This is an excerpt from the Chronicle in Trinidad from August twenty sixth, nineteen
fourteen. All Trinidad will extend tribute to the pioneers and spend the day at
the park. The people of Los Animus County cannot forget what is owed to
the hardy men and noble women who settled here years and years ago and put
their shoulders together to build up a city which is now one of the most
modern in Colorado. Many of the old settlers who will be present tomorrow came
over the old Santa Fe Trail and their youth, and have been here through
every stage of the development of the county. They've seen the present beautiful city
succeed the cluster of adobes that once was Trinidad. They've seen the prairie stretches
become farms, the hills tapped for their wealth of coal. Some of them
have seen the first railroad stretch, its ribbons of steel, and the first
streetcar. Many of them, in more recent years, saw the laying of
the first paving, the building of the first public structure of any size.
What Trinidad is today is largely due to these old pioneers. A number of
the Early Settlers have, in the past twelve months since the last reunion was
held, answered the summons of the Grim Reaper. A few there are who
had a personal acquaintance and association with Kit Carson. A few recall reminiscences of
the Indian encounters and of the days of the old time gambling joint and gunmen.
A great many who are reckoned in the membership of the Early Settlers Association
are not old in years, but are native sons who were born and raised
here, or who have resided here twenty five years. They will be the
old settlers of a generation. Hence when only silent little monuments mark the resting
places of the pioneers of today. But it will be a big day tomorrow.
It will be worthwhile to go through the park and mingle with the men
and women whose lives have been lived in the shadow of Fisher's Peak. It
will be worth while to hear the stories which will soon be lost to history,
unless some energetic scribe preserves that history. If you've ever visited Colorado,
or if you're lucky enough to live here, then you know it's an outdoor
enthusiasts playground, hiking, biking, skiing. The list goes on and on.
But there's another side to the centennial state that most people will never see.
It's a side that's a little darker, a little more sinister, and
a little bit strange. Welcome to Strange Colorado. I think it's maybe the
most fascinating thing in the world to read old newspaper articles like the one I
read at the opening of this episode. To see an article from nineteen fourteen
where actual original settlers to our state were still alive and holding a reunion in
the park so that they could just swap stories and relive the good old gunslinging
days is incredible to think about, and also to see the eloquent writer who
wrote that article really beautifully putting into words the importance of capturing these stories and
experiencing the tellings of these stories because he knew that one day all that would
be left of these people is their graves. And now here we are in
twenty twenty three and realizing that we are now existing in the future he was
talking about. It really brings it home to me how important it is to
tell these stories and to dig into the history of our state, especially the
lesser known histories and all of this was kicked off by me just sort of
looking for spooky locations to cover, because it is that time of the year
after all. And when I was looking, I came across a few places
in Trinidad. And given that that's my husband's old stomping grounds, Go Hony
Farmers, that mascot still cracks me up. I was really excited to find
out more about the history of the area, and when I was talking to
my husband about some of these locations, he was really interested in me finding
more on the history of some of the local well known places like Fisher's Peak
and Simpson's Rest. So today, instead of covering one spooky location, we're
just going to really wrap our arms around the entire city of Trinidad. Some
great people have come out of there. I married one, I've got a
friend, Holly, who lives there. I Holly so st picture wise,
because there is so much information on the history of Trinidad and so many examples
of spooky spots, it's going to seem like I'm just running down the list
of events of history. And if that's not your thing, just know the
spooky stuff is going to follow. At the end of our episode, like
it always does. If you hang on through the whole thing, though,
it'll make sense in the end, I promise. So without further ado,
let's take it way back. The area where Trinidad sits today has been inhabited
by people for at least ten thousand years. We love to say pioneers and
settlers and who discovered what, but the reality is, as most of us
know, people were here thriving before any Europeans ever showed up and took over
everything. And of course Trinidad be being located along a river and nestled in
a fertile valley right along the Santa Fe Trail, which was a route for
indigenous people long before it was a wagon route, is no different. The
banks of the Purgatory River that runs right through the valley that's nestled right between
the Spanish Peaks and the Sangre To Cristo Mountains was a favorite spot for setting
up encampments for indigenous people for like I said, at least ten thousand years.
The location made it ideal with fresh running water and abundant game. As
we've covered in the past, many of the native histories are lost to us
today. What we do know is that By the time Spanish settlers arrived to
this spot, the tribes that were living there were primarily the Ute, Cheyenne,
Arapahokiwa, and Camanche. The very first Europeans in this area came along
with a Spanish soldier slash explorer named Juan day Ulai. In seventeen oh six,
Ullabari's party came through the area and made their way north up into Kansas.
