Park Service says no to historic designation for Old Spanish Trail

Brief by Central Staff

Old Spanish Trail – October 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

After more than three years of study, the National Park Service has concluded that there’s just not enough information to justify designating the Old Spanish Trail a national historic trail in the National Trails System.

The conclusion comes after a 1996 congressional directive to research and analyze the history, background and significance of the Old Spanish Trail.

National Trails come in two varieties: Scenic (like the Appalachian and Continental Divide trails), and Historic (like the Santa Fé and Pony Express trails).

Historic trails have markers along the way. They’re not contiguous, on account of private property and later developments.

The Park Service study found that the Old Spanish Trail was a route established by historic use, and that its route is known today (the north branch passed through the San Luis Valley and crossed Cochetopa Pass).

But the Park Service said it didn’t have enough information to determine whether the Old Spanish Trail was “nationally significant within the context of trade (including illegal trade) and commerce.”

The Park Service asked historians to review its trail research, and “some historians concluded that the trail was not nationally significant … others suggested that a determination based on current information was inconclusive but that further research could help make the determination one way or the other; and still others concluded that the trail was nationally significant.”

So, more research might produce enough information to qualify the Old Spanish Trail. Meanwhile, the Park Service suggests that states along the route could mark the trail, and that federal agencies coöperate.

There are a limited number of copies of the 152-page Park Service report (which contains a decent history of the trail) available from John Paige, NPS Denver Service Center, P.O. Box 252827, 12795 W Alameda Parkway, Denver CO 80225-0287, and it can be found on the Internet at http://www.nps.gov/planning/ lodi.

For information on the Old Spanish Trail Association, write to P.O. Box 47, Niwot CO 80544, or check it out on the web at www.slv.org/history/ospta.