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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Geoff" data-source="post: 1529886" data-attributes="member: 522">El Valle de Roto - Regional Overview Located 6,025 feet above sea level, El Valle de Roto, The Broken Valley, has a mild climate and is home to the blossoming settlement of Trinidad. It is flanked by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the west, the Spanish Peaks to the northwest and the rolling hills and grasslands of the Great Plains to the east. Most importantly, it literally straddles the border between the United States of America and the Republic of Mexico.In 1821, William Becknell made the first recorded trading expedition from Missouri to the town of Santa Fe. He followed what became known as the “Mountain Branch” of the Santa Fe Trail on his westward journey and passed right through El Valle de Roto. In 1826, a spry 17-year old by the name of Christopher “Kit” Carson fled his apprenticeship as a saddle-maker in Franklin, Missouri (which was at that time the head of the Santa Fe Trail) and joined a caravan headed west. Along the way, he stopped in the tiny Mexican village of Trinidad where Anglo pioneers were also beginning to settle. That’s how his long career as a frontiersman, explorer, hunter, Indian agent and fighter began.In 1833 as a new era was dawning upon the Republic of Mexico, William Bent established Bent’s Fort in the Arkansas River Valley to the east of El Valle de Roto. Traders and mountain men frequented the route to the fort that passed through Trinidad from the high country of the Rocky Mountains. Settlers along the “Mountain Branch” of the Santa Fe Trail sought rest both at Bent’s Ford and Trinidad from the harrowing journey west and solace from the Apache, Comanche, Kiowa and Ute Indians of the region. Today Bent’s Fort is a major hub of activity with a large garrison of United States Cavalrymen.In 1847, after nearly two years of battle, America and Mexico agreed to El Tratado de 1847 that ended the bloody conflict and set national boundaries between the two countries. Unknowing (or perhaps uncaring) politicians and leaders established a border that ran right through the heart of Trinidad, dividing the growing community between two nations.In 1849 and 1850, the area teemed with travelers heading west to Alta California as gold fever swept the continent. Trinidad and the other outlying communities of El Valle De Roto swelled with transients and the economy boomed. Businesses were established and the community grew, both to accommodate passing travelers and to harbor those that decided to settle in the region.But as the initial fever of the gold rush of Alta California dwindled, life in El Valley de Roto returned to a normal and somewhat mundane pace until the early months of 1870. That’s when gold was discovered in the valley as well as near the Spanish Peaks and in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range; gold fever struck again, this time closer to home and the rush was on again.It’s now high summer in El Valley de Roto. The weather has turned from brisk and chilly spring to dry and hot summer, the trees are in full bloom, there’s a fortune to be made and dreams to be splintered. Welcome to El Valley de Roto, The Broken Valley.</blockquote>

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