On his way through, though, he claimed the area in the name
of Spain and noted that the French were already making their presence known on the
Kansas Plains. So basically, during this time period, most of the impact
of European settlement was just them sort of passing through. While it was a
great spot, there wasn't really anything that they wanted to just stake their claim
on and stay there with. But they did say that it was theirs because
they could, and because the Spanish were the ones to claim what we know
now as Trinidad. They did not allow any trade with the French, and
if they caught anyone trading with the French, meaning mostly the indigenous peoples,
they would be arrested and thrown in jail. But as I said, because
the Spanish weren't really just hanging out all the time in this area. The
French got a little squirrely, and two brothers named Pierre Antoine and Paul Malay
went ahead and came right through on their own expedition in seventeen thirty nine.
Like I said, the Spanish didn't really have a good handle on this area,
and even though nobody was supposed to be there who wasn't Spanish or Indigenous,
everybody just kind of did what they wanted. By the early eighteen hundreds,
explorers that we are familiar with like Zebulon Pike and Stephen Long and Jacob
Fowler were basically coming and going as they pleased. We'll fast forward to eighteen
twenty one when Mexico wins its independence from Spain and what is now southern Colorado
south of the Arkansas River becomes part of Mexico, and at this time trade
between Mexico and the United States was legalized through a treaty. During this time,
this trail became known as the Santa Fe Trail, and it saw more
and more traffic as a form of transporting commerce by Mexican and US tradesman.
This trail linked Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is why it's
known as the Santa Fe Trail. The most lucrative thing to be trading was
fur so Fur trappers like Davy Crockett, if you can wrap your head around
an image of what a fur trapper was, were the ones using this route,
which is why Charles and William Bent erected Ben's Fort in what is now
Otero County, which is about ninety miles northeast of Trinidad, and this fort
became the most important site of trade in the Southwest for fur Ben's Fort also
has a lot of other history going on, and we'll get to that one
day too. The reason this specific area where Trinidad is now located sprang up
initially was because it was the ideal place to stop and rest for these large
wagon trains and they needed a spot to just regroup for a few days.
This was, as I've said, flat, right along the fresh flowing Purgatory
River. It was shaded by large old cottonwoods, and there was plenty of
native prairie grasses for their livestock to munch on. The actual remnants of this
physical trail that these wagons used is what is now Trinidad's Commercial and West main
streets. In eighteen forty six, we are in the thick of the Mexican
American War, and the US Army used this route, which wasn't necessarily easy
for wagons, but it was strategic to transport troops and supplies. Colonel Stephen
W. Kearney marched through here to get to and conquer Santa Fe, New
Mexico. This was probably one of the largest groups to ever try to traverse
this trail, so it was not easygoing. Kearney had an army of sixteen
hundred soldiers, fifteen hundred supply wagons, fifteen thousand oxen, four thousand mules,
and they also had teamsters, drovers, and even some women in their
caravan. If there was a way to go back in time and pick a
spot high up on a cliff somewhere and just watch a wagon train like this
as it moves through the plains, oh, that's an ideal Friday night for
me. This massive troop of people camped in what is now Trinidad along the
Purgatory River for a while before they pushed further through the difficult Raton Pass into
Santa Fe. In the latter eighteen sixties, the gold Rush and Colorado was
well underway. And now you're not just seeing fur traders and army troops marching
through your seeing prospectors and more and more and more settlers. As we know,
this is the time where the landscape of Colorado completely transformed and the indigenous
people basically lost any hope that they might have had to just be able to
live their lives in their native lands. When you start talking about fortunes being
won and lost, people kind of stop caring about the well being and the
feelings of those who stand in their way. And as we also know,
Denver was a primary example of this effect, and it was the center of
sort of everything happening in Colorado surrounding the gold Rush. It was the perfect
strategic location for people who are wanting to head off into the mountains and dig
around in the dirt to find some precious metals. So the next best form
of making money off of this situation was to supply this influx of people coming
in to dig around in the dirt. As more and more people were setting
up shop to sell things to the prospectors in the Denver area, more and
more wagon trains and traders were coming up through the Trinidad area along the Santa
Fe Trail to support their efforts, and one of these traders was a man
named Felipe Bacca, who traveled through this valley not with fur, not with
gold, not with anything. You might first initially guess. His load that
he was going to sell was a big load of flour. I mean,
it makes sense if I'm going to be digging for gold, Carbs are essential.
