Human habitation in Colorado's San Luis Valley stretches back to distant times. Ancient peoples lived there thousands of years ago, as did the Utes, who claim the valley has been theirs forever. Others, both native peoples and Europeans, knew the valley-Don Juan de Oñate claimed the valley for King Phillip II of Spain in 1598. Consequently, the San Luis Valley has many stories, told in many voices. 
In this sparkling new edition of The San Luis Valley: Land of the Six-Armed Cross, Virginia McConnell Simmons lays before the reader the stories and voices of this multicultural land. Ranging from prehistoric peoples and historic Indians to early Spanish settlers, trappers, American explorers, railroads, and Euro-American pioneers, this book is a comprehensive volume covering the geography and social history of Colorado's San Luis Valley. New to the second edition is additional material on Hispanic culture (in particular a description of their fiber arts) and a lengthy appendix cataloging and describing all of the San Luis Valley's Hispanic place names. In addition, the notes and bibliography have been expanded, and the book contains a new introduction by David Fridtjof Halaas, Chief Historian of the Colorado Historical Society. Acclaimed as the standard history for the south-central region of Colorado, The San Luis Valley: Land of the Six-Armed Cross is a book for students, scholars, and others interested in the history of this fascinating and culturally rich corner of the state.

The San Luis Valley: Land of the Six-armed Cross, Second Edition

History

Halaas, David Fridtjof

Simmons, Virginia McConnell

Americas

University Press of Colorado

The Ute Indians of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico

Book by Simmons, Virginia McConnell

Univ Pr of Colorado

Using government documents, archives, and local histories, Simmons has painstakingly separated the often repeated and often incorrect hearsay from more accurate accounts of the Ute Indians.

First published in 1966, Bayou Salado is an engaging look at the history of a high cool valley in the Rocky Mountains. Now known as South Park, Bayou Salado once attracted Ute and Arapaho hunters as well as European and American explorers and trappers. Virginia McConnell Simmons's colorful accounts of some of the valley's more notable residents - such as Father Dyer, the skiing Methodist minister-mailman, and Silver Heels, the dancer who lost her legendary beauty while tending to the ill during a small pox epidemic - bring the valley's storied past to life.

Bayou Salado: The Story of South Park, Revised Edition

During westward expansion in the nineteenth century, thousands of anonymous individuals drifted into the American West in search of opportunities in trapping and trading, prospecting and mining, military service, railroad construction, freighting, agriculture, town-building, and adventure. Few of these emigrants achieved sufficient notoriety for their names to be recalled today. Two exceptions are James White, who is said to have accidentally traversed the Grand Canyon on a makeshift raft two years prior to the first expedition of John Wesley Powell, and his erstwhile companion Charles Baker, who played a prominent role in prospecting in Colorado's San Juan Mountains in the 1860s.The exploits of these two drifters and the ongoing debate about the veracity of the Grand Canyon story and other legendary adventures provide the basis for lively narrative history in Virginia McConnell Simmons's Drifting West.Simmons's account, based on extensive research---from archival study to rafting and backpacking expeditions in the Grand Canyon---reveals the characters, fortunes, and misfortunes of these two adventurous men, examines the debate about White's alleged traverse of the Grand Canyon in relation to Powell's career, and offers a compelling portrait of the West as seen through the experiences of the two drifters. Maps, photographs, sketches, and historical data about the places White and Baker passed through enrich the text.

Drifting West: The Calamities of James White and Charles Baker

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

In this sparkling new edition of The San Luis Valley: Land of the Six-Armed Cross, Virginia McConnell Simmons lays before the reader the stories and voices of this multicultural land. Ranging from prehistoric peoples and historic Indians to early Spanish settlers, trappers, American explorers, railroads, and Euro-American pioneers, this book is a comprehensive volume covering the geography and social history of Colorado's San Luis Valley.

The San Luis Valley: Land of the six-armed cross

Pruett Pub. Co

Upper Arkansas: A Mountain River Valley

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Simmons, Virginia McConnell. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Simmons, Virginia McConnell

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Simmons, Virginia McConnell. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The San Luis Valley: Land of the Six-armed Cross, Second Edition

The Ute Indians of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico

The Ute Indians of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico

Bayou Salado: The Story of South Park, Revised Edition

Drifting West: The Calamities of James White and Charles Baker

The San Luis Valley: Land of the six-armed cross

Upper Arkansas: A Mountain River Valley