La Veta, Colorado

LaVeta, a 1.2 square mile area, is a land of cowboys, ranchers, artists, and legends. It is a beautiful small, laid-back community at the base of the Spanish Peaks, 14 miles West of the county seat of Walsenburg on the Highway of Legends in Southern Colorado. The history of this area is evident everywhere you look.  You’ll still find an old adobe fort, stone houses, dirt roads, cattle drives, coal trains passing through, narrow gauge passenger trains laying over for an afternoon luncheon or shopping, and an annual 4-H County Rodeo, Parade, and Barn Dance. LaVeta served as a very vital lifeline a century ago, and is now home to a diverse population of artists and ranchers. 

The quiet beauty of LaVeta is becoming well known as a hub for artists, poets, authors, and musicians. The creative and quiet atmosphere of LaVeta brings many visitors during the spring and summer months.  The local RV parks, campgrounds, and historic hotels swell the town’s population from year-round numbers of 950 to several thousand.  There are many things to do in LaVeta as well as the nearby towns.  You can visit the local art galleries; play golf on the acclaimed Grandote Peaks Golf Course; participate in local arts and crafts festivals; visit nearby towns, museums, and historic sites; take a day ride to Alamosa on the new Rio Grande Scenic Rail Excursion narrow gauge passenger train over the LaVeta Pass; enjoy the many outdoor recreational activities of the area; have an ice-cream cone at ‘Charlie’s” general store’s ole fashioned lunch counter; or do some in-depth researching and enjoying of the local legends and histories.

THE VEIN: LaVeta, a Spanish word for ‘vein’ probably refers to the many dykes radiating in all directions from the West Spanish Peak.  It has also been stated that the vein refers to the mineral veins that have been reported in the West Spanish Peak.  Because the Peaks were thought to be the home of gods and the deposit for their treasure it was perhaps these same Spanish Peaks that were recorded by this name as a source of gold in Aztec annals in far away Mexico City. It is said that the veins of gold that were known to the Aztec Indians was the source of the gold that adorned and decorated their sacred altars, temples, and clothing. It was probably the hearty conquistadors who were in the first recorded entry by white men into what is now Colorado in 1694 when the Governor of Spanish New Mexico led an expedition here. According to the old Aztec legend, the valley in which LaVeta lies, at the foot of the Spanish Peaks, was once a Paradise on earth, where no man suffered pain or cold, or was ever unhappy.  This blissful state continued until the first Spanish arrived, when the gods of the Huajotolla became angry at their invasions and search for sacred gold that they made the valley as other parts of the earth.  Several sources report that these gold veins have been depleted.  Other sources say that local prospectors tried to find these gold veins and because they were sacred to the Aztec they were hidden by the gods never to be found again. Geologists say that any gold veins in the mountains is nearly impossible based upon their geologic makeup.  (see the Legends section for more information)

THE HUAJATOLLA: LaVeta, a high plains valley is surrounded by the Spanish Peaks to the south, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the west, and Greenhorn Mountain to the north.  The “Peaks” were known to the Comanche as “Huajatolla” which means “Double Mountain”.   To the Pueblo the word “Wahatoya” loosely translates as “Breasts of the World”. The Peaks can be seen for over 100 miles away and were used as an important landmark by all those who passed through this area.  Many ancient Indians believed the Peaks were the home of the rain gods and therefore thought of them as the source of life where clouds and rain were born and from which all living things received sustenance.  Later, many other tribes such as the Apache, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Ute also hunted and camped in this area and traveled to the nearby sacred site of Mt. Blanca.  It has been said that the ancient Peruvian shamans traveled here to the Spanish Peaks to hold sacred ceremonies.

It is likely that the Spanish soldier Juan de Ulibarri spied the twin peaks when he crossed the high mesas of what now are the Colorado-New Mexico borderlands on his 1706 expedition to found the settlement of Santo Domingo near the Smoky Hill River in present-day Kansas.  His guide, the frontiersman Jose Naranjo, probably had enjoyed this view already.  Governor Valverde of New Mexico camped at the feet of the peaks in 1719 when he led 600 soldiers and Apaches along the mountain front in pursuit of raiding Comanches.  Settlers later arrived from New Mexico to farm and raise livestock on the upper Apishipa and Cucharas rivers north and east of the Spanish Peaks which were then some of the northernmost outposts of Spanish Mexico. 