So as Felipe traveled through this valley that is now Trinidad, he was
just blown away by how the valley was situated and how perfect it would be
for agricultural purposes. The twenty nine year old entrepreneur set his sights on moving
himself and his family to this area and setting up a ranch. A few
months after his initial journey through, he and his family, along with a
whole lot of sheep, packed up and headed to the Purgatory Valley, where
he staked his claim on a piece of land that would eventually become the heart
of the city of Trinidad. And of course, there weren't many people living
here during this time eighteen sixty one, and those who did got to know
each other really quick Right across the river from where Bacca's land was located was
a log house built by one determined and lonely prospector named Albert w Archibald.
Archibald joined forces with a doctor, John Whitlock that same year in helping to
get an actual town set up in the area. Together, they surveyed the
future streets of the town and positioned the main and commercial streets right along the
ruts of the Santa Fe Trail. Once they completed their plat map of the
site, they began to wonder what they were going to call this new town,
and those who were kind of in and out of the area, or
who lived there on and off, proposed that a man named Gabriel Gutierrez,
who owned the only business in this area, and I bet you can't guess
what sort of business would do well along a travel route, Yeah, you
got it, a saloon, that he should have the honor of naming the
settlement because he was the first one to literally set up shop here. Gutierrez
suggested the name Trinidad, and everybody thought, great, let's do it.
Soon a second business popped up in the new town, built by Jan Ignacio
Alirez, who decided that along with a saloon, the next best thing would
be a grocery store where he sold fabric, groceries and whiskey by the court.
So everybody's digging in and really establishing a community here, and it's fascinating
to think about it. Really. I mean, these people got together in
the middle of nowhere and just decided we're putting a town here. Now,
Felipe Bacca, he's establishing a massively successful branch. And because he needed irrigation
and things for his crops and his sheep, he constructed a four hundred acre
ditch to help irrigate his land. And today that ditch is known as the
Bocca Ditch. And if you live in Trinidad, you know what I'm talking
about. So suffice it to say Bocca was a heavy hitter in Trinidad history.
Also, in eighteen sixty eighteen sixty one was just a happening year for
Trinidad that July Barlow, Sanderson and Company bought the Denver Santa Fe stage line
and then from there they organized the Southern Overland Mail and Express. This meant
that commerce and trade and new settlers coming in really ramped up because access was
easier, and in fact, this stage line that they set up became the
largest and the most important stage company in Colorado. Period stage coaches were used
in lieu of the railroads, and a stage coach could fit a driver,
obviously a messenger who was carrying mail and goods or whatever else basically the postman
with his big old sack of goodies like Santa Claus, and up to ten
passengers who could bring one hundred and ten pounds of luggage each. The fair
for each person traveling on this stage line was two hundred dollars, and that
is a pretty penny back in these days. Incidentally, the term writing shotgun
actually comes from the stage coach days, when robbing stage coaches was a very
lucrative way to conduct criminal activity, and so on stage coaches such as these,
where people were shipping money and valuables with the postmen and also bringing one
hundred and ten pounds of goodies along with them as they rode the stage line,
it was important to have some form of protection. So oftentimes the driver
would have a man next to him with a shotgun to help with defending the
stage coach. So when you call shotgun, I hope you're prepared to handle
business. Another interesting tidbet is that the Civil War was getting going during this
era, and in eighteen sixty two, Trinidad was used by Confederate guerrillas as
sort of their center of operations. But that same year, a group known
as the Colorado Volunteers, who were Union soldiers, marched straight through the Raton
passed to New Mexico and basically wiped out all Confederate holds on the Colorado region
in the Battle of Glorieta Pass. Thanks to Felipe Bacca's thriving agricultural setup and
the stores popping up, more and more families were moving into the area to
actually start a life there, and during this time, those who knew the
game began eyeballing their surroundings and seeing the potential for coal deposits, and in
eighteen sixty four, coal mining in southern Colorado took off. The earliest of
these mines were located in Starkville and Ingleville, which were near Trinidad, and
with coal comes big operations. Because these deposits were so productive, the companies
who were mining these areas began to bring in immigrants from Europe to help mind
the sites. Now if you remember from our Ludlow episode, this was pretty
controversial because these immigrants were taken advantage of and it wasn't a great situation.
Right now, what we have in Trinidad is this mass of melting pot of
people from Greece, Italy. There are the original Hispanic settlers, Polish,
Irish, Slavic, English and Irish, just to name a few. During
this time as well, another man named Uncle Dick Wootton arrived to the area
and decided to build a home at the very top of her Tone Pass.
