AUGUST 15, 2014
Today, we visited the San Luis Valley Museum, followed a historical walking tour and walked a trail along the Rio Grande river.
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On the right wall are paintings that reflect San Luis Valley history. Adams State University and the community worked together to determine its' design and concept. The consensus was to represent San Luis Valley with images from the past, the present and the future.
We spoke with a Spanish staff person from San Luis. We talked about our visit to his town and the history of European contact with Natives peoples in each of our countries.
The museum has a exhibit of Tom Tobin: some photos and some articles of his clothing. There were several artifacts and clothing of Native peoples from the Apache and Navajo tribes. The museum documented the killing of cavalrymen by Utes in Meeker, Colorado, and the Milk Creek battle. I learned more about Chipeta, wife of Ute Chief Ouray. I also learned about the Cattawba tribe that migrated from South Carolina as part of a settlement with the Europeans for giving up their land in South Carolina.
There were two display rooms: a school room and a trading post, some railroading memorabilia and cultural artifacts of early settlers.
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| People immigrated to Colorado from Germany, Holland, Denmark, and Japan. |
Fort Garland and the San Luis Valley Museum lacked comprehensive information about the tribes that lived in the San Luis Valley before and after European contact. One wall at Fort Garland does not do justice to a people whose culture was profoundly impacted by European settlement. The San Luis Valley Museum offered more perspective of Native history in the valley, but, the details I know about local historical events, for instance the "Meeker Massacre", are from my own research.
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