Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-10-29
A COLORADO. STORY.
WHY THE RIVER At TRINIDAD BEARS
THREE NAMES.

WHY THE RIVER At TRINIDAD BEARS
THREE NAMES.
a Qsssr Kssk L. Nsosaelstsrs Explained
~ . RoslV Nssstsin EAiter-Ths RE-
nance e the Lost Merriam Soldiers WE
Were Deand Fer 81. Augustine.
"S0me queer kinks in nomenclature
are discoverable in this country OF
ours" eaid Colonel William Stapleton
Of Trinidad. Colo. Running right
through the town of Trinidad, in which
I live, is little river, which familiarly
and Unfortunately does its muddy,
flowing business under three names. It
is called variously the Las Animas, the
Purgatorio and the Picket Wire. The
names came about in this way -
Santa Fe claims to be and is about
the same age as st. Augustine, Fla
Both towns aso considerably over 800
years old. although forget the exact
date Of their settlement.
Back in the middle Of the sixteenth
century the Spaniards at Santa Fe made
mp military detachment to 60 overland
to st. Augustine. The old doDs didn't
know anything Of the country which
lay between. All they wee posted on
was the distance and the general direc-
tion, a they knew the latitude aBd
longitude Of both places. Rather late in
the fall some 200 Of them, steel clad
soldiers, camp followers, baggage train
and women, pushed in through the
Ration pass over the trail now followed
by the Santa Fe railroad, and at the be-
ginning Of winter made camp ut what
is now the site Of Trinidad, which sits
fairly in the mouth Of the Ration can
yon, looking out Oh the plains.
!, "There they were ON the very thresh-
old Of the Rockies. To the east Of
them, over which their course must
trend, lay an utter waste of plains, ap-
parently without limit. All that win
ter the Spaniartls camped in the mouth
Of the Ration canyon. With wine, wom-
an and song, they put in a hilarious
time, and probably had as much fun a.
they ever had before or since. Winters
are not rigorous and spring comes early
in the vicinity Of Trinidad.
with the first coming Of the early
grass the adventures banished their ar
NOR, fitted up their houses and got ready
to move. The camp followers, the wom-
en- and the extra baggage they sent back
to Santa Fe. When last seen, the party
bound for st. Augustine, numbering
several hundreds, were marching down
the valley Of the little river by which
they had csmped. =
"That was the last ever heard Of them.
Not a feather ever floated back to tell
the story of their fate. With the last
flap Of the last banner and the latest
sun CLINT on the Iearmost steel cap they
disappeared from the earth. To this
day no one is able to make q suggestion
even az to what became Of them, except
that it is supposed they were butchered
by the Indians
Fifty years ago there was an old Co
manche chief named Iron Shirt, because
Of a rusty old shirt Of chain mail which
he wore, but neither he nor any Of the
other COmanches knew anything of the
origin Of the garment nor where it came
from. It had been in the tribe further
back than the short Comancbe memory
could reach. Many have supposed that
it was relic Of this Spanish expedition
Of three centuries ago, which had ap-
parently marched OF the earth that far
away spring day in the mouth Of the
Ration canyon.
but now for the kink in nomencla.
ture was thinking Of. The disappear.
ance Of these Spanish soldiers seemed 50
eerie and witchlike that it made pro-
found impression ON the superstitioua
people they had left behind. They nam.
ed the little river Rio de Las Animas,
,meaning the River Of the Lost Souls,
and it is supposed to hold the story Of
the expeditions dark fate and repeat II
to itself in the river language, which
the Mexicans do not pretend to under
stand.
"When the French fur traders under
Sublette and st. Vrain came trapping
in those waters from st. Louis, in q
French effort at TRANSLATION they made
out that the River of the Lost Soula
must mean the Pureatory river, and &C
gave the river its translated namo OF
Purgatorio.
Later, when the American bull.
whacker marched through ON his way
to Santa Fe, he accepted the French
name. but called it the Picket Wire.
To this day the river wears all thres
titles, as the reader would soon learn
by turning to the Trinidad newspapers,
where he would find cattle brands id.
vertised N having their ranges variously
on the Las Animas, the Purgatorio and
the Picket Wire.
Every man picks ont his name 70,
himself, but they all mean the same
river. 1t isn't much Of q river either
only about 30 feet wide at Trinidad
The AexicaDs, however, loyalty sticl
to the name of Rio de Las Animas
and Mexican mothers tell their children
Of the soldiers who. hundreds Of year,
ago, marched from there and wey,
never heard Of again. "-Washinstor