Wooton was a trader and he was known for his fighting prowess against the Native
Americans. He was also a scout for John Fremont and a personal friend of
Kit Carson. Wootton saw the opportunity to make some easy money and decided to
set up a toll r over Raton Pass to New Mexico. In eighteen sixty
five, Wootton leased the land upon which he built the twenty seven mile stretch
of toll Road, and he used the Ute natives to build this new road.
Now, as I said, the pass was very difficult to traverse,
especially with the massive heavy wagons that they had during this time, so these
ute natives got to work cutting through the hillsides, blasting out rock, and
even constructing bridges to make passage over this area that much easier. Once this
toll road was completed, Wootton set up a little toll booth right in front
of his house, and he charged a dollar fifty for one wagon or twenty
five cents for a guy on a horse. In a surprising twist given his
history, he actually allowed natives to always use this toll road completely free of
charge, and he used his personal home along this route as a sort of
a stagecoach stop where travelers could stop and get a meal, refresh their horses,
and it was a good little money making gig. If you remember Albert
w Archibald from previously in the story, he actually opened the first school in
Trinidad in July of eighteen sixty five. They only had about thirteen students,
but they were able to teach all of them in English and in Spanish.
Also in eighteen sixty five, a man who was a trapper and a trader
at the time moved into the area with his family, and this man went
by the name George Simpson. Simpson would settle down into a quiet life in
the now fairly well established town, and he drove stage coaches over the Raton
Pass. He wrote articles for the local newspaper, served on the school board,
and dealt in books. Trinidad at this time had about twelve hundred residents,
twenty five buildings, sixty adobe homes, two hotels, and five livery
barns. Also in eighteen sixty six, that same year, Los Animus County
was established, and because Trinidad was the largest town in this area, it
was selected to be the county seat, which it still is now. Like
so many other areas, some of the natives went along with the treaties and
the promises from the US government and sort of followed the rules that were placed
upon them because they didn't really have a choice in the matter anyways. But
there were still those natives who refused to bow to manifest destiny. Around the
time of eighteen sixty five, tensions between the Utes who lived near the Spanish
Peaks and the settlers were really ramping up. Conflicts especially cropped up along the
new Toll Road along the Santa Fe Trail, and cattle theft increased, and
as a result, the band of Utes known as the watch I hope them,
saying that right began to attack the ranches and the settlements that were sort
of more isolated from the main population of Trinidad. It was during one of
these attacks by this band of utes that George Simpson and his daughter Isabel were
caught out on the plains. Without any real way to defend themselves and nowhere
to seek shelter, they ran for their lives, literally to the nearest and
highest point they could get to to try to protect themselves from these utes.
On horseback, they desperately and as quickly as they could scaled the side of
the tallest butte they could see, where they silently hid and waited for the
utes to pass them by, which they did, and George Simpson and his
daughter Isabel survived. Simpson later went on to claim that this butte had saved
their lives and as a result, when he died, he wanted to be
buried there, and twenty years later the town granted his wish and this became
known as Simpson's Rest. You can still see the giant obelisk at the top
that marks his grave, along with a light up sign that says Trinidad and
a big American flag, which I'm sure he thinks it's all very cool.
I've actually been up here once and the views are immaculate, and it's kind
of creepy at night. I also can't imagine trying to dig out a grave
at the top of that rocky bluff. That must have been quite the undertaking
pun intended now. Obviously, reports of the Utes attacking the town of Trinidad
reached the US government, and in eighteen sixty five, the US cavalry arrived
and with the help of some local mems, they defeated this last bastion of
the Utes that were trying to stick around in their original lands. Of course,
things like this infuriated the other Native populations in Colorado, and raids would
continue in this area from other bands of Native Americans well into eighteen sixty nine,
when they forced them all onto reservations. Speaking of Simpson's Rest, there
is a another similar formation that actually holds the title of being the highest point
of the mass that make up the Braton Formation. And if that makes no
sense to you, it's just a really tall, almost columnar mountain looking thing
with a flat top. It's neat to look at, and Trinidad uses its
silhouette as kind of their emblem, and for the longest time this formation was
used as a landmark or a guide for those traveling along the Santa Fe Trail,
so that they'd know they were on the right path. But I have
always wondered, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, why it's called
Fisher's Peak. What happened? Who was Fisher? Well? The story is
more of a legend or a myth. It's not really written down as fact
anywhere, but it goes like this, Once upon a time a US Army
major got lost. And reports differ as to which war he was participating in.
