The drive on US 160 eastward from Trinidad is a bit surprising. The conventional wisdom about southeast Colorado is that it is boring, flat and dry—a mimic of the Kansas plains at a slightly higher altitude. But this part of southeast Colorado, south of the Arkansas Valley and the flat, dry plains to the north, is a pleasant reminder of the high chapparal of New Mexico with remnants of the bluffs and mesas of the foothills to the Rocky Mountains. The northwest, the lava-formed formations of Black Mesa drift down into sagebrush flats, giving Branson privileged views and sunsets. We were surprised at the energy of the landscape of the Trinchera—rugged, tree-lined hills more akin to the foothills to the north than to the flat dusty plains along US 50 only 50 miles north.

About 30 miles east of Trinidad we turn straight south on Colorado Highway 389 toward Branson. We approach the bluffs, knowing that the road will turn shortly to the east and intersect the New Mexico border in less than a mile. Branson arises just before the inevitable crossing. 

Branson is a statutory town in Las Animas County. It was first named in 1888 as a rail switching station in the Denver Texas & Fort Worth Railroad line called “Wilson Switch”. In 1915, a US post office was established under the place name “Coloflats”. According to town records, a feed store, blacksmith shop and clothing store were established. In 1916, a New Mexico businessman and developer, Josiah Branson, purchased the entire town for $1,350 and had the town platted and registered.[1] A railroad depot named “Branson Depot” was established in 1918—and henceforward the name of “Branson” was affixed to the town. 

The town grew in concert with its railroad connections (now the Colorado & Southern RR)—wheat, broom corn, and beans were shipped out, and immigrant settlers arrived with lumber to build a thriving new town. The area was blessed with good rain in the decades from its founding to 1930, and homesteaders found little difficulty in growing crops of wheat, beans and corn; that in turn supported dairy farming and beef cattle raising. Branson was incorporated as a statutory town on March 2, 1921 with a population of 1,000. Despite numerous fires, the town prospered within its agricultural surroundings. At its peak, Branson sported its own bank, three hotels, two newspapers, two dry good stores, seven grocery stores, a general store, two hardware stores, a pharmacy, meat market, two lumberyards, three garages and two blacksmiths. Political disruptions and war in Europe encouraged vast cultivation of the lands around Branson and other towns in the middle west. Estimates are that agricultural lands under cultivation in the area of Branson tripled between 1925 and 1930. 

Then the Dust Bowl hit. Las Animas and Baca counties were ground zero in the drought and dust storms that blanketed the high plains in Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, Kansas and New Mexico from 1934 to 1938. Deep plowing in the previous decades had loosened topsoil in this normally arid zone—all it took was wind and the lack of rain to generate the “black rollers” that blew away crops and livelihoods already strained by the economic storms of the Great Depression. Economic losses across the 5 states amounted to nearly a half billion dollars per day (in today’s dollars) by 1936. Branson was not immune.

The population of Branson plummeted from over 1,000 to about 237 in 1930. A slight surge occurred during and just after WWII, as families returned to Branson hoping to reclaim some of the dreams of their youth in a newly growing US economy, but it wasn’t long before the hard life and meager returns of a ranching economy took its toll on the population. From a population of 250 in 1940, the town lost residents steadily through the end of the 20th century—finally settling as a town of 70 or so souls since the 1970s. Los Animas County, in which Branson resides, has followed a similar pattern. The population of Las Animas County, with an area of 4,775 square miles, reached its peak population in 1920 at nearly 40,000 residents. Today, Las Animas County has only 15,500 residents—a 60% decrease in an era when the overall population of the State of Colorado had increased by over 4 million people, more than five times the population of 1920.

The climate in this area of Colorado is not benign. Summertime highs can easily average above 85°F with little rain, and record temperatures above 100°F, while winters bring average low temperatures well below freezing for 3 months of the year, and record lows reaching 25°F below. The winds are incessant. 

The sign in Branson’s town park proudly proclaims:

BRANSON, COLO.

ELEV. 6200

PURE MOUNTAIN WATER

HOME of THE COLO. PINTO BEAN

COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL

WE WELCOME YOU

The citizens of Dove Creek, Colorado would be surprised to know that Branson claims credit for the Colorado Pinto Bean, since Dove Creek, in the far southwestern quadrant of the state, advertises itself as the “Pinto Bean Capital of the World.  While pinto bean cultivation is most prominently associated with the southwestern Colorado counties of Montezuma and Dolores, the adaptability of pinto beans to dryland farming methods made it a favorite crop across southern Colorado, especially after the drought of the 1930s. 

