The San Luis Valley of Colorado: A geographical sketch Huber, Thomas Patrick

Description

The constant contradiction and contrast of the physical and human geography of the Valley make the San Luis Valley of Colorado a land of notable geographic irony. The Valley is Colorado’s only true desert, yet sits atop billions of acre-feet of ground water. The Valley lies between two mountain systems, yet itself rises almost 8,000 feet above sea level. The Valley’s economy depends, in great part, on farming while the average annual precipitation rate is only about eight inches. For thousands of years the area served semi-nomadic Native American, yet holds the oldest continuously inhabited town in Colorado. And here what can only be described as boom and bust economics threaten farming practices that date back to Spanish land use codes which settlers originally brought from New Mexico. This book will explain and expand upon these geographic ironies. We will look at the physical and human aspects of this place to reveal the meaning and reasons of location and landscape. Above all we will see the inter-connectedness of the physical place and the human place we know as the San Luis Valley.