Whether it was the Mexican American War or the Civil War, we don't
know. But his name was Major Valdemar Fisher. He was traversing Raton Pass,
but wasn't really sure he was going the right way. He was supposed
to be following the previously mentioned Uncle Dick Wooton, but for whatever reason,
I mean, maybe he just wanted to climb a big rock. I know
several men in my life, my husband and my son being amongst them,
whose first inclination when they see a big rock is the climate. So that's
not really a far out theory to me. But he ended up diverging from
where he was supposed to be going, and he and a couple other guys
decided to climb up to this mesa and check things out and see what they
could see get a lay of the land. Up until this point, this
formation was simply known as Raton Peak, but from the eighteen sixties forward some
local residents began referring to it as Fisher's Peak, and it was used interchangeably
as Raton Peak and Fisher's Peak back and forth until today we just know it
as Fisher's Peak. But where do we get this story from? From none
other than Wooten himself, And according to people who knew Wooton, he was
a fan of tall tales and would later on say he didn't actually accompany Fisher
at all because the weather was bad. So who knows, But that's why
it's called Fisher's Peak. All right, Let's get into some more heavy hitters
in Trinidad history. In eighteen sixty seven, a man named Frank Bloom rolled
into the area, and he had actually come to Colorado that past year with
John and Maelon Thatcher. Thatcher's a name we know around here where they set
up and operated a store in Canyon City. But for some reason they decided
that wasn't the move, and they headed down to Trinidad that very next year
and opened the Thatcher Brothers and Company store. While out and about that year,
riding around Fisher's Peak, Bloom spotted some coal poking out of the ground
and I can just imagine the cartoon dollar signs popping out of his eyes.
He went on to open the first commercial coal mine inside Trinidad. Bloom and
the Thatcher brothers took this money, and you know what they say, diversify,
diversify. So they've got a store, they've got a coal mine.
Now, they decided to open a cattle company. And this cattle company,
the Bloom Cattle Company, would go on to become the state's largest cattle outfit.
After crushing it in these three separate industries, Bloom decided to slow it
down a little bit and he became a banker in eighteen eighty two. He
had a lot of money. He decided to take this money and build a
gorgeous three story brick mansion located right at the corner of Maine and Walnut,
which is now owned by the State of Colorado and operates as the Trinidad History
Museum, which is all handled by the Colorado Historical Society. By October of
eighteen sixty nine, Trinidad looked a whole lot different than just twenty five buildings
in a single church. By now they had a flour mill, six stores,
three doctors, three lawyers, and saloons in abundance. George Simpson was
actually the one who provided Trinidad's description for the Rocky Mountain Directory and Colorado Gazette.
Tier Simpson would describe how fertile the river valley was and that it held
inexhaustible beds of coal. He went on to state the town, with a
population of one thousand, with its forty stores and shops, with its numberless
and slow jogging freight wagons, with its daily and tri weekly mail coaches,
and rapidly increasing travel, already attracts attention abroad and gives promise of a prosperous
future. In eighteen seventy three, Felipe Bacca remember him and his wife Dolores,
purchased a ranch with a large, two story Adobe style home within the
town of Trinidad. It's a beautiful bit of architecture, and unfortunately Felipe only
got to enjoy it for a single year, as he died one year later.
