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The Durango-area tourism office markets Southwest Colorado as \u201cA Dozen Vacations in One Destination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attractions include outdoor recreation, national parks, agritourism, the narrow gauge railroad and, of course, the town\u2019s Old West heritage.<\/p>\n
But how accurate is the historic image presented in cowboy-themed events and gunfight displays on historic Main Avenue? And, how important is it to understanding this small mountain town?<\/p>\n
Many visitors come to Durango specifically for the Old West experience, said Anne Klein, sales and marketing manager for the Durango Area Tourism Office<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the packing peanuts around a vacation, people come for this Western heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n But for Jeff Ellingson, curator of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad<\/a> museum, the popularly portrayed image pales compared to reality.<\/p>\n \u201cThe actual story of Durango, the actual history of this town, is far more interesting than anything Hollywood\u2019s been able to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n From saloons to houses of ill repute, from casinos to shootouts in the street, Durango\u2019s history features every facet of Hollywood\u2019s Old West.<\/p>\n Durango was founded in September 1880, and rapidly expanded in the first few months, said Robert McDaniel, former director of the Animas Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n Towns in the Southwest, like Durango, were vital to the expanding mining industry, Ellingson said. \u201cCoal meant a fuel source, it meant things could happen, it could power railroads, it could power stamp mills to process ore, it could do so many things.\u201d<\/p>\n The town\u2019s rapid growth meant vital services for proper management lagged. McDaniel said: \u201cYou had really a boomtown situation, and you had no town government, which is to say you didn\u2019t have a city council, you didn\u2019t have any city departments, you didn\u2019t even have a city police department.\u201d<\/p>\n Law enforcement duties fell to La Plata County\u2019s sheriffs, who were at times overwhelmed by the sheer number of incidents, he said. \u201cHe had to be in a lot of places at once, so it was a fairly lawless situation here for a period of a few months.\u201d<\/p>\n It was during this period that most shootouts in Durango occurred, McDaniel said.<\/p>\n One particularly famous series of events started April 10, 1881, just over a month before the city government\u2019s formed, when a drunken Henry Moorman shot into a dance hall, striking and killing J.K. Prindle, who was in town from Silverton.<\/p>\n Moorman, the son of a judge from Ohio, fled, but he left tracks in fresh snow. He was captured and placed in a jail cell where the DoubleTree Hotel now stands.<\/p>\n When Moorman awoke the following day he had no recollection of the evening events, but the townsfolk did.<\/p>\n \u201cA vigilante committee dragged him out of jail, and he was hung from a big pine that used to be about right where Toh-Atin Gallery<\/a> is,\u201d McDaniel said.<\/p>\n The same evening a group of cattlemen from Farmington arrived in Durango pursuing the Stockton gang, cattle rustlers that were based in town.<\/p>\n The cattlemen planned to seize members of the Stockton gang that evening, but, with the fervor surrounding Moorman\u2019s hanging, they waited until the following day.<\/p>\n On the morning of April 11, 1881, the Stocktons recognized the New Mexicans and a running shootout between the groups ensued on what is now East Third Avenue. While no lives were lost, Durangoans had their fill of the Stockton gang, and the gangsters were asked to leave the next day.<\/p>\n Perhaps the two most famous gunfights occurred well after the town government was in place, McDaniel said.<\/p>\n In January 1906, the famous confrontation between Sheriff William Thompson and Marshall Jesse Stansel occurred on Main Avenue at the old El Moro Saloon.<\/p>\n The two lawmen got into an argument over enforcement of gambling laws in Durango in front of the saloon. It is unclear who drew first, but by the end of the day, only Stansel was alive.<\/p>\n