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1897 Map of Elmoro

Name: 1897 Topographic Map of Elmoro
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1909
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1909

About this map

Trinidad serves as the focal point for this late 19th-century survey of Las Animas County, where the convergence of the Denver and Rio Grande R.R. and the Colorado and Southern R.R. drove a booming coal and transit economy. The landscape is defined by the canyon-carving paths of the Apishapa River and the Purgatory River, which provided crucial water in a high-desert environment.

Settlements like Elmoro, Engle, and Gray Creek are shown at their peak of industrial activity, while more remote outposts like Brazil P.O. Trinchera Plaza and Tyrone anchor the ranching and agricultural plains to the east. The southern boundary is dominated by the northern reaches of the Maxwell Grant and the towering silhouette of Fishers Peak, highlighting the complex transition from historic land grants to the modernizing influence of the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe R.R.