But the house still stands just as it did at three oh four East
Maine and is still known as the Bacca House. It too, is now
a museum. In eighteen seventy six, the same year Colorado became a state,
Trinidad was also incorporated, and it became the center for transportation for the
entire regions coal mines. More and more mines popped up, and smelters were
built, and coal was big money in the area, which meant lots and
lots of growth. And thanks to this time where people's pockets were flushed with
cash from the coal industry, tons of beautiful Victorian mansions were constructed, and
in eighteen seventy nine we also get the stunning Grand Union Hotel, which is
now called the Columbian, right at the intersection of Maine and Commercial. In
eighteen eighty, the railroad was finally built right through Trinidad all the way down
into Santa Fe and the newspaper known as the Weekly New Mexican Printed Quote and
the old Santa Fe trail passes into oblivion, although now it's died twenty five,
so we're still going up and down that trail. It's just a lot
easier for us these days. In eighteen eighty two, a man named bat
Masterson was appointed as Trinidad's city marshal. The town paid him seventy five dollars
a month for the job, until just a short time later, his buddy
Wyatt Earp paid him a visit. They were coming through Trinidad on their way
back from their infamous Vendetta ride in Arizona when Wyatt asked Masterson to help prevent
the extradition of Dac Holiday from Colorado to Arizona. So while he wasn't Holiday's
biggest fan, he was a true friend to Wyatt Earp, and so he
agreed and went to Denver to do what he could to help save Holiday from
extradition, and he did. Masterson was able to persuade the governor at the
time, Frederick Pitkin, to refuse the extradition, and as we all know,
Daw Holiday is buried right here in Colorado today. Masterson ruled Trinidad with
an iron fist, often enforcing the laws with physical force, and things in
this wild West saloon, Dotted Town quieted down considerably. Under his reign,
Trinidad continued to grow as coal money as good money, and they never really
had a lack of it. And in nineteen oh eight we see a modern,
thriving metropolis here in Colorado. And during this time culture expanded further and
the stunning West Theater, which is now known as the Fox Theater, was
built in nineteen o eight. It has a large ballroom and three floors of
seating and it's actually the oldest continuous running a movie theater in our state and
it's still an operation today. Also worth mentioning. In nineteen oh eight,
Trinidad became famous for having the first woman's sports editor in a newspaper, Aina
Eloise Young. She was an expert in baseball and she was the only woman's
sports writer to cover the nineteen o eight World Series. Baseball really had a
moment in Trinidad during this year, and it was also home to a popular
semi professional baseball team that was coached by Damon Runyon. If you're or Colorado
local, especially southern Colorado, you know that name. In nineteen fourteen,
when World War One kicked off, the number of European immigrants to the US
saw a huge increase for obvious reasons, and the staffing at these coal mines
doubled during this period, which is interesting if you'll remember. Initially, when
coal mines were first discovered in this region, they brought in European immigrants,
and here again we see the melting pot getting a little more melty. People
can be greedy and cruel. These immigrant workers were treated horrifically and all of
this contributed and led up to the tragic incident of the Ludlow massacre. And
again I cover that if you want to give it a listen. As you
might imagine, the twenties and thirties were hard all round, and coal production
decreased dramatically, which meant that Trinidad as a town began to suffer. The
street cars, which had dominated Trinidad traffic up until this time, were overrun
by the increased production of automobiles, and the street cars disappeared and by nineteen
twenty three all of the streets were paved over with brick pavers. During the
twenties, a little thing known as prohibition was going strong, and it opened
up new ways to make money illegally for a lot of people, and one
of those who was really great at playing this game was a man named al
Capone. You might have heard of him. He hung out quite a bit
in Los Aims County during this time and went back and forth between Trinidad and
Aguilar. There was a strong Italian presence in this area and he fit right
in tunnels that had been constructed underneath the streets of downtown Trinidad really helped to
further his ambitions in this area of sneaking alcohol to those who wanted it,
and the Italian families associated with the mafia during this time. We're thriving when
others weren't. Did you know that Trinidad had a strong mafia background. I
didn't. It's pretty cool. Coal mining was very expensive during this time,
and more and more of the mining operations began to close down, and this
once booming little of frontier town that saw exponential growth began to wither. In
another weird twist of stories, in the nineteen sixties, Trinidad became known as
the sex change capital of the world when a man named doctor Stanley Biber,
a surgeon from Korea, began performing reassignment surgeries, which obviously especially given the
time, gained a lot of attention, so much so that going forward,
the term taking a trip to Trinidad was a common euphemism used for those seeking
the aforementioned procedure. Not all of the locals were thrilled with this new association,
and in two thousand and three the practice was moved to California. Also
in the sixties, a settlement known as Drop City, which was a counterculture
artists community, set up shop on a stretch of land about four miles north
of Trinidad. Essentially, it was just a bunch of college student artists who
wanted to set up their own hippie commune. For some reason, this also
received national attention and international attention. The homes constructed on the property of this
commune were a very unique and artsy looking dome style, and they were constructed
using panels from automobiles and other bits and pieces of things that they could get
their hands on. In the nineteen seventies, the commune was abandoned, but
the domes stood as a monument to hippie culture in Trinidad until the nineteen nineties,
when the last home was finally torn down. The latest and greatest craze
for trinidad economy and culture is that of marijuana. Trinidad now breaks in about
forty four million dollars annually from recreational drugs cells, which is about five percent
of the entire state's total sales. In twenty eighteen, High Times magazine called
the town weed Town USA. So what we have today is a fascinating mix
of wild West architecture deeply rooted in the story of early settlement of Colorado,
and a heavy New Age counter culture sort of vibe that exists within these Wild
West buildings thanks to the lull in Trinidad's economy when other cities such as Colorado
Springs in Denver were building skyscrapers and taking off much of the original town looks
as it did way back in the day. It's almost like a perfectly preserved
time capsule of a bygone Colorado, and while many who drive through the area
are using it as it originally was used, which is just sort of a
pass through or away station to refresh before you head out into the godforsaken stretch
of northern New Mexico. If you take a few extra minutes to get out
of your car and explore some of the incredible history that this area has to
offer. It's absolutely worth your time. And of course, with such rich
history and preserved historical site, you're gonna get some living history in the form
of hauntings. The first spooky location we're going to cover is the Purgatory River
itself. It's one of the largest features of the town besides Fisher's Peak,
of course, and it has a history all its own. But this type
of hunting is something I've not heard of being reported at all anywhere in Colorado.