The Spanish Peaks region served as a cultural crossroads throughout the 19th century.  Influenced by the presence of Bent’s fort, the Santa Fe Trail, and Hispanic settlements near present day Pueblo, Walsenburg, and LaVeta, American Indians mingled and traded with French, African-American, and Euro-American trappers and traders, Hispanic farmers and solders. 

These Spanish Peaks were masses of molten igneous rock which pushed toward the surface but never reached it.  When they were formed, magma also surged upward into cracks in the ground and hardened.  Over time, the softer sediments surrounding the hardened magma wore away, leaving giant walls, called dikes.  Over four hundred separate dikes fan out and radiate from the Peaks like spokes in a wheel and vary in length from a few hundred feet to over 14 miles.  The dikes range up to one hundred feet high and vary in width from one foot to one hundred feet.  Photographs of these long dikes, considered by geologists to be one of the world’s best examples of this unique earth feature, are found in geology textbooks worldwide.  You can see many of these ‘spokes’ as you drive along the Highway 12 loop.

FORT FRANSCICO: The Spanish Conquistadors arrived in New Mexico in the 1500s. Other explorers and travelers followed the Spanish.  In 1859, Col. John M. Francisco a native Virginian came to the Valley and settled at Ft. Massachusetts.  When the Fort was moved and became Ft. Garland, he acted as ‘sutler’ to the nearby town.  While on a prospecting tour in 1834, Col. Francisco selected a site in LaVeta for his home.  History tells us that when Col. Francisco looked down upon the future site of LaVeta he declared, “This is paradise enough for me.”  In 1861 he moved to the area where he planned to build a plaza to serve as his headquarters. In 1862 he bought land in what was known as the Cuchara Valley where he built Francisco Plaza as a commercial enterprise and a defense from the Indian tribes of the Cucharas Valley region.  From there he supplied nearby settlers and gold miners as far away as Denver.  His plaza, which also provided protection from Indian attack, is now the Francisco Fort Museum.  At different times his fort was a haven for settlers frightened by Indian Raiders.

In the spring of 1863 the Fort was placed under siege by Ka-ni-ache, chief of the Mouache Utes, who thought that the White settlers would eventually have to come out for water, not knowing that there was a well inside the compound. The Utes approach was detected in time to bring all hands inside the fort.  The Utes took up positions around the Fort waiting for the white men to come out for water.  The Utes caused enough alarm that it was decided to send for help.  Fort Garland was nearby, but was unmanned, so someone had to ride to Fort Lyon, 120 miles to the east.

Hiram Vasquez, who had been captured and raised by the Utes as a boy, volunteered to make the ride.  That night he went over the west wall, holding on to a gun and a bridle.  Outside the Fort, he found his mule and began riding easterly.  He arrived at Fort Lyon less than 24 hours later.  The next morning, Vasquez and the cavalry headed back to LaVeta.  By the time they arrived, Ka-ni-ache and his band had left, taking with them several head of the Fort’s cattle.  It seems that Col. Francisco convinced Ka-ni-ache that, not only were they well provisioned, but that the cavalry was coming from Ft. Garland in the San Luis Valley.

Today Fort Francisco may be the only adobe fort left in the state that is in private ownership today. The five rooms in the Fort itself are dedicated to different themes. There are the Native American room, a kitchen, parlor, bedroom, and Hispanic room.  Each room contains artifacts and items that the early settlers treasured and used in their daily life.  There are also two wings with 11 rooms that feature all facets of pioneer life.  You’ll find a country store, a ranch/tack room, fashions, house-wares, furniture, plants, musical instruments, military items, photographs, and all types of antiques.  You’ll even find a letter written and signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1850. 

Other buildings at the Fort Francisco Museum complex include the Ritter Schoolhouse, a log building from 1876 and furnished with many items from that period.  You’ll also find a saloon built in the later 1870s that features an antique bar and backbar, a barbershop and other exhibits; an early frontier log cabin housing a blacksmith’s display; a doctor’s office complete with a pharmacy; and an outdoor collection of farm equipment, wagons, and buggies, a handmade sleigh and many other unique and useful tools, artifacts, and clothing.