Today, Branson registered only 74 residents in the 2010 Census, living on 0.2 square miles of land (about 700 acres). From its reported peak population of some 1,000 residents in the early 1920s, Branson shrank to 237 persons by 1930, and after a very slight increase to 250 in 1940, declined almost continuously to a low of 58 persons in 1990. Since then, the population has steadied at about 70 to 75 residents. Those residents are comprised of about 37 separate households or which 24 are families. The population is overwhelmingly white by race, but nearly 20% are of Hispanic origin. Slightly more than 1 out of 5 persons is a senior (over 65), and about 1 in 4 are under the age of 18. The number of school-age children in the towns of Branson and nearby Kim, Colorado, and from the surrounding areas is enough to sustain the schools, and as we often find in small towns in Colorado, that is a sufficient and necessary condition to sustain a community. Achievements of Branson/Kim student athletes are proudly displayed in the town bulletins.

Median household income at slightly below $25,000 per year is well below the average Colorado median household income of nearly $69,000; therefore, it is obvious that Branson is not a wealthy town. More than one-fourth of all families live in poverty. Nonetheless, Branson is a proud community, and our first impressions were of a small town that is not only existing, but strongly surviving, the challenges of the 21st century. Of particular note is the Branson School, which serves nearly 400 students through its in-person and on-line K through 12 offerings. The staff include several husband & wife duos—the Dohertys, the Wards, the Dilliplanes, to name a few—and a dedicated cadre of local teachers and staff. The school, and its academic and athletic accomplishments, are an obvious source of pride.

The other obvious landmark of pride in Branson is the public library, now named for the Louden Family, a fifth-generation ranching family in Branson. The library houses a collection of general and local volumes of interest, and is also the site of historical retrospectives among residents, some of which are archived on You Tube. 

Life in Branson is about preserving and extending heritage—the values of the past applied to the future. As stated by one long-time resident, the reasons for staying and supporting Branson are similar to many small towns in Colorado and across the nation:

We work in, and support our school, raising our kids in a clean, safe and healthy place. We get out and play sports. We hike and ride horses. We garden, raise eggs, milk, beef; look after cattle, goats, lambs, horses. We cook really well (no take-out here). We work hard. We design. We create. We look out for each other.

Hartman was the first small town in Colorado that we visited after deciding that this was a project worth pursuing. Shortly after crossing the Colorado border on US 50, we turned on county roads for a few miles north to Hartman, where Elizabeth’s “photo opportunity” website had identified a Depression-era WPA building that was purportedly looming over the flat landscape of the eastern Colorado plains. We turned east off the county road across from the entrance to the Hartman Cemetery (worth a visit next time) and on to the entrance to town. Surely enough, one of the first sights you encounter is the stone edifice of a community gymnasium just off Scott Avenue, completed in 1938 as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) program enacted during the Roosevelt administration to help boost the country out of the Great Depression. The stout building still serves as a community center, and is a proud reminder of the oft-forgotten benefits of government stimulus in times of national need. 

Hartman was founded as a railroad stop along the Missouri Pacific line that branched out from mid-Kansas to join the Santa Fe line that followed the Arkansas River toward Pueblo. The town was named for W.P. Hartman, an executive of the Missouri Pacific. The post office in Hartman (zip code 81043) has been in continuous operation since 1908, despite the cessation of rail service in the 1970s. Grain elevators still punctuate the skyline near the old tracks—testimony to the days of bountiful harvests of wheat, beans and corn destined for eastern US and European markets before the Dust Bowl days.

The town’s population is now estimated at about 75 persons. The 2000 Census showed 111 persons in some 40 households and 50 housing units. The town was about two-thirds white; one-third Hispanic. As such, it was far more diverse than many plains towns further north in Colorado. At least one-third were under the age of 18, and 15% over the age of 65—so Hartman is both younger and older than most small towns in Colorado. Median family income was $24,375; per capita income was $11,816—not healthy income statistics—so it is unsurprising nearly 43% of the population exists below the poverty line.

We met one Hartman resident during our short visit—a man who had an interesting collection of old glass electric insulators displayed (for sale) in his yard. Born and raised at 103 Scott Avenue in Hartman, the old man, his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had been Hartman (or Lancaster) residents. He reminded us that Hartman was the consolidation of two nearby towns—Hartman and Lancaster. In the heydays (the first two decades of the 20th century), Hartman boasted 4 churches, 2 banks and 2 lumberyards; as well as numerous restaurants, boarding houses and general merchandisers. 

Hartman’s population peaked in 1930 at 269 persons; and had declined ever since. Despite those fortunes, the town hangs on—no school, no banks, no stores—but a prairie determination to stay viable in the new world.

