The town
of Alamosa, located
in the San Luis Valley on the Rio Grande River, was originally named Rio Bravo. It served as a supply and transportation center for mining and agricultural interests. The 1878 plat map referred to
this camp as the Alamosa
Town Company.
Soon the
Denver and Rio Grande
Railroads extended their tracks to Alamosa from Garland City. Saloons, freight companies, tents, and two newspapers, the "Independent Journal" and the "Alamosa News",
arose.
The
population center
of Conejos County was located near the New Mexico border and, for thirty years, Alamosa had to perform county business in the town of Conejos. In 1913, the persistent Alamosans convinced the state legislature to carve a new county, Alamosa County, out of Conejos and Costilla Counties. Alamosa became the
county seat.
Irrigation
in the Waverly
district south of Alamosa proved unprofitable because of alkaline soil. Canals were built to divert water from the Rio Grande River. Steator (Mosca) , Goudy (Garnett), Coryell (Stanley), and McGinty were among the first communities in the Alamosa Area. Neighboring counties include Saguache,
Rio Grande, Conejos,
Costilla, and
Huerfano.
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Our resource page includes resources not available anywhere else online. Here you will find lookups, directories, original military databases, and local history. This is the pride of our site!
Early Alamosa County marriages!