 This is a great place to spend a day for you and your family.  In July of each year the town of LaVeta and Fort Francisco are hosts to the annual Francisco Fort days which features an old time melodrama, historic baseball games, an historical encampment, music, booths, food, and fun for all.

LOCAL LEGENDS: 
   Goemmer Butte: Goemmer Butte is an 8,043 foot high volcanic plug, or conduit of a long extinct volcano, which rears to the west of LaVeta.  Its cliffed summit rises five hundred feet above the valley floor.  The Native Americans tell of giants who once roamed the area around the Huajatolla.  A quarrelsome tribe, they built rock walls as breastworks for their wars, using huge boulders as weapons.  The whole world reverberated from the sounds of their battles.  The gods of the Wahatoya watched as the tribes fought one another.  They grew angry and withheld rain from the area.  When the water became scarce, the giants ended their fighting and went in search of water.  They left behind one lone warrior to stand guard over their prized valley.  The gods never returned.  The guard continued at his post.  One day he sat down to rest and the gods, seeing his dedication turned him into stone as a monument for all to see.  If you ride West of LaVeta on Highway 12 you will pass this stone guardian.  From the right angle he looks very much like a giant ape sitting sentry over the valley.  Take a ride out and imagine what it must have been like for this giant of legends to be left here to guard the valley for all eternity.

  The Devil’s Stairstep: Six miles from LaVeta, Highway 12 passes under the Devil’s Stairsteps, an abrupt volcanic rock dike that stairsteps south from the highway.  The Devil’s Stairstep is one of the grandest dikes in the area. The legend of the Devil’s Stairstep says that eons ago, when the Earth was new, the Devil was allowed out of his fiery home to survey the world.  He chose the Cuchara Valley as his entrance, climbing up the Stairstep and sitting on the twin mountains.  Surveying the World he began plotting how to make it his.  However, God knew of his plotting and, noticing the beauty of the Valley and the surrounding mountains, God decided to take it as His own and forbade the Devil to ever enter the area again.  As God cast the Devil out it is said that he used his stairstep to retreat into his fiery world.  The stairstep remained for all to see that God claimed this valley for Himself and wouldn’t allow the Devil to step out into this area again.

  Demons on the Mountains: A Native American legend recorded in the Mexico City archives says that many years ago before the first white man stepped ashore, even before the alliance of the three kingdoms, Alcolhua, Aztec, and Tepance, gold was already an eagerly sought article.  But, it was not coined in those days, nor was it used as barter.  Instead it was offered to the deities only, and with it the shrines of Huitzilopochtli were decked.  But when Nexhuatcoyoti reigned in splendor at Tezcuco, the gods of the Mountains Huajatolla became envious of the magnificence of his court and they placed demons on the double mountain and forbade all men further approach.
 
When Coronado returned to Mexico after his search for Quivira, he left behind three monks and others of the group to begin a colony.  Two of the monks tried to bring Christianity to the Native Americans, both died for their efforts.  The third monk, Juan de la Cruz, found the rich gold and silver mine of the legends.  He claimed to have overcome the demons of the mountains.  Native Americans of the Pecos region reported that their people were forced to work in the mine, bringing out gold and sliver ore.  When the slaves had served their purpose, they were all killed.  Juan de la Cruz, and his followers loaded a number of pack animals with the ore and left for Mexico.  They were never seen again.  Gold nuggets that might have been part of their treasure were found later, scattered along an ancient trail.

Some of the earliest records found in Mexico City speak of gold coming from a double-mountain in the north.  This gold adorned the sacred alters in Mayan and Aztec cultures.  Many legends tell of gold found in the Wahatoya; however, most of today’s archeologists and geologists say this is not the case.  But the stories continue.

