LIFE
IN THE SAN LUIS VALLEY
The San
Luis Valley of southern Colorado is a continuation of the region that
begins just north of Taos, New Mexico. It was explored by the Spanish
in the late 15th century and later settled by Spanish speaking Americans
after this country seized it and New Mexico following the war with
Mexico. In one sense the Colorado and New Mexico MIRA clusters are
joined in this way, but in spite of the proximity there was little
contact, even electronically, between the two groups. In the 19th
century there had been more. This area had been a trading region,
with Taos as one of the market centers. There had been a flourishing
slave trade involving whites, Mexicans, and Indians as sellers and
buyers and Navajos as the main group captured in raids and sold. Kit
Carson III used to sell slave children purchased from the Ute Indians,
and this trade continued for five years after the 13th Amendment was
passed. According to historian Abbot Fay1
"Colorado slave owners thought Emancipation only applied to the South
and the Negro." Taos was also the location of the Indian Agency for
all the San Luis Valley and the Utes, Navajos, and Apaches.
The drive north was one of the lonliest but most spectacular of
any during my twelve state visit to MIRA projects. Years before
a friend of mine had undertaken an ambitious wireless Internet experiment
for the National Science Foundation, and I had read his reports
and travelogues about San Luis, Del Norte, and Alamosa. I was not
prepared for the vastness of the valley surrounded by some of the
highest mountains in the continental United States. In the middle
of nowhere, huge signs advertised the sale of 35 acre parcels (with
airstrip). I consulted the famous WPA state guide books written
by authors working for the New Deal programs of the 1930's: "San
Luis has changed little since its early days. Although many beautiful
handicrafts of the people have been lost with the passing of the
years, efforts are being made to restore them by the Works Projects
Administration which hopes to revive the almost-vanished arts of
rug weaving and wood carving."
1
I never knew that about Colorado. Ouray, CO. Western Reflections
Press.
|
|
