The Unique History of the San Luis Valley

Historians recount the events of the early people who came here in successive waves: the first indigenous people, the Spanish Conquistadors, the settlers of European descent who were part of the Westward Expansion, the farming and ranching families. But history is about more than the human story. What is impressive in the history of the San Luis Valley is the interaction of spiritual forces with geography and human habitation.

As the world's largest intermountain high desert valley, sitting at an altitude of 7,500 feet, the San Luis Valley is ringed by the force field of The San Juans to the south and west and the Sangre de Cristos to the east with its large number of "fourteeners"- mountains over14,000 feet. The Collegiate range, also clustered with numerous fourteeners, looms large to the north. The power of these great mountain systems has drawn people here for over 400 generations. Mt. Blanca to the south, the highest peak in the Sangre de Cristo Range, has long been considered a sacred, holy place, and it was the site of vision quests for the American Indian people. In all four directions are wonders including the Sangre de Cristo National Forest, the Rio Grande National Forest. The valley and its tall guardians have withstood time, change and each succeeding generation.

The original indigenous people here may have been the Tewa/Tiwa speaking people. In his world view, Jose Lucero, an elder of Santa Clara Pueblo, said this valley was a place of emergence. Life and spirit entered the world, and left it here. The first peoples left records in bone and stone as early as 4,000 years ago. The Southern Ute Nation were perhaps the oldest continuous inhabitants who found the land could accommodate them with food and medicine. However, the Valley required the Ute Nation be nomadic in order to survive-no mean task, as the Valley is the size of the state of Connecticut and larger than many countries. Appropriately, the Utes called the valley "Tavi-we-a-gat": Big Valley. Plains people such as the Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Kiowa, and Jicarilla Apaches followed,

The Spanish made contact with the Ute's around 1630. Notably explorers such as Coronado, Juan de Onate, Juan Maria Rivera, Juan de Ulaterri, and Juan de Bautista Anza, who claimed the Valley for New Spain. The Spanish administered the Valley as part of the Spanish Land Grant. The Old Spanish Trail ran through the valley, bringing early pioneers and trade. Its history belongs also to the northward push of Mexico. In 1851, after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the U.S./Mexican War, Mexican settlers officially founded San Luis, the oldest continuously inhabited community in Colorado, and the state's oldest non-Indian permanent settlement. The United States purchased the Valley in 1848 as part of that Treaty although by 1806 Zebulon Pike, who discovered Pike's Peak, came into the San Luis Valley not knowing that he was on Spanish soil.

The discovery of gold and silver in the San Juan mountains set off an energy rush much like we are seeing today with oil and gas. The mining boom reached the Valley in the late 1870's when gold was discovered and thousands of gold seekers moved to the area. This boom resulted in an increased network of roads bringing people here-without health hazards or disruption to the bio systems. At the turn of the century, the mining industry lost steam, and several railroads serving the mining communities were abandoned.

Like previous waves, the present day residents of Crestone and the Baca Grande Development are seekers. Some are lured here by the powerful stone presences surrounding the Valley that create a sacred silence ideal for retreat and spiritual practices. With the support of Hanne Marstrand Strong and the Manitou Foundation and Manitou Institute, the vision of Crestone as a spiritual community flourished. The Strongs assisted many of the spiritual organizations to locate here by providing them generous land grants: the Crestone Mountain Zen Center, the Haidakhandi Universal Ashram, the Sri Aurobindo Learning Center, Yeshe Khorlo. Subuds, Sai Ma's Humanity in Unity, and the Karma Thegsum Tashi Gomang Stupa and Retreat Center. Eastern spiritual traditions dominate, but there are also Catholic Carmelites, a small monastic community, a sacred labyrinth that's a replica of the Chartres Cathedral dromenon in France, several powerful American Indian leaders, and Shumei International Institute which is modeling natural agriculture here.

Others have come for close connection to the natural world and are concerned with protecting the wonders of the environment. Many dedicate their efforts towards sustainability. In fact, a Sustainability Conference was held here in the fall of 2007 leading to the establishment of eco neighborhood and other significant initiatives to promote sustainable living in the Valley. Unlike the historical wave of predecessors, the natural wonders may now need these efforts to survive.

Below the Valley floor, underneath all the human ebb and flow, lies water… a liquid asset and a most essential part of the San Luis Valley's history because, climatically, the Valley is a desert. Yet, one of the world's largest contained aquifers, with billions of acre-feet of ground water, is here. Its waters sustain all life in the Valley. The aquifer exists at the headwaters of the Rio Grande, the second largest river in North America. The Upper Rio Grande, a rich bioregion whose name conjures up romantic histories, originates in the San Juans just east of the continental divide and has shaped the destiny of the Southwest.

The ranching and farming communities depend on the Rio Grande system for livestock, irrigation, crops and homesteading as it moves south through the San Luis Valley, extending into New Mexico, Texas and Mexico, The Rio Grande Compact, a treaty signed in 1938 in the United States between the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, and approved by the United States Congress, was established to equitably apportion the waters of the Rio Grande Basin. The compact demonstrates the extent to which water is the lifeblood of the whole region. Conversely, impacts on our watershed can be devastating. Contamination to the surface and underground water would adversely affect the health and livelihood of all depending on it from the valley and south of the border.

The Baca National Wildlife Refuge and the adjacent Great Sand Dunes National Park sit on top of these waters. Together they form a unique ecosystem of watersheds, wildlife habitat, and riparian areas. The San Luis Valley is a central flyway zone that has historically provided crucial migratory bird habitat and migratory stopover for approximately 25,000 Sandhill Cranes that migrate biannually through the San Luis Valley. According to the Colorado Natural Heritage Program: the Great Sand Dunes National Park is classified as a B-1 preservation site - meaning that if the ecology of this area is significantly disrupted, species are likely to be lost and an irreplaceable ecosystem destroyed."

The threat of gas drilling on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge endangers the waters, the ecosystem, and the precious resources as no other human incursion has. In 2004 Secretary of the Interior Norton issued the order creating the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and Baca National Wildlife Refuge, in recognition of the rare plant and animal life and rich geological and cultural history. Referring to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Norton said, "These expert wildlife managers will protect and enhance the existing wetlands habitat for an incredible variety of migratory birds." The time for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to step forward to meet its declared purpose is now.

Millions of years ago Alamosa Lake covered much of the San Luis Valley floor. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains were formed by the breaking apart and movement of large surface plates from earthquakes. The San Juan Mountains were created through dramatic volcanic activity. The Great Sand Dunes themselves are thousands of years old. All of these natural elements have watched the human parade, and they will continue long after human history. Our greatest legacy will be to honor them, leaving them as they were before we arrived.