Welcome to the Rio Grande County History and Genealogy page and the American Local History Network! Rio Grande County became a county in 1876, the same year that a bill granted Colorado statehood. Seventeen years before this, the Lucero plaza became the first settlement on the upper Rio Grande. Miners and stockmen flocked to the San Luis Valley after the territorial governor convinced the government to sign a treaty with the Utes who subsequently ceded their ancestral land in the valley to the United States. The small plazas of La Loma and Del Norte were founded.
Many mining camps, including Summitville, allowed Del Norte to become the freight center of southwestern Colorado. The San Juan Prospector, published in Del Norte, became the first newspaper in the region. Del Norte's strategic location to the rich mining camps caused discussion in the state legislature about the possibility of Del Norte becoming the state capital.
In 1881, a young woman and her mother opened a small store next to a water tank along the Denver and Rio Grande railroad line between Alamosa and Del Norte. This small enterprise was the first business at the future Lariat siding. The siding's name was later changed to the town of Henry, and then Monte Vista. The temperance-loving families of Monte Vista induced eastern entrepreneurs to settle in the region. These settlers created the large irrigation projects which enabled the current San Luis Valley residents to rely on agriculture as their mainstay.
Here you will find links to the web pages of people with Rio Grande County roots.
Copyright @2000-2006 Dan and Linda Deslauriers
Copyright note: All files on this site are copyrighted by their creator. They may be linked to, but they may not be reproduced on another site without specific permission from Dan and Linda Deslauriers (riograndeco@yahoo.com) or their contributor. Although public information is not copyrightable, the format in which it is presented and the notes and comments are. It is, however, permissible to print or save the files to a personal computer for personal use only.
Join the Cominera Mailing List COMINERA-L-@rootsweb.com In the body of the letter type the word subscribe This list encompasses the entire San Luis Valley, Mineral, and Hinsdale Counties and has many subscribers.
Here is an ongoing project that includes muster rolls, death and discharge lists, and officer reports! A plethora of vital record information abounds in this original database which is sure to expand and will soon be linked to by many military websites around the nation!
This page includes original databases which have never before been published. The caretakers of this website have spent countless hours digging through the recesses of archive rooms, interviewing knowledgeable citizens of Rio Grande County, and crawling through cemeteries to provide this information. You will be certain to have your genealogical appetite satiated and interests piqued when you click on the resources link!
