WildHorseMesaColorado.org
Wild Horse Mesa Community Service Cooperative
San Luis Valley, Costilla County, Colorado
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WildHorseMesaColorado.org provides information about Wild Horse Mesa, the Wild Horse Mesa Community Center, and the Wild Horse Mesa Community Service Cooperative, (Wild Horse Mesa Co-op), a Colorado non-profit corporation, formed in 2002. Wild Horse Mesa is located south of San Luis, in Costilla County, in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado. The sunny, fertile, alpine valley is about 150 miles long and 75 miles wide, surrounded by the San Juan, La Garita and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges.
Wild Horse Mesa (also known as San Pedro Mesa) covers about 75 square miles, a few miles south of San Luis, near New Mexico. The mesa area is home to about 150 wild horses (mustangs), broken into about 9 roaming bands, descendents of horses used by Spanish explorers (conquistadors) and Indians. Other wildlife includes mule deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, coyotes, small game, birds, eagles, black bears, mountain lions and bighorn sheep. Vegetation is mostly sagebrush, rabbitbrush (chamisa), Piñon pine and juniper.
The Rio Grande River flows south through the valley to Mexico. The elevation of San Luis is 7,980 feet. The mesa ranges from about 7,900 feet to 8,800 feet, with a few peaks at 9,200 feet. Snow-capped Mount Blanca Peak towers at 14,345 feet to the north, and Culebra Peak, rises to 14,047 feet to the east on Cielo Vista Ranch.
This beautiful high desert valley has evidence of human habitation for 11,000 years, including the Anasazi. It was home for the Ute Indians, Navajo, Comanche, and Jicarilla Apaches, and is now home to farmers and ranchers, many families have been there for generations. Crops grown on 450,000 acres include potatoes, alfalfa, wheat, barley, oats, spinach, cabbage, peas, beans, peppers, carrots and lettuce. Livestock includes mostly cattle, but also hogs, sheep and goats. Energy farming includes oilseed crops such as canola and sunflowers, used to make bio-diesel fuel. Algae farming is being studied as another bio-fuel. Solar panel farms are also gaining popularity.
The valley is also attracting real estate investors and people looking for a great place to build a vacation home or cabin, retirement home or just buy some affordable land where they can visit or bring their camper or RV to relax and escape city life. San Luis is the oldest town in Colorado, founded in 1851, with a population of about 800. It is the Costilla County seat, and is rich in history and culture. Adobe homes, churches, town plazas and outdoor adobe ovens (hornos) are found in the area, along with lush green crop fields irrigated by gravity controlled, community operated ditches and canals (acequias). Costilla County is sparsely populated with about 3,600 people.
The East Fork Trail of the North Branch of the Old Spanish Trail runs along the east side of Wild Horse Mesa, heading north along the Sangre de Cristo mountains. This historic trail between Santa Fe and Los Angeles followed old Indian trails, on a difficult 1,200 mile, 2-month journey. Pack mule trains brought trade goods west, including live sheep, wool blankets from churro sheep, serapes, furs, and tanned hides, and brought mules and horses east, between 1829 and 1848. After the Mexican War, 1846-1848, wagon roads on other easier routes ended the use of the trail. The Old Spanish Trail (map) was designated a National Historic Trail in December 2002. Old Spanish Trail video. There are stories of lost gold mines and caches filled with gold or supplies including the Lost Spanish Mine of Culebra Peak. A former gold mine, 4 miles north of San Luis, operated by Battle Mountain Gold, and then acquired by Newmont Mining, is now closed.
Basalt rock (volcanic lava rock) from San Pedro Mesa was used for milling stones at corn and wheat mills in San Luis, San Francisco and other villages along the Rio Culebra. Later, modern milling equipment was brought in from St. Louis and installed at the San Luis Mill. The mill produced flour that was transported by ox-driven wagons to the miners in the gold fields near Denver and other mining districts. Basalt rock from the mesa was also used extensively for building construction under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). White washed basalt rocks were used to form the famous hillside landmark sign, "San Luis Oldest Town in Colorado".
On the east side of Wild Horse Mesa, Sanchez Reservoir (photo), completed in 1913, was the fifth largest earth and stone dam in the world at that time. Today it is a state wildlife area with a 4-mile long, 2,000 acre lake that provides excellent fishing for northern pike, perch and walleye, and is a home for water fowl and shore birds.
For classified ads, business ads, and information on local businesses and attractions in the San Luis Valley, including San Luis, Fort Garland, Blanca, Alamosa and Taos, New Mexico, please visit WildHorseMesaColorado.com.
Please see the list of sponsors that help to make the co-op and Mesa Messenger newsletter possible.
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Last Update 09/27/2009 06:09 PM
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