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tri. Junta Plaza (Weston), early Hispanic plaza the Baca Phase of the River Valley cultural 24 Cordova Plaza, and Zamora Plaza. These settlements are grouped collectively into Ranchero Complex in the Upper Purgatoire chronology (see Figure 3). The attractiveness of the region to American settlement was improved with the removal of hostile Indians from the eastern Colorado Plains by the U. S. Army between 1864-1870. The cattle industry thrived in the 1870s even though cattle had been driven through the region as early as 1864. The first major settlements in the area whose inhabitants were not mostly Hispanic were Walsenburq and Trinidad. Other settlements, some of them short- lived, were started by such diverse ethnic groups as German Lutherans, French, Mormons, and Georgians. By the early 1870s, the Raton Basin was widely but thinly settled. As a consequence of this dispersed settlement pattern, many of the early settlers were isolated from the larger social centers. They developed (or strengthened) certain cultural traditions which in isolation took on a flavor of their own. One such tradition which became a dominant force among Hispanic settlements in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico is the Penitentes community. `,, La Fraternidad Piadosa ~ Maestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (the Pious Fraternity of our Father Jesus Nazarite) - members of which are variously referred to as yqR Hermanos Penitentes (the Penitent Brothers), jeg Hermanos (the Brothers), or simply, IB.R Penitentes (the Penitent Ones) - is composed almost exclusively of men of Hispanic descent (Weigle 1976:xvii). It is a lay (_ religious organization related to the Roman Catholic Church found in the southwestern United States, principally northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The organization developed sometime during the late seventeenth century in northern New Mexico as a sociocultural adaptation to a frontier situation ' where adversities were great. Its major purpose was "...to L govern Brothers and their families and to help needy members and non-members, generally in the from of tangible and spiritual support." (Weigle 1976:152). Despite these noble objectives, their isolation from the ecclesiastical hierarchy and their somewhat unusual customs (such as self-flagellation and symbolic crucifixion, rituals which were not as extremely practiced as some of their critics have stated) established the Penitentes as ~ an eccentric if not notorious organization. The Catholic Church gradually became intolerant of the ~ Brotherhood in the nineteenth century and disallowed their use of local churches or chapels. Out of favor with the Church, and arousing strongly negative if not violent emotions among non- Hispanic settlers, the Penitentes built separate meeting houses (~oradas). These moradas were similar in construction to domestic dwellings. They were built of locally available building materials such as adobe, undressed stone, jacal, or logs (Weigle 1976:7). Although some might be located within or at the