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II~, t' f.: • r 25 edge of a village, more often they were hidden in canyons and other unobtrusive locations. The only historically known morada in the Upper Purgatoire River Valley is that which was located at the mouth of Long's Canyon west of Trinidad. An organizational meeting, attended by delegates from other southern Colorado moradas, was held at this locality on April 23, 1921 (Weigle 1976:124). A month later, the group was incorporated under Colorado laws as Council No. 1, Longs Canon, Colorado. The exact location of the Long's Canon (Canyon) morada is uncertain but two Penitents communities ( ora a, church, and cemetery) were located at the mouth of Long's Canyon, on either side of the canyon. One of these, the west bank community, was measured and described in July 1971 by archaeologists from Trinidad State Junior College before the site was destroyed by the rising waters of Trinidad Lake (Ireland and Henrit2e 1973). The fate of the second Penitente community on the east bank is unknown but it almost certainly was inundated. At Tijeras Plaza, along Highway 12 east of Segundo, is another _ Penitente complex. It consists of three adobe buildings, including the morada, a cookhouse, and a dormitory or family chapel (Pearce 1988). It was in use until about 1970. Despite their notorious reputation, the Penitentes played an influential role in the development of local communities along the Purgatoire River and other areas, In fact "...community life seems to have been enhanced by the presence of an active morada." (Weigle 1976:152). ff Economic Development (mid 1870e-1900) ,f t' Two events occurred in the mid-187os which had a profound effect upon the regional economy: railroads and mining. The conditions .~ for their development were similar and the success of each ~' endeavor depended on to a large extent upon the success of the other. '. ~- Transportation and communications links in the Raton Basin in the 1870s were few. The area was peripheral to the development of major rail lines linking the western and eastern portions of the _ country. Eventually, however, competition between railroad companies to exploit a new market (the rapidly developing mining concerns) resulted in rail lines being constructed into the region. in 1871, the Denver and Rio Grande Railway (D & RG) ?: began construction of a line to the south. They reached ~'' Colorado Springs in the same year, Pueblo in 1872, and E1 Moro ~~ (5 miles north of Trinidad) in 1876. The D & RG also bu11t lines from Cucharas to La Veta and over La Veta Pass into the San Luis Valley. The Atchinson, Topeka, and Santa Fe (AT b SF) built a second line from La Junta to New liexico over Raton Pass in 1878.