1893 Map of Las Animas

About this map

The confluence of the Arkansas River and the Purgatoire River serves as the focal point for this late nineteenth-century reconnaissance of southeastern Colorado. This area, surveyed during the directorship of J.W. Powell, illustrates a landscape dominated by river-valley settlement and competing rail lines. The Las Animas townsite and nearby Fort Lyon represent the established population centers along the southern corridor, served by the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. To the north, the high plains are traversed by the Missouri Pacific Railroad, connecting isolated stops like Haswell and Arlington. The intricate network of seasonal drainages, including Mustang Creek and Adobe Creek, highlights the importance of water access in the high prairie, where the terrain transitions from the river bottomlands to the arid draws of Kiowa and Bent counties.