And maybe I'm just disconnected, I don't know, but I was really
surprised when I came across this report. Many hold the belief that the Purgatory
River is haunted by none other than La Yarona herself. In a specific encounter,
one man told the story of riding his bike as a ten year old
boy at the time, down Johnson Street in nineteen seventy five. It was
a summer evening and it was dark outside, and as he approached the corner
of len and Johnson Streets, he had a clear view of the highway beyond
and the Purgatory River flowing just behind that. As he looked, he says,
he spotted a woman near the side of the highway. She was dressed
all in black and was staring right at him. He then noticed that she
didn't have any feet and seemed to just be floating there above the ground.
As his unease grew, this ghastly apparition began to whale, a terrifying,
agonized whale. Because this guy seems like he was a pretty smart kid.
He whipped his bike around and booked it back to his house. But as
he glanced back over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being pursued, the
woman or whatever she was, was gone. The next spot we're going to
talk about is the Colombian Hotel, or the Grand Union as it was originally
called. It's a historic hotel located on Commercial Street and was built in eighteen
seventy nine. It was a luxurious place to stay, especially for this area
at this time, and it boasted a hundred guest rooms, a grand lobby,
a swanky saloon, and gaming rooms in the basement that allegedly our favorite
doc Holiday visited. He was always down to be a huckleberry. I suppose
many famous politicians, Wild West characters, and actors have stayed at the Columbium,
and in nineteen fourteen during the coal strike, it was actually the headquarters
for the Colorado Militia when the violence became so overwhelming that men were actually being
gunned down in the streets and martial law had to be declared. Now only
the storefronts are usable, as the rest of the hotel had been neglected for
so many years and it really isn't habitable anymore. Plans are underway to refurbish
it, thankfully, but even though nobody's living in there now, that doesn't
mean that it's completely vacant. People have reported seeing black shadow figures, being
overwhelmed by an ominous and oppressive atmosphere on the upper floors, and frequently footsteps
when no one is up there can be heard. During an investigation, an
EVP was captured after one of the investigators commented that the hotel was probably full
of spirits. The whispered reply from the voice recorder simply stated, yes,
there are three hundred. Next on the list is the Terrabino Inn. It
repeatedly shows up on lists for most haunted locations in Colorado, and it sits
at three ten East Second Street. It was built in nineteen oh seven by
the Terrabino brothers and since then has been a private residence, a funeral home,
and is now a bed and breakfast. Reports of activity at this inn
range from the apparition of a wiry haired older woman rocking quietly in a rocking
chair, only to fade away as soon as you notice her, super creepy
ghostly children wander the home, and a lady in white of course, who
likes to hang out at the foot of the stairs is often seen. Ghostly
footsteps, and the smell of cherry tobacco is frequently smelled coming from the library.
The current owner denies that there is any activity here at the inn,
and they're not really keen on promoting the spooky history. It is a stunning
property though. It's a gorgeous red brick structure that is over five thousand square
feet of original nineteen oh seven design, including the original carriage house that's still
standing on the property, and interestingly, it's currently for sale for just nine
hundred twenty five thousand dollars. You can own a slice of Trinidad history.
If you're in the market, go snagget. I'd love to see someone who
embraces and leans into the spooky reputation. Take it over. Imagine what you
could do around Halloween with a place like that. The next spot is the
Bacca House, which we've already mentioned was built in eighteen seventy and is now
a museum. Felipe Bacca reportedly died in the home and is still spotted there
today, enjoying his little slice of Colorado heaven. People have reported seeing him
standing and looking out of the upper floor windows, or just wandering the halls.
