The trip starts the way every good Colorado trip does: a windshield full of mountains and the radio low. We came in from the east through Wetmore, climbed CO-96 up out of the foothills, and watched the Sangre de Cristos sawtooth up on the horizon. By the time the road tipped over 8,700 feet the air had that thin, clean high-country bite to it.
Watch (8)
The history
Wetmore, CO (Hardscrabble area)
Wetmore sits where Hardscrabble Creek spills out of the Wet Mountains toward the Arkansas, in a historic crossroads country long prized by the Ute, Cheyenne, Sioux, Kiowa, and Arapaho. The broader Hardscrabble area took its name from a hardscrabble 1844 American trading post (originally San Buenaventura de los Tres Arroyos); founder George Simpson said the name came from the "hard scrabbling to get in a crop" in the gravelly soil. By 1870, with the tribes pushed onto reservations, 25 wagons of settlers from Spring Garden, Illinois rolled up to the mouth of Hardscrabble Creek and founded a settlement they called Hammil — the seed of today's Wetmore. The town took its modern name from William H. Wetmore (1848-1896), a remarkable jack-of-all-trades who worked as prospector, Pony Express rider, deputy marshal, surveyor, rancher, and newspaper correspondent. After his wife Francis bought a 160-acre homestead in 1880, Wetmore surveyed and platted the land and offered lots to anyone who would build, on the condition the town bear his name.
Fast facts
Wetmore, CO (Hardscrabble area) 6,991 ft
- The Hardscrabble area was a favored crossroads for the Ute, Cheyenne, Sioux, Kiowa, and Arapaho.
- The name "Hardscrabble" came from the "hard scrabbling to get in a crop" in the gravelly soil, per founder George Simpson.
- A trading post called San Buenaventura de los Tres Arroyos was established in the area in 1844.
- In 1870, 25 wagons of settlers from Spring Garden, Illinois founded the settlement of Hammil here.
- Hammil was the original community that became Wetmore.
- The town is named for William H. Wetmore (1848-1896).
- William Wetmore worked as a prospector, Pony Express rider, deputy marshal, surveyor, rancher, and newspaper correspondent.
- His wife Francis bought the 160-acre homestead of William Hayes in December 1880.
- Wetmore offered free lots to anyone who would build, if they'd name the town after him.
- An 1877 government survey by W.W. Brewster shows the village under the names Greenwood Park and Hardscrabble Park.
US-50 Arkansas River Scenic Highway
- US-50 hugs the Arkansas River as it snakes through Bighorn Sheep Canyon between Salida and Canon City.
- The canyon walls are sheer cliffs carved by millions of years of erosion, easily visible right from the road.
- Drivers regularly spot bighorn sheep, part of one of Colorado's largest herds, grazing on the cliffs near the highway.
- To the west the Sangre de Cristo Mountains rise like a 14,000-foot sawtooth wall on the horizon.
- Historic canyon towns like Wellsville, Cotopaxi, and Howard line the route along the river.