Baca County History

by the Plainsman Herald

An 1894 View of SE Colorado


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I have seen small images of this map, and have wanted to see it up close as you never quite get the quality of actually looking at the map. I got my wish today thanks to Don Brookhart. This map was reproduced by USGS in cooperation with the Library of Congress, this hand drawn map was originally published in 1894 by James McConnell School Supplies of Denver, Colorado. This unique birds-eye view map has incredible detail with features including: relief shading, counties, cities, towns, roads, rivers, valleys, railroads, and elevations of some mountain peaks. Use this map to understand the growth of Colorado from 1894 to the present, to examine the affect of topography on population settlement, to compare historical versus modern mapping techniques, to examine how some features’ names and spellings have changed since 1894, and to analyze the number of towns in mining areas and on the Great Plains that have disappeared. One source tells this map has a total of 1096 communities –more than doubling the number of mining camps and ghost towns commonly known.

I have included one map of towns highlighted from the area that is present day Baca County. One town, Viena I had not heard of before. Enjoy!

1894 Colorado Map Springfield Area
1894 Map
1894 Map
Highlighted Towns from Present day Baca County

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