Article by Earle Kittleman
History – April 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
MEMBERS OF THE FOUNDING CHAPTER of the Old Spanish Trail Association met Saturday, Feb. 28 in Del Norte to elect officers and hear plans for this year’s progressive trail ride through the San Luis Valley, June 20-24.
Chapter president Max Lara of La Jara was re-elected along with the other incumbent officers who met with members and interested guests at the Rio Grande County Museum and Cultural Center.
Lara invoked the memory of historian Ruth Marie Colville and her efforts beginning in the 1960s to identify the trail through the San Luis Valley. Last year the chapter renamed itself the La Verada del Norte chapter after Colville’s book, La Verada: a Trail through Time.
Lara’s ancestors took the trail from Santa Fé and settled in the Plaza de los Valdeses, known as the Seven Mile Plaza between present-day Monte Vista and Del Norte. “But the trail is bigger than our valley,” Lara said, referring to the years of research and promotion in six western states that culminated in designation of the Old Spanish Trail as America’s 15th National Historic Trail in 2002.
It is considered the longest, most arduous pack mule trail in American history, starting from the old colonial capital of Santa Fé and splitting into several forks, which skirt and go through the mountains before crossing the desert to Los Angeles.
Local chapters in the six states through which it passes need to continue the work of preserving remnants of the trail and gleaning history from those whose ancestors used it. This point was made by Douglas Knudson, Colorado Director of the Old Spanish Trail Association, who reported that the Department of Interior’s National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management have teamed up to write a comprehensive management plan for the trail, which is due in about two years. Knudson said the trail is important as a vehicle to understand the mix of Spanish and Anglo culture that characterizes the American Southwest. Member organizations in Colorado include both Ute tribal councils, Knudson said.
This year’s trail ride starts June 20 in Antonito, where it left off last year having come north from Ojo Caliente, N.M., and will proceed over the West Fork trail in the San Luis Valley to Saguache, June 24. Organizer’s hope that 10 to 12 wagons will make the trip and are looking for sponsorship starting at $500 per wagon.
Trail boss Willard Forman of Evergreen, Colo., spoke of his long-term goal to ride 100 miles a year, reliving the old-time experience, until he rides into Los Angeles. Forman’s outfit, Summit Trail Adventures, provides the “living history” experience on a for-profit basis, but also promotes the trail and stimulates donations to the nonprofit Old Spanish Trail Association and other western trails through the American Frontier Trails Foundation.
A big party is planned for the afternoon of June 22 when the wagons arrive and circle up for the night in the park in Del Norte. Western cowboy singer and recording artist Rick Devin is scheduled to entertain and donations are being sought now for a silent auction to benefit the local chapter of the Old Spanish Trail Association.
For information about the trail ride contact Willard Forman at Summit Trails, 303-670-9758 or check their website at: www.summittrail.com.
Or if you want to contribute items for the silent auction, call Douglas Knudson in South Fork at 719-873-5239.
Earle Kittleman is active in many community affairs in Saida, and he’s also a major history buff.