  The Old Ones: The oldest known legend of the Wahatoya comes from the pre-plains Indian people who are sometimes referred to as, “The Old Ones.”  It is they who claimed that the Wahatoya, and surrounding foothills and valleys, were once a paradise, a virtual Garden of Eden.  But the story goes on to say that a long and devastating drought occurred in these beginning times which forced these original people from their birthplace.  They, along with many others of the four-corners region of the United States, migrated outwards to the four directions – South, East, North, and West.  Many indigenous peoples around the world speak of this migrational movement in their creation stories.  These early stories are a possible explanation as to why there remains such a mysterious connection between the Wahatoya and the southern lands of Mexico.

 TLOLAK: Another legend of the Wahatoya tells of a rain god, by the name of TLOLAK, who resides in the double mountains.  TLOLAK is the revered god of fertility and rain by the ancient Mayan peoples.  His face is found on the ancient pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico, along with another honored deity, Quetzalcoatl - The Rainbow-Winged-Serpent.  This connection between the Wahatoya and Mexico also offers new information as to why the Tarahumara Native, El Grandote – The Prophet, (the most popular legend of the land) chose this area of the world to bring his people.  He came to the place of his ancestors.

OTHER ATTRACTIONS:

Profile Rock:  Profile rock is one of the many dikes that radiate from the Spanish Peaks.  If you have a sharp eye, you may be able to see the profiles of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.  Some say they see Martha Washington, or the face of one of the ancient Indians.  Others say they can see a train on a trestle and a rearing horse or deer.  Profile Rock is located just west of LaVeta on Highway 12.

The Dakota Wall: The Dakota Wall is a ‘break’ in the North American continent that stretches from Canada to Mexico along the fault line that marks the eastern edge of the upthrust that created the Ancestral Rocky Mountains during the Laramide Orogeny, some 65 million years ago.  This sandstone was originally deposited on an ocean bottom and compressed over time by the weight of layers of rock, gravel, and stone deposited above it.  While this exceptionally hard layer of sandstone was tilted upright when the ancestral mountains were first pushed up, those softer mountains have mostly eroded away and left only these vertical walls behind in testament to their passing.  You can see this Dakota Wall as you drive along Highway 12 west from LaVeta.

Grandote Peaks Golf Course:  Visit the lush greens of the Golf course designed by famous golfer Tom Weiskopf.

The LaVeta Inn:  In the heart of town is a wonderful place to stay or just enjoy dinner. The historic LaVeta Inn is worth the time to visit.

 Ryus Avenue Bakery:  The Ryus Avenue Bakery offers delicious homemade breads, cinnamon twists and other incredible delights. Be sure to heck them out and make them a part of your LaVeta stay.

Art Galleries:  There are several private and public art galleries in LaVeta.  Each one is well worth visiting.

Busnesses:  There are several business in LaVeta that are worth a walking tour.  At Charlie’s genuine old time general store you can buy an ice cream cone at an original soda fountain/lunch counter.

Excursion Train:  The new excursion train service to the San Luis Valley began in May 2006.  It will enable tourists to make direct, same-day trips over LaVeta Pass or along the Toltec Gorge to and from Alamosa.  The trains consist of climate-controlled coaches and a food service car which will be pulled by diesel locomotives and will run daily from LaVeta over the 9,242 foot high LaVeta Pass to the town of Alamosa.  Another train will connect Alamosa to a connection with the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad at Antonito, where passengers may continue their journey on the steam-powered narrow gauge train to Osier, CO and return the same day.  The new excursion trains will run from Memorial Day through mid-October.  They are the first regularly scheduled trains on these portions of the old Denver and Rio Grande in over 50 years. 

The route between LaVeta and Alamosa was carved out of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains over 100 years ago. The last regular passenger train was discontinued in 1953, and few travelers since have been privileged to see the highest standard gauge crossing of the Front Range in regular operation.  With two tunnels, a horseshoe curve, and trackage on a narrow ledge, the mountain views are terrific any time of the year. 

There are many things to do in and around LaVeta, CO.  It’s the place to be for the summer. Come and enjoy the many festivals, the town’s shops, the ambiance, the area’s recreational activities, and the many other activities within just moments of your LaVeta home away from home.

For more information check out www.lavetacucharachamber.com  or www.city-data/city/La-Veta-Colorado.html