Cleora, Colorado
The above image is courtesy Denver Public Library, c
The town of Cleora, Colorado was located at the southeastern end of the Arkansas Valley, at the mouth Bighorn Sheep Canyon. Today, this puts it at 5005 U.S. HIghway 50, where Rocky Mountain Livestock Sales are located.
The Cleora Post Office was established December 5, 1876 and discontinued March 7, 1882. Cleora was a small railroad station and village established by the Santa Fe Railroad. When the Denver & Rio Grande won right-of-way into the Arkansas Valley, Cleora’s death knell was imminent. The D&RG established Salida in 1880, and Cleora townsfolk soon relocated to downtown Salida, some even transferring their houses and buildings.
The building in the photo is comprised of two structures. The Hawkins Hotel building came from Cleora. where it had been operated as the Grand View Hotel, owned by C.B. VanEvery and operated by “Morton and Toms”. VanEvery moved the hotel from Cleora to Salida in May 1880 where it changed hands and ownership for several months. On September 4,1880, the Salida Mountain Mail reported that “Judge Hawkins, of Cleora, has leased the Grand View Hotel and will at once proceed to open it to the public.” He renamed it the Hawkins Hotel. The same Sept 4, 1880 article told that “Governor Hunt has purchased the Hawkins Hotel at Cleora and will have it moved to Salida and put on the Grand View in the shape of an addition”. That addition became the Billiards Hall, which was run by the Judge’s son, Charles Hawkins. I recognize Charles Hawkins in the photo – He is standing with left leg crossed over right and crossed arms. Also note the sign beside the door far left, that says “W.A. HAWKINS Justice of Peace”. Judge Hawkins operated the hotel as the Hawkins Hotel until September 1882, as reported in the Mountain Mail on September 22, 1882.
— Information courtesy Patricia Virtue.
Judge Hawkins died on March 19, 1888.
The Hawkins Hotel in Salida, ca. 1881
Courtesy the Patricia Virtue Collection.
Donna Nevens transcribed the 1879 meeting minutes listing officers and trustees and various business of the council.
From the Donna Nevens Collection.
Fred Bateman wrote a small history of Salida which includes some info about Cleora:
A couple of Colorado history books mention Cleora. These are excerpts from them:
From The Upper Arkansas: a Mountain River Valley by Virginia McConnell Simmons:
‘In 1878, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe bought land for a town and depot on the west side of Bale’s Tavern and its Cleora Post Office. Prospects were high for the railroad town, which adopted the name of Cleora, too. About two hundred people moved in and set up their businesses, including a newspaper. When the D & RG instead of the AT & SF arrived and put its station a mile and a half farther up the river, Cleora’s dreams of greatness were smashed, and its population picked up and moved, taking buildings with them, to South Arkansas, as Salida then was known. By the fall of 1880 little was left of Cleora.’
From a Guide to the Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps, by Perry Eberhart:
‘Cleora is one of the many towns throughout the west that was born of railroads and died by railroads. The Santa Fe Railroad laid out the town in 1878 and named it for the daughter of William Bale, operator of a stage station here. For a few short years Cleora grew rapidly as a railroad supply point for camps along the Arkansas River and on the other side of the divide. Then the Denver and Rio Grande rambled into the area and a dispute rose over the site of the railroad terminal. When the smoke cleared away another railroad terminal was laid out about two miles away. The new site was named Salida. With its growth, Cleora was soon forgotten. Now, only an old tombstone marks the spot where Cleora was.’
And two newspaper articles with information about Cleora:
From the Ouray Times, dated March 29, 1879:
‘The new town of Cleora is attracting considerable attention and many of the business firms in Ouray are preparing to establish “branch” houses there. The railroad extension is progressing, the track today having been laid as far as the soda spring, and before this reaches you the construction train will be within the confines of the Grand Canon. The work of grading is being pushed as rapidly as possible, at the point where the heavy work is to be done night and day, forces being employed. At the new depot ground, large quantities of iron, bolts, spikes, plates, bridge timbers, ties, piles, etc. are being piled up ready for use in the extension, and every effort is being put forth to make good the statement of the company that is would run a train into Cleora by the first of July.’
From the Denver Post, dated December 31, 1903:
‘In 1878, there was founded by parties connected with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, the town of Cleora, one and half miles below where Salida now stands. Cleora flourished during the next year. But when possession of the canon was awarded to the Rio Grande Railroad Company, the Palmer forces crushed out Cleora by building Salida.’
Colorado Central magazine published an article entitled Vacating Cleora, dated November 1, 2006.
In 1961, the old Jones Place in Cleora was torn down. The following articles are from the Mountain Mail, dated April 20, 1961.
