Peopling the Picketwire: A History of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site
Abstract
When we refer to the 283,000 acres of United States Army land in Colorado's southeastern Las Animas County as the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS) we are using a deceptively simple and recent historical term. The PCMS did not exist prior to 1983 when the Army assumed ownership of the land and began creating a large-scale combined arms training ground. As required by law, the Army sponsored a number of studies designed to locate significant historical and archaeological resources within the installation and determine which of these sites were eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Although these early efforts proved invaluable in bringing the story of the PCMS to light, the intervening years have produced significant methodological and interpretive changes within the discipline of history that strongly recommend a reconsideration of the installation and its environs. This study takes the recent developments within the discipline of history and offers a reconfigured narrative of the PCMS. This endeavor sheds new light on underappreciated histories by expanding the chronological and thematic parameters of prior studies and includes discussion of the long Spanish period in the Southwest and the importance of Spanish landholding patterns to later settlement.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA491467
Entities
People
- Robert A. Mclain
- Tad Britt
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center