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Among the many ironies of Colorado geography -- Lake City is not in Lake County, Kiowa is not in Kiowa County nor is Garfield in Garfield County -- Bent's Fort is not in Bent County.
To see what was in Bent County, Martha and I became tourists last week and ventured to Boggsville, near the mouth of the Purgatory. It appears on no modern maps. Our directions, from Suzanne Ward, who grew up thereabouts, didn't mean much to us: south of town by her aunt Virginia's farm.
Boggsville began in 1862 as a ranch along the Santa Fe Trail. It became a stage station and county seat with a post office and general store, but faded by 1880 after the arriving railroads bypassed Boggsville for Las Animas. Some buildings remained in use as farmhouses.
A common fate, but there's plenty more. Boggsville was founded by Tom Boggs, who carried most currents of the pre-industrial West.
The Bent brothers had a sister, Juliannah, who married
Lilburn Boggs. Boggs was governor of Missouri 1838 during
Mormon troubles; he sent out the militia with orders that
The Mormons . . . must be exterminated or driven from
the state if necessary for the public peace.
The Saints
fled east to build Nauvoo, Ill.; but in 1842, someone shot
at Lilburn Boggs as he slept. History suspects Port
Rockwell, one of the infamous avenging angels.
Anyway, Juliannah Bent Boggs had died long before that, and Lilburn remarried. His new bride was Daniel Boone's granddaughter, Panthea, and one of their sons was Tom Boggs.
Though he was only a shirt-tail relative to the Bent brothers, they considered him a nephew, and he went to work as a trader for the company. In 1846, the family ties became closer as he married Charles Bent's step-daughter, Rumalda Luna, in Taos. Among the wedding guests was family friend Frank Blair, a founder of the Republican party and one of Abraham Lincoln's closest advisers.
Tom and Rumalda Boggs eventually settled down to raise cattle, and built a nine-room adobe house at Boggsville in 1866. Next year, John and Amy Prowers built a two-story 14-room house close by, and started grazing sheep.
Amy Prowers, nee Amache Ochinee, was the daughter of a Cheyenne chief named One-Eye, who died at the Sand Creek Massacre. Though she was active in the white community, her people continued to visit in peace, erecting their tepees outside the ranch house. It was there that Kit Carson spent his last days, sitting on a sunny porch, smoking his pipe and swapping lies with Tom Boggs, who raised Carson's children after the trapper died in 1867.
Daniel Boone, Mormons, Sand Creek, the Cheyenne, the Bent Empire, Kit Carson, the Santa Fe Trail, the Mexican War, the Civil War -- it all connects with Boggsville.
The pre-industrial West, in short, and today, it's pre-industrial tourism as the Pioneer Historical Association of Bent County and the Boggsville Revitalization Committee work to restore the Boggs and Prowers houses, all that remains from Boggsville.
We were the only tourists Wednesday morning, and we got an hour of guided tour from Wayne Banta, who showed us the works: last summer's archeological dig, the intricate woodwork of beveled window casings that had to fit in 30-inch-thick adobe walls, explanations of how they stabilized buildings that were leaning as they melted back into the soil, different methods of plastering. He even pointed out aunt Virginia's farm.
Now, part of the impetus behind restoring Boggsville is to draw more tourists into Bent County, and they could use the money; Las Animas may lead Colorado in the boarded-up store category.
Trouble is, that tourism tax on the ballot won't help restore Boggsville (if you're interested, a call to 719-384-8113 will provide particulars). That money is only for promotion.
If promotion succeeds, then Boggsville would join the industrial-tourism system, and there wouldn't be any more rambling hour-long guided tours. The informal charm would vanish. On the other hand, it's obvious that Las Animas needs more commerce.
Why aren't there any easy answers to this one? Can we invent a new kind of tourism which nurtures and cultivates, without turning Colorado into a theme park with long lines?
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