In nineteen forty five, when the home was being used as a boarding
house, however, a murder was committed inside the home, leaving behind a
blood stain on the floor that no one can wash off, even after attempting
to refinish the wood there. It just keeps showing back up again, and
of course, footsteps, footsteps everywhere. Now. The next location is the
Bloom House. Remember that one we talked about it. The cattle baran slash
banker slash coal mine owner owned it, built it well. Reports in the
Bloom House vary from person to person, but generally speaking, most people feel
ick, eerie, oppressive, yuck. Still, more sensitive people have actually
been able to see the ghost of Bloom's young son who actually passed away in
the home of typhoid fever, and a ball can actually be heard rolling down
the stairs and around on the floor when no one is there and there is
no ball. His daughters have also been spotted wandering around the property and the
home. And the concentration of the feeling of ick is located in this home
in the servants quarters. And since stuff like that wasn't really documented back then,
who knows what went down there. The A. R. Mitchell Museum
of Western Art is located in downtown Trinidad on Main Street, and it's definitely
not a place that you would look at and assume would be haunted. It
houses the entire collection of paintings created by Arthur Ray Mitchell. Aar and his
sister Ethel also known as Todd, were born and raised in Trinidad, and
while upon his death, respected and established museums were pursuing his collection, his
sister Tot wanted her brother's life work to be brought home to Trinidad, so
a space was acquired and set up and now you can visit all of these
artworks yourself, and the museum is now a nonprofit and an absolute must see
if you're in the area most especially though, because aar his sister, taught,
and a young girl are frequently spotted hanging out in the building. I
can't imagine that you would pour your heart and soul into so many paintings and
not follow them around in the afterlife. This last building isn't necessarily hugely haunted,
but I have to include it because it's my favorite type of paranormal activity.
The Children's Museum slash Firehouse one, which is now defunct, was built
in eighteen eighty one and originally it operated as the city Hall, the jail,
and the firehouse until nineteen o nine. You would think a place like
this would just be oozing with angry spirits, but really, the only constantly
reported activity in this building has been the apparition of a black kitten that has
seen again and again. Adorable. Now, on a personal note, I
do have a friend who shall remain nameless that was born and raised in Trinidad
and her family home nothing superhistoric or crazy was haunted as heck. She told
me stories of being harassed constantly by a group of shadow people in her room
every single night, and then weird things happening during the day. She learned
to ignore them, I guess, but I don't know how. It really
feels like the entire town has a spooky twist going on. The last story
I'm going to cover is because my husband wanted me to look into it and
see if I could find anything about a place he knew all too well,
having grown up in the area, and he even brought me to It's a
place known as the Devil's Playground. There are many different versions of why this
place is spooky or haunted or whatever, but some say that this location that's
remote out in the middle of nowhere is actually haunted by the devil himself.
It does have a cursed and forbidding feeling, especially when you're driving around it
at night. But I couldn't find anything anywhere about it, so I'm pretty
sure that it might just be a fun local lore type of a situation.
And honestly, a ton of rural areas have locations just like this one.
It's not unique. But what makes this one special is that if there was
anywhere that would have a shot at being a legitimately cursed spot, it would
be Trinidad. The land here has never been quiet. It's oozing with thousands
of years of history, of people, living, dying, warring with each
other on this spot. So while the devil himself may not be out there,
maybe something even darker is hanging around out there. You know what they
say, where there's smoke, there's fire, So there must be something to
this spot. But like I said, I didn't see anything when I went
out there. There are many many haunted locations in Trinidad, Colorado, and
I could have talked about them all, but we would have been here all
day. And this is already a very long episode. But suffice it to
say that for those who don't know or appreciate this town, there is so
much to see. And just like at the top of this podcast, when
I read the newspaper article talking about a day when only silent monuments would mark
the resting places of the pioneers and their stories would be forgotten, here we
are. We're in that day, and so many people drive right through Trinidad
and never give it a second thought, and even more in our state have
no idea about the important contributions Trinidad made to make in Colorado what it is
today. It's a unique, fascinating place and you can feel the energy shift
when you roll into that town. There's something special about it, and it's
completely different from anywhere else in our state. And yes, most of the
buildings in Trinidad are haunted, but the entire city is haunted by its own
history. Sources for today's episode include Legends of America, audiotour dot com,
Trinidad, Colorado Cole Queen of Colorado at Kathy Wiser Alexander, Ghosts of America
dot com, History Colorado dot org, Newspapers dot com, Denver Library dot
org, World Journal Newspaper dot com, Colorado, Huntedhouses dot com, Fatmanlittletrail
dot com, Old Houses USA, and The Pueblo Chieftain. Thanks for listening.
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You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram at Strange Colorado Podcast.
If you have a strange story of your own or an episode suggestion, you
can reach me at Strange Colorado Podcast at gmail dot com.