6-1-1868 Colorado Chieftain Weekly Trinidad as a military post is about if not vacated. The company of troops stationed there under the command of Captain Hawley have been ordered to be removed to the Cimarron. We "presume" the "reconstruction" of Trinidad is complete.
6-1-1868 Colorado Weekly Chieftain A MYSTERIOUS MURDER. On the 11th instant the town of Trinidad was thrown into commotion by the announcement that the body of a murdered man had been found near the Apishapa - about twenty miles out. Justice McCormick immediately summoned a corner's (sic) jury and proceeded to the spot, where they found the body of an American supposed to have been between 30 and 35 years of age, dark brown hair, about 5 feet 8 inches high, and supposed to have weighed 150 or 160 pounds. The body looks to have been dead one or two months. His skull was fractured in the right parietal region - no other wounds could be discovered. He was found in a deep arroyo, partially covered with weeds and earth. No papers were found on his body that would give the slightest clue to his name. Who the perpetrator of the foul deed was, remains a profound mystery.
6-9-1868 Colorado Weekly Chieftain TRINIDAD ITEMS. - The ball in Trinidad on the evening of the third of July, was a decided success. Sixty-four couples participated in the festivities of the occasion, including Good Templars, Bad Tipplers, outsiders and natives.
The American population of Trinidad is increasing rapidly, having more than doubled within four months.
The crops promise an immense yield, neither hail, drouth, grasshoppers or other injurious things, has affected them.
A rumor prevails that about 3,000 head of Texas cattle, on the way up, have been stolen by Indians, supposed to be Navajos.
The news from the Moreno is not less flattering than heretofore.
The Good Templars are receiving accessions to their numbers at the rate of about fifteen per week.
6-11-1868 Colorado Weekly Chieftain The prevailing religion at Trinidad is Catholic.
6-25-1868 Colorado Weekly Chieftain W. R. Walker, Esq., has kindly furnished the following items of interest from Trinidad: Building is progressing rapidly in that town. Of new houses, we notice the following: Don Juan J. Allres, a large dwelling house; Witt & McCormick, a store and dwelling; E. J. Hubbard, a law office; Taylor & Taylor, a dwelling and livery stable; Jacob Beard, a dwelling house. Crops in Las Animas promise a good yield. Uncle Dick Wootton is laying out a direct road from Pond Creek to Bent's Fort. The Good Templars have organized a new lodge, which promises excellent results. Sherman passed through Trinidad on the 10th, on his way northward visiting the military posts of Colorado, and the Northwest Territories.
Colorado Weekly Chieftain, June 25, 1868 Judge S. M. Baird has returned to his home in Trinidad, bringing his ______ (family?) with him.
Colorado Weekly Chieftain, June 25, 1868 Hon. D. D. Belden has gone to Trinidad.
Colorado Weekly Chieftains, August 6, 1868 TRINIDAD, the county seat of Las Animas County, contains a population of from five hundred to six hundred, partly of Mexican origin. The town is located on the river from which the county takes its name, and in about the centre of population in the county. A daily line of coaches from the terminus of the Eastern Division Railroad to Santa Fe, passes through this place, and it is also the terminus of the Denver and Santa Fe tri-weekly line of coaches. Thus the entire travel from the States to the Territory of New Mexico, as well as from Colorado, passes through Trinidad. The agricultural district surrounding the town is extensive and unsurpassed for fertility of soil, and variety of resources. Fort Lyon and the new mining districts of the Moreno, furnish a market for the productions of the county.
The county of Las Animas contains a population of from 2,000 to 2,500, which is increasing at a rate unparalleled in any other part of the Territory.
One of the routes surveyed by the Eastern Division Railroad Company passes here, and many persons who are familiar with the route claim that the final location of the road through Trinidad, is a certainty. A fine quality of bituminous coal, in veins of from six to eight feet in thickness, abounds in the vicinity of Trinidad.
A very large proportion of the personal property of Las Animas county consists of neat cattle and sheep. Of the former alone there are not less than 20,000 head in the county.
Containing, as Las Animas county does, the elements of wealth, which we have endeavored briefly to notice, there can be no question but Trinidad, its only town, will remain a centre of population and business of constantly increasing wealth and importance.
Huerfano county, although of considerable importance as an agricultural district, contains no towns. Some of the large ranches supply their laborers with everything necessary for their sustenance, but the county has no commercial centre or trading point worthy of mention.
Colorado Weekly Chieftain, August 27, 1868 TRINIDAD ITEMS. - Prospecting continues along the Rio Las Animas, above Trinidad. Several experienced miners speak very flatteringly of the prospects of the rich gold leads in that region. Trinidad is still improving. Houses are going up, much after the fashion of Pueblo. Mr. Wm. Hochne, one of the most liberal and enterprising citizens of that place, has recently completed a house which would do credit to the "city of the plains." About five hundred voters have registered in Las Animas county. Mr. Maurice Wise left home last Sunday night, by the Southern Overland route, for New York, where he goes to purchase a stock of Fall and Winter goods for his store in Trinidad.
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