Ruth Lambert, a cultural program director for the San Juan Mountains Association, said the arrival of the railroad in the 1880s, along with the discovery of mining in the mountains around Silverton, added to this rush.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the railroad was there, then all these little towns began to flourish,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A period of prosperity lasted until the 1950s, when mining began to decline in the San Juan Mountains, and eventually, the railroad cut service. Those who continued to live on the land were dealt a major blow in 1956 when a dam on the San Juan River was authorized by Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the 1940s, there was rumor of a future dam, but no one believed it would really happen,\u201d Delia Velasquez said in a previous interview with Tharp. \u201cWhat a shock when it did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had eyed a dam on the San Juan River as early as 1904, but the need for such a project wasn\u2019t justified until the 1950s when surrounding communities, such as Farmington and the Navajo Nation, needed more water.<\/p>\n Four communities \u2013 Los Arboles, Los Pinos, Rose and Los Martinez \u2013 and an untold number of farms and ranches, were displaced by the 1.7 million acre-foot reservoir, which was completed in 1963. Researcher Frances Swadesh Quintana estimated nearly 200 families had to move, mainly Hispanics.<\/p>\n \u201cSome (families) had been here nearly 80, 90 years,\u201d Tharp said. \u201cTo be evicted was shattering.\u201d<\/p>\n Tharp has tracked down a number of living descendents to document what it was like living in these communities, and what it was like to be forced to leave.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re still very sad, and some are extremely bitter,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you split up a community, those bonds are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, to this day, families that trace back to settlements along the San Juan River continue to keep those bonds alive. Lambert said there\u2019s annual masses in Arboles, Tiffany and Los Martinez.<\/p>\n Lambert said she received a grant to write a history of the settlements along the San Juan River to help improve record keeping. The project will research churches in Trujillo, Pagosa Junction, Allison, Tiffany and Juanita.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s some documentation out there, but it\u2019s spotty,\u201d Lambert said. \u201cIn most of these little communities, there isn\u2019t much left than a church and a cemetery.\u201d<\/p>\n