The first Fort Lewis stood at Pagosa Springs

Pagosa Springs began partly as a military town. In the late 1870s, soon after lands in the San Juan country were opened to outside settlement, the U.S. Army placed a post near the great hot spring. This early post carried the Fort Lewis name, the same name later attached to a site farther west and, much later, to Fort Lewis College in Durango.

The Army’s reasons were the reasons of that era: to hold a presence on a tense frontier as settlers, miners, and the Ute people came into close and often difficult contact. A garrison near the spring put soldiers at a natural crossing point, where water, trails, and a known landmark came together.

The post did not stay. Within a few years the military moved the Fort Lewis name and function westward, and the spot at Pagosa Springs returned to civilian life. But the brief Army presence helped put the town on the map, brought roads and supply lines, and is one reason a settlement took hold here when it did.

The details of this early fort can be tangled, because the Fort Lewis name moved and changed over time. This note keeps to the broad outline and points you to better records for the specifics.

For the documented history of the early Fort Lewis and Pagosa Springs, see History Colorado and the Colorado State Archives.