Haswell was the second of Colorado’s smallest towns that we formally visited—right after nearby Hartman—as we explored the origins of my grandfather’s family home near Las Animas. Haswell is a statutory town in Kiowa County with a current population estimated at about 68 persons—hardly changed in 40 years and down by more than half from its zenith of some 170 souls around the middle of the 20thcentury.

Haswell was established as one of many “section houses” along the Missouri Pacific Railroad at the turn of the century (either 1905 or 1908 according to differing accounts). These section houses were named in alphabetical order from the Kansas border rail terminus in Pueblo by Helen Gould, daughter of rail baron Jay Gould, owner of the Missouri Pacific. The Missouri Pacific, then known as the Pacific Railroad of Missouri, completed its tracks from St. Louis to Kansas City in 1865, but ran into financial difficulties in the 1870s and didn’t begin its push westward into Kansas and Colorado until the mid-1880s, finally reaching Pueblo in 1888 via Lamar. Las Animas, La Junta, and Rocky Ford—following the Arkansas River valley to the steel mills and coal fields of Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel & Iron. While the railroads had the end prize in mind, the potential for agricultural trade along the way was not lost on them; and immigrant farmers, following the promise of rail access to eastern markets and uncharacteristic rain, flooded the plains under the reformed Homestead Act. The town’s grain elevators, owned by the Scoular Company, still stand near the short-line spur, the V&S Railway, that connected Haswell to the main Missouri Pacific system south near Lamar.

In town, you can still find the old Post Office (zip code 81045) just off of Main Street and 4th Street. Across Main Street is an old Texaco station and a city park further west on Sharp Avenue. The volunteer fire department is situated at Main and Third Street. Just east of Main, on Spencer Avenue between 4th and 3rd is the Haswell public school—closed now and operating as the town’s community center and sometimes barber shop.

And Haswell does have its church. At the corner of 1st Street and Main is the Haswell United Methodist Church. The view out the front of the church takes in the town’s water tower. The town cemetery is, as usual, a bit removed from town—out on the western outskirts on Colorado 96 before you get to town. 

According to the 2000 Census, there were 24 families living in Haswell in a total of 41 housing units. The town was 90% white, and a relatively large cohort of youngsters (one-third under 18) and 13% senior citizens. The median household income was about $31,000. About one-fourth of the families were living below the poverty line.

In an odd claim to fame, Haswell has the distinction of having an Intel semiconductor processing chip named after the town. Odd recognition for a town that has only one public computer in use. Equally odd is the presence of a radio astronomy telescope (the Paul Plishner Radio Telescope) about 5 miles south of Haswell on CR 20. I suppose, however, it is not so odd when you think about the fact that radio telescopes should generally be located as far away from manmade and natural disturbances as they can get—in the middle of nowhere, so to speak. The 60-foot dish and its controls were installed in the early 1960s by the National Bureau of Standards as part of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) defense system, a Cold War program that ran from 1957 to 1974. The telescope was decommissioned in 1975 and then donated to the Deep Space Exploration Society of Boulder, Colorado in 2010.

Haswell’s other claim to fame is its one-cell jailhouse, built in the early 1900s and one of the smallest jailhouses in the United States. Thankfully, the jail is not in use today. The locals have learned to live peaceably with each other.

We drove back north along Highway 389 away from Branson, and back to US 160 toward the Comanche National Grasslands as the afternoon sun moved inevitably downward in the west. We had at least three more small towns to see on the way to the Oklahoma panhandle and away from Colorado that fall day. “Kim” sounded like an unlikely name for a western ranching town—but then many of the names of Colorado’s smallest towns will surprise you. According to Maxine Benson, who’s 1001 Colorado Place Names is a great reference for town names, Kim was named for the hero of Rudyard Kipling’s eponymous novel, Kim, published in 1901. Apparently, the wife of town founder, Bessie Simpson, was a fan of the novel about late nineteenth-century India. Mrs. Simpson offered the town’s residents two choices—“Dexter”, her husband’s middle name, or “Kim”. The town opted for the literary hero.[1] 

Kim is a statutory town with a population of 74 as of the 2010 United States Census.  The town is blessed with a K-12 school that serves much of the surrounding area (including Branson, for upper grades). We were impressed with the architecturally sensitive and beautiful incorporation of the original New Deal-era stone school building with a tasteful $10 million modern renovation that was completed in 2016. The school is a justifiable source of pride for the community. It has a 100% graduation rate, a 4:1 student to teacher ratio, and has been the winner of James Irwin School of Excellence Awards in 4 of the last 6 years. As with other small towns we have visited, the presence of a viable and thriving school means everything to a community. With a good school, the town thrives and has a future. Without one, the prospects are dim.

