El Moro - Trinidad, CO - Colorado Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The El Moro Historical Marker panel text reads as follows:

Panel 1 Title: CULTURAL FRONTIER
Though many cultures have inhabited this region, few have dominated it. For centuries it marked the frontier where various native peoples vied for dominance. Spain later claimed the region but never gained full control, despite three centuries of effort. After Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, this became a true no-man’s land, an ungoverned border zone shared unsteadily by Plains tribes, merchants, fur traders, settlers from Mexico, and the United States. The U.S. victory over Mexico in 1848 imposed political unity but worsened cultural divisions, particularly between Anglos and Hispanos; and heavy immigration from Southern Europe in the twentieth century further complicated ethnic relations. Colorado today remains a zone of cultural convergence, ever seeking balance among its varied populations.

Mexican Land Grants Wary of U.S. encroachment along its vulnerable northern boundary, the Mexican government in 1843 bestowed four million acres of present-day Colorado on fur baron Céran St. Vrain and Taos businessman Cornelio Vigil. Such land grants were made in part to promote settlement in undefended territories and thus secure them from land-grabbing neighbors. But the Missouri-born St. Vrain seems to have done the opposite, selling much of his acreage to American land speculators. His business interests dovetailed nicely with U.S. expansion aims and (whether by coincidence or design) helped pave the way for the invasion of Mexico in 1846. The conquest, however, proved disastrous for St. Vrain; he lost all but 2 percent of his grant even though the U.S. promised to respect property rights granted under Mexican law.

Panel 2 Title: Hispano Colorado
In 1620 when English colonists landed in the New World and stepped on Plymouth Rock, Spain had already established an eighty-year occupation in the present American Southwest; and not until 1848 did Mexico cede to the United States these lands south of the Arkansas River. Today, Hispano influence in the state can be seen not only in the faces of its people but also in the names on the face of the land. Trinidad, just south of here, is Spanish for “Trinity,” while the Purgatoire River was originally named Rio de las Animas Perdidas en Purgatorio, or “River of Lost Souls in Purgatory.” The Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) Mountains rise to the west, as do the twin “Spanish Peaks.” In architecture, in the arts, in food, in language, and in a thousand ways Colorado (Spanish for “red”) proudly reflects Hispano tradition and culture.

Casimiro Barela and Southern Colorado When hunting pressures in southern Colorado caused the great buffalo herds to disappear in the 1870s, the prairie supported millions of cattle and sheep, introduced into the region by Hispano pioneers from New Mexico. Some immigrants emerged as powerful community leaders. Casimiro Barela (1847–1920) migrated here in 1866, where he prospered as a cattle and sheep rancher. In 1871 his neighbors sent him to the territorial legislature. And with Colorado statehood in 1876, they elected him to the state senate and returned him without interruption for forty years—a record unmatched by any other state senator in the United States. As measure of his influence, in 1906 Barela bolted the Democratic party and joined the Republicans, carrying fifteen hundred Las Animas County voters with him. Today, he is one of sixteen Colorado leaders immortalized by a stained-glass window in the dome of the State Capitol.

Panel 3 Title: 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 seven months against mighty Colorado Fuel & Iron, joining a statewide action led by the United Mine Workers. Stung by lost profits (and by union attacks against company property), CF&I demanded government intervention; accordingly, state troopers were dispatched to the tent colony, ostensibly as peacekeepers. On April 20, 1914, shots rang out at Ludlow and fire swept the camp. At the end of the day, seventeen civilians lay dead, including two women and eleven children who suffocated while hiding in a pit beneath a smoldering tent. These tragic killings outraged the public nationwide and marked the beginning of U.S. labor reform.

Life of the Coal Miner Colorado coal miners literally risked their lives on the job. Hundreds died each year in explosions, cave-ins, and other accidents caused by company negligence. Lung disease ran rampant among them. Their pay — a typical wage in the 1910s was thirty-five cents per ton of ore mined (roughly $10 a week) — did not come close to offsetting these hazards. Worse, their employers controlled every aspect of their lives. Required to live in company housing, send their children to company schools, and buy equipment with scrip at the company store, they were for all intents and purposes mere property. No wonder 90 percent of southern Colorado’s miners heeded the call to strike in September 1913—and were willing to die for their cause.

Panel 4 Title: El Moro Country Map
EL MORO COUNTRY
Known to the Ute Indians as huajatolla, meaning "twins" or "breasts of the world," the Spanish Peaks have enchanted and guided travelers for centuries.

La Veta began life as Fort Francisco, an adobe plaza built by John Francisco. Today, Fort Francisco is operated as a museum.

The large rock wall at Stonewall is part of the Dakota Sandstone Formation, created millions of years ago during the uplift of the Sangre de Cristo Range. You can see remnants of the Dakota wall along Highway 12.
The Cokedale National Historic District preserves a coal town formerly owned by the American Smelting & Refining Company. Founded in 1907, Cokedale housed 1,500 residents in model homes. The coke ovens, inactive since 1947, are still standing.
On the National Register of Historic Places, the Ludlow Massacre Monument is dedicated to the men, women, and children killed in 1914 during a struggle between striking coal miners and state militia troops.

El Corazon de Trinidad, a National Register Historic District, is literally and figuratively the heart of Trinidad. Come walk its historic main street.

Fishers Peak, a sentinel watching over the city of Trinidad, was an important landmark on the Mountain Route of the Santa Fe Trail. The peak marked Raton Pass, the gateway between Colorado and New Mexico.

Additional Text or Logo's found on the marker
Colorado Historical Society Logo LINK

The Trinidad History Museum, featuring the Santa Fe Trail Museum, Baca House, Bloom Mansion and Historic Gardens in downtown Trinidad, interprets early Trinidad and Santa Fe Trail history.

Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways Logo LINK and National Scenic and Historic Trail Logo LINK

The Santa Fe Trail Scenic and Historic Byway follows the route of this great nineteenth-century highway of commerce between Missouri and New Mexico. The cultural legacies of this historic trade route are still evident as one travels this byway.

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Spanish Peaks provide a spectacular backdrop for the Scenic Highway of Legends. The region’s rich Hispano heritage and evidence of the coal mining past can be seen along the route.

CHS ID # 247 Type 4-Panel

Group or Groups Responsible for Placement: Colorado Historical Society County or City: County: Las Animas City: Trinidada Date Dedicated: 1999 Check here for Web link(s) for additional information: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
In your log, please say if you learned something new or if you were able to take any extra time to explore the area once you stopped at the historic marker waymark. If possible, please post a photo of you at the marker OR your GPS at the marker location OR some other creative way to prove you visited. If you know of any additional links not already mentioned about this bit of Colorado history, go ahead and include that in your log!

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   03/01/2014 condor1 visited it