens overlooking the Mountain Route of the Santa Fe Trail. The Baca House, on the right, was built in 1870 by John Hough, a . . . — — Map (db m282400) HM
During the first decade of Trinidad's existence, education for children was intermittent and haphazard. Several private schools started, but all lasted only a few weeks or months. Although the creation of Las Animas County, with Trinidad as its . . . — — Map (db m280699) HM
Trinidad: A Place to Explore and
Until the 1700s, the Ute people traveled the Mountains of western Colorado, and the Apache controlled the eastern plains. The Apache gave way to the Comanche between 1720 and 1805, and the Ute extended . . . — — Map (db m188717) HM
The brick and stone two-story building with a cupola, directly across the street, was Trinidad's first city building, serving not only as Firehouse No. 1 but also as the city hall, police department, and jail. Until it was built in 1888, city . . . — — Map (db m105536) HM
Marker Front:Dedicated to those who gave the supreme sacrifice
Benjamin J. Belarde, USA • Gary V. Orsland, USMC • Roger A. Blatnick • Isamel B. Armanda, USMC • Peter V. Metas, USA • Bennie Romero, USA • Felidephio B. Gomez, USMC • . . . — — Map (db m62861) WM
Panel 1
Welcome to Colorado
Colorado's vast plains, rugged mountains and grand plateaus, so magnificent in their beauty and variety seem at times to overshadow the state's history and people. But look closely. The . . . — — Map (db m97739) HM
During the miners' strike that began in September 1913, when the United Mine Workers of America was trying to unionize the coal mines of Colorado, their most effective public speaker, organizer and morale-booster was nationally famous Mary Harris . . . — — Map (db m100500) HM
Dedicated to all men and women who served in WWII from 1941-1946
Fr. Leo Doyle S.J. · Fr. Joseph Haller S.J.
Fr. Charles Robinson S.J. · Fr. Victor Vifquain S.J.
Fr. Victor Dossogna S.J.
Committee
Nick G. Debono · Frank A. Deluca . . . — — Map (db m62862) WM