Olin Simpson acquired his homestead on which the town of Kim lies in 1915.  Prior to this the land was home to a few roaming Comanches and a handful of hardy miners extracting minor amounts of copper from Carrizo Mountain, southeast of Kim, starting in the 1880s. Simpson was responding to the opportunity brought on by World War I, as European farms succumbed to the ravages of war and markets for American agricultural products bloomed.  He built a small store near on corner of the property, and in 1917, applied to open a Post Office inside his store. In 1920, the town founders formed the Kim Townsite and Development Company and purchased a quarter section of Simpson’s homestead (160 acres) and platted the Town of Kim. Samuel Dickey and his son, Otis, built Dickey’s General Merchandise in 1920, followed by Clyde Church’s Kim Beanery in 1923, and a number of homes, a hardware and lumber store, two garages, two hotels, a dairy and a school. However, hard times brought on by drought, dust and post-war agricultural depression weighed on the town by the late 1920s and through the next decade. 

Federal government programs of the New Deal were the difference between the death of Kim and its bare survival. Government bought farmland through soil conservation programs that now comprise the Comanche National Grasslands. This helped facilitate a transition from intensive crop farming (that was never appropriate to the environment) to rangeland livestock ranching that now sustains the area. The WPA stepped in to fund and build the magnificent stone community building and the original school, providing jobs and income for farmers driven by dust from their farms.

Kim is a proud ranching community today. Ranch and range pervade commerce and education. Politics are predictably conservative, but we didn’t observe the reactionary political oratory of the areas south and east of Colorado. Las Animas County went 54% for Trump in 2020, but it was far from the 80% Republican vote in neighboring Baca County. Moderate conservatism. Old-style Republicans.

Exemplary of this sort of old-style conservatism, with its bent toward the land and community, is rancher Steve Wooten, who is now the fourth generation to own and manage the Beatty Canyon Ranch southwest of Kim. Both the Purgatoire and Chacuaco Rivers run through Steve’s property, and he has been adamant at working to preserve and repair the drainage systems for future generations of Wootens and for the community and public that surround him. Wooten has been working with AmeriCorps volunteers and with the Walton Foundation to remove invasive plant species to improve native grasslands and to help conserve precious water so that Beatty Ranch can be a truly sustainable enterprise. From his position as president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, and as an honored “Trailblazer” awardee in 2020, Steve believes in educated stewardship of the land and the heritage surrounding it. 

The US Census estimates that the permanent population of Kim is about 70 people, down slightly from 2010 at 74; but up somewhat from 2000 when the population hit its historical low of 65 residents, comprised of 15 families and a total of 38 households in 49 separate dwellings. The town’s residents are about 20% Hispanic, a percentage that has been steadily growing this century. About 17% of the population was under the age of 18 – hence about 12 kids in town. Obviously, without drawing on the children in the rural areas of Las Animas, the beautiful Kim school wouldn’t be viable. Ranch kids from around the area come to Kim for junior and senior high school.

Income is sparse. The per capita income in Kim at the last census stood at $21,400; and the median household income was $30,300—just below the nation’s the poverty line, and approximately half of the median household income for the state of Colorado.

[1]We’ve found several towns in Colorado with origins in literature, religion or place names of the British Indian Empire—Simla, Ramah, etc. The other popular genesis of names was for various railroad executives or engineers in the multitude of rail segments that reached out to rural agricultural enclaves from the great terminals of the Midwest.

We were intrigued with the photographer’s website that said that you must make a diversion to see the near-ghosted town of Model, about 14 miles northeast of Trinidad on US 350. There would be no other reason for taking this cutoff unless you were headed to La Junta or the Comanche National Grasslands, or just as unlikely, looking for the small towns of Delhi, Thatcher or Tyrone. But of course, we were looking for small towns, so the diversion on US 350 made lots of sense. We could rejoin US 160 headed east and south through Oklahoma and Texas and on back home to Florida later. For now, the intriguing story of Model beckoned.

“Model City” was platted by the Model Land & Irrigation Company in 1909 as it began work on dam and canal project to irrigate potential new farmland northeast of Trinidad. True to its name, “Model” was to be a “model community”—planned with linear boulevards, close to rail transportation, benefited by a reliable water system, and destined for greatness as a farming center in growing Las Animas county. A post office was established in 1912 and has operated continuously since then (zip code 81059). 

As point of fact, Model wasn’t known as Model or Model City until 1920. Until then, it went by the name “Poso”, Spanish for “dry hole.” It is probable that Model was more like its original namesake of dry hole than a “model community” as the 1930s rolled in with the devastation of the Dust Bowl and the collapse of the farming economy. Today, it is a collection of decaying buildings still aligned on well-platted roads. The population of Model is officially 183 persons—a figure that is frankly hard to believe based on what we saw in town. We suspect that it must include residents in a large surrounding area.