Three sites along Colorado Highway 140, including the Old Fort Lewis campus, will be the target of the La Plata County Historic Preservation Review Commission’s third annual historic driving tour in May.
Plans for this year’s tour were modified for less driving time, and stops include the historic Aspaas Ranch and the former Breen Grange Hall in addition to the Old Fort, which is 16 miles southwest of where the college now sits on Rim Drive.
“The entire history of La Plata County flows from the military presence of the Old Fort,” said Commission Chairman Andrew Gulliford. “It is so deeply a part of the history and the county and the area, but most folks don’t know much about it. Our goal is to have people understand the history of the county. We haven’t been on the dryside yet, so this year, that’s where we’re going.”
Now used for agriculture purposes and community workshops, the Old Fort opened in 1880 as an Army fort and operated as such until 1911. Other incarnations of the campus included an Indian boarding school, a high school and a two-year college before a Durango branch for Fort Lewis was authorized by the governor in 1954.
North of the original campus is the Aspaas homestead belonging to one of the oldest families in La Plata County that formerly served as an officer’s quarters. Norwegian immigrant Annetta Johnson Aspaas and her husband were among the first European settlers in the San Juan Basin.
The site is also home to historic, culturally modified – or “peeled” – ponderosa trees along the La Plata River, which participants will be able to see on a walking tour.
“For native cultures, in winter in times of dietary stress, you could pull back the bark and eat part of the tree, or peel it more deeply and use it for medicine,” Gulliford said. “Once you scar the tree and remove the original bark, it stays that way.”
The Breen Community Building, now a community center, was formerly known as Breen Grange Hall.
Guest speakers and an itinerary for the tour are forthcoming.
jpace@durangoherald.com