Rosita - LIttle Rose - Colorado

Post by Doris McCraw aka Angela Raines

driving toward the Wet Mountain Valley
Photo (c) Doris McCraw

Rosita, which means Little Rose in Spanish, was a silver mining town in Custer County Colorado in the Wet Mountain Valley area. It was a favorite of the writer Helen Hunt Jackson and the setting for her children's story "Nelly's Silver Mine".

It is also the setting for my fictional story tentatively named "Pauline".

The town itself was founded in 1872 and quickly grew with tents and log cabins. Shortly after there were now stores and of course carpenters and a hotel a saloon and by 1874 it had around 1000 residents and approximately 400 buildings. It also for a brief period of time was the county seat of Custer County. 

Image of Rosita, CO around 1888

Unfortunately for the town, the silver mines which were the reason for its being had short-lived silver veins. In the early 1880s, the towns of Silver Cliff and Querida grew as Rosita lost in population. In 1886 the town of Silver Cliff became the new county seat of Custer County after about a four-year fight. (On a side note, the town of Silver Cliff had its own drama when they expected the Denver and Rio Grande railroad to put a spur through but instead the depot was built in the town of Westcliff on land owned by Dr. Bell a friend of Gen. Palmer the owner of the Denver and Rio Grand.)

Briefly, in 1875 there was what they called the Pocahontas Mining War. It seems two men came into town promising to establish a bank but instead claimed ownership of the Pocahontas mine at the behest of the two men a Major George W Graham came to town to secure the mine. He arrived vowing revenge on certain townspeople. This major Graham was an escapee from the Colorado Territorial Prison. According to a story from Wikipedia, a mob of townsmen went to the mine where Graham then begged them to let him go. They told him to run. As he did so the mob shot him in the back. That same day according to the Corners inquest they stated Graham had taken 36 shots to his body. The body was taken in a wagon and buried outside of town. No one was ever charged with his murder.

Rosita Cemetery from Find A Grave

Today Rosita is now a ghost town although there are probably around a hundred residents and it has seasonal residents also. The Sangre de Cristos and the Wet Mountain Valley are still some of the most beautiful places in Colorado. Its name lived up to the beauty of its locations but the people in the town back then, that's another story.

Until Next Time: Stay safe, Stay happy, and Stay healthy.

Doris