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<br />11 <br /> <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />OC1789 <br /> <br />HISTORY OF DEV];LOPMENT <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The first irrigation in the Purgatoire valley was in 1846 <br /> <br /> <br />when a stage coach driver named Hatcher, from Taos, New Mexico, <br /> <br /> <br />built a ditch about 20 miles below Trinidad now used by the Lewelling <br /> <br /> <br />and McCormick Company. Following construction of the ditch, a crop <br /> <br /> <br />was planted in 1847. During that season, Mr. Hatcher was driven <br /> <br /> <br />out by marauding Indians and irrigation operations were abandoned <br /> <br /> <br />until 1865, when the ditch ~as again put into operation by Lewelling. <br /> <br /> <br />In the meantime, other ditches were constructed and irrigation con- <br /> <br /> <br />tinued to expand until about 1908, when the Model irrigation system, <br /> <br /> <br />the only major storage project, was put into operation. . Not long <br /> <br /> <br />after the advent of irrigation, a Riley Denton, in 1860, settled <br /> <br /> <br />on a ranch at the present site of Trinidad. The town which developed <br /> <br /> <br />there was on the main route of travel for the transportation of <br /> <br /> <br />military supplies over Raton Pass and served as an important dis- <br /> <br /> <br />tributing point for the surrounding region. Its population in- <br /> <br /> <br />creased from about 3,000 in 1880 to 11,700 in 1930. Now the county <br /> <br /> <br />seat of Las Animas County, Trinidad was incorporated in 1876. <br /> <br /> <br />The first severe floods from the Purgatoire occurred in <br /> <br /> <br />1866, followed by others of various magnitudes until 1904, when an <br /> <br /> <br />intense and widespread do~npour on the wdter shed loosed water of <br /> <br /> <br />unprecedented proportions causing damage of over $350,000 in the <br /> <br /> <br />town and throughout the valley up and dovmstream. <br /> <br />. <br />