![Beckwith Ranch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Beckwith_Ranch.JPG)
The Wet Mountain Valley is a high elevation mountain valley mostly located in
Custer County but extending southward into
Huerfano County in south-central
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 ...
.
Westcliffe and
Silver Cliff are the two towns in the valley which is mostly devoted to cattle ranching.
Geography
The Wet Mountain Valley is nestled beneath the
Wet Mountains
The Wet Mountains are a small mountain range in southern Colorado, named for the amount of snow they receive in the winter as compared to the dried Great Plains to the east. They are a sub-range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in the southern R ...
on the east, and the
Sangre de Cristo Range
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, subdivision1= Colorado
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, subdivision2=
, parent= Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Rocky Mountains
, borders_on=
, geology=
, age=
, orogeny= Fault-block mountains
, area_mi2= 1 ...
that parallels the valley on the west. Both mountain ranges are in the
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
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, country= United States
, subdivision1_type= States
, subdivision1=
, parent= Rocky Mountains
, geology=
, orogeny=
, area_mi2= 17193
, range_coordinates=
, length_mi= 242
, length_orientation= north-south
, width_mi= 120
, w ...
system of the
Southern Rocky Mountains
The Southern Rocky Mountains are a major subregion of the Rocky Mountains of North America located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, the central and western portions of Colorado, the northern portion of New Mexico, and ex ...
. The valley is approximately long from north to south and wide with elevations of between and .
The two towns in the valley are Westcliffe and Silver Cliff which are located side by side at an elevation of just under . According to the U.S. census for 2020, Westcliffe has a population of 435 and Silver Cliff has a population of 609.
DeWeese Reservoir
DeWeese Reservoir is located in northern Custer County, Colorado between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Wet Mountains. The reservoir is owned by the DeWeese-Dye Ditch and Reservoir Company, which uses the water it stores to irrigate agric ...
is near the two towns. The valley is known for its historic ranches.
Conservation easement
In the United States, a conservation easement (also called conservation covenant, conservation restriction or conservation servitude) is a power invested in a qualified private land conservation organization (often called a "land trust") or gove ...
s preserve some of the ranches from sub-division and development. Silver mining attracted early settlers. The sparse remains of two former mining towns,
Rosita and
Querida, are east of Westcliffe. Both had a population of more than 1,000 people in 1880.
The valley is drained by two major creeks, both of which rise in the Sangre de Cristos.
Grape Creek begins in the south of Custer County near Music Pass and flows north into
DeWeese Reservoir
DeWeese Reservoir is located in northern Custer County, Colorado between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Wet Mountains. The reservoir is owned by the DeWeese-Dye Ditch and Reservoir Company, which uses the water it stores to irrigate agric ...
; from there it enters a narrow gorge before reaching the
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...
. Texas Creek begins northwest of Westcliffe and flows to the northeast meeting the Arkansas River at
US Highway 50
U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...
. A small part of the valley drains southward into 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 ...
.
[Google Earth]
In 2015, Westcliff and Silver Cliff became an
International Dark Sky Community, the first in Colorado, the ninth in the world, and at the highest elevation of all dark sky communities. The designation as a dark sky community requires a local effort to limit light pollution. An observatory in Westcliffe welcomes tourists.
Climate
The Wet Mountain Valley has a Dfb climate (humid continental with warm summers and cold winters) in the
Koppen Classification Koppen is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Dan Koppen (born 1979), American football offensive lineman
* Erwin Koppen (1929–1990), German literary scholar
* Luise Koppen (1855–1922), German author
* Wladimir Köppen (1846†...
system and DCblo (humid continental with mild summers and cold winters) in the
Trewartha climate classification
The Trewartha climate classification (TCC) or the Köppen–Trewartha climate classification (KTC) is a climate classification system first published by American geographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha in 1966. It is a modified version of the Köppen ...
system. At Westcliffe from 1948 to 2005, the warmest month was July with an average temperature of and the coldest month was January with an average temperature is . Precipitation was annually with the majority in the summer. Snowfall averaged annually. The highest elevations of the valley may have a Dfc (continental subarctic) climate. The surrounding mountains have an ET (arctic tundra) climate at elevations above about in elevation.
References
Valleys of Colorado
Landforms of Custer County, Colorado
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
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