At times I will take a valley family line and follow their experiences to define what it took to live along with and sometimes what was necessary to survive the changes brought on by railway created growth.

Lets widen our view and look at the people that built what has become a wonderful alpine valley.

Thanks to the many people that helped with the preparation of this book, the fine help and photos supplied by the Monte Vista Historical Society , Ron Artencio who supplied much needed personal & family held information on the rail line, the rail workers and San Luis Valley,

Richard Cutter

2004

Violence, great physical violence built the Rocky Mountains, what was once the bottom of a vast inland sea is now pushed to the heights of these magnificent mountains. The shells and fossils of millions of year old sea creatures now lay bleaching in the sun at 14,000 feet. The minerals and metals deposited on the bed of this long forgotten sea, lay waiting deep in hard rock formations for modern mankind to dig into its core to feed our hungry industries. Cinders from thousands of volcanic hills and mountains mix with the minerals seeping from the rocks, then tumble down countless streams , mixing and eroding into a faceless paste that becomes the soil that nurtures the plants that countless generations of mankind and animal life have lived on.

Well before the first Native Americans were native to this area, the last ice age receded from the Rocky Mountains leaving a scene that was quite different than what was. The thousands of years of ice covered destruction left a torn and battered range of mountains that did not resemble the previous majesty of these mountains. Now with ice cut valleys, polished mountainsides and lakes hidden away to feed the multitude of rivers it is time to reforest and allow the large herds of elk, deer, bears and other indigenes animals to return. It did not take long for these mountains to return to the summer green of the grasses and trees, the blues, yellows and reds of the wild flowers that had carpeted it before the ice had come.

The melting ice fed rivers that re-sculptured the landscape, cut a new river bed that wondered two thousand miles from its 14,000-foot mountains tumbling on to the ocean. It is a grand river, although not as large and wide as the Mississippi River, it is the second largest feeding out of this large then un-named continent. It was grand enough to carry away the un-needed remains of this sculpturing project of Mother Nature. We now find an area that has nurtured the animals and human population for untold generations. What is left in the center of this great project is a large high alpine mountain valley that rivals all others on this planet. Surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges that push upwards to 14,000 ft., the San Juan Mountains to the west and the Sangre de Cristo Range to the east, it is an isolated world almost all to itself. Where as the mountains can get hundreds of inches of snow during their six-month winter, the valley feels almost no snow. Only the cold from its 7,500 ft elevation and the winds feeding out of the high mountain valleys. Although considered a desert because of its lack of large rainfall the valley floor has large areas of green oasis, a major grand river and cool lakes being fed from all sides by streams that are flowing throughout the summer from the winter snowcaps. This valley holds the largest water reserve in Colorado and until recently had hundreds of free flowing artesian springs and wells feedings it’s farms and industries.

Although cold and harsh during the short days of winter, it became a paradise for all comers during the summer months. Feed for the animals throughout the mountains, pastures along the rivers and lakes, and fresh water for all. It was no wonder that about ten thousand years ago the wondering tribes that were moving south from the land bridge to Asia came across this isolated valley and stayed to make it their home.