Badito is a ghost town along the

Huerfano River Huerfano River is a tributary of the Arkansas River in Pueblo and Huerfano counties in Colorado, United States.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed March 31, 2011 Descr ...

in Huerfano County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, United States. It is located at the intersection of

Colorado State Highway 69 State Highway 69 (SH 69) is an state highway in the US state of Colorado. SH 69's northern terminus is at U.S. Route 50 (US 50) in Texas Creek, and the southern terminus is at Interstate 25 Business (I-25 Bus.) north of Walsenb ...

and County Road 520.

History

The community, located at the crossing of the Huerfano River, marks a path used by the

Ancestral Puebloans The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, a ...

during the

Basketmaker Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...

era. A Spanish expedition led by General

Juan de Ulibarrí Juan de Ulibarrí or Uribarrí (1670-1716) was a Spanish or Criollo soldier and explorer who lived in New Mexico. In 1706 he led an expedition to El Cuartelejo on the Great Plains of western Kansas and eastern Colorado. Ulibarrí's diary survives ...

is the first known recorded journey through Badito. He documented the journey through Cuchara Pass, west of the

Spanish Peaks The Spanish Peaks are a pair of prominent mountains located in southwestern Huerfano County, Colorado, Huerfano County, Colorado. The Comanche people, Comanche people call them Huajatolla ( ) or Wa-to-yah meaning "double mountain". The two peak ...

in 1706. Juan de Ulibarrí's command reached the Rio de San Juan Baptista (currently named the Huerfano River) at Badito. In 1819, Jacob Fowler noted an abandoned Spanish adobe fort at the location. Later, the Taos Trappers Trail, joining the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, th ...

with the

Cherokee Trail The Cherokee Trail was a historic overland trail through the present-day U.S. states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming that was used from the late 1840s up through the early 1890s. The route was established in 1849 by a wagon train head ...

, passed through this location. In 1867, as part of the

Territory of Colorado The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the w ...

, Badito became the Huerfano County seat. Later the county seat was moved to

Walsenburg The City of Walsenburg is the Statutory City that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Huerfano County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 3,049 at the 2020 census, down from 3,068 in 2010. History Walsenbur ...

References

External links

{{authority control Geography of Huerfano County, Colorado Pre-statehood history of Colorado Unincorporated communities in Huerfano County, Colorado Unincorporated communities in Colorado Former county seats in Colorado

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links