The Fort Garland merchant John M. Francisco and his trading partner, Henry Daigre, built Francisco Plaza near the Cucharas River, at the site of present-day La Veta, in 1862. The first dwelling in the Cucharas Valley, the plaza served as a defensive fort…

Huerfano County, named for the Spanish word for “orphan,” covers 1,750 square miles in south central Colorado, east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and south of the Wet Mountain Valley. The southern part of Huerfano County is part of the Raton Basin, a…

Located near the Huerfano River about twenty miles northwest of Walsenburg, Montoya Ranch is a large adobe building originally built around 1869 by Hispano settlers in the area. It was later occupied by the Montoya family, who operated a sheep ranch, and…