Passin' Through Louis L'Amour Land
From Durango to Fort Collins, Colorado.
By: Johnny D. Boggs 07/01/2006
He sat motionless, starin’ ahead, aware of everythin’ around him. In this country, patience meant survival. Too often, the first to move became the first to die.
Crossin’ U.S. 550 can be a bitch.
Seein’ a quick openin’, he gunned across the intersection and found his way to downtown Durango, Western town, tourist town, train town and the Colorado mountain burg where the man he chased once hung his hat.
The man he chased was legend. Louis L’Amour, teller of tales, mostly Western. Creator of the Sackett clan. Inventor of other heroes with names such as Flint and Chantry and Conagher and Noon. Winner of the Spur Award, the National Gold Medal, the Medal of Freedom. A man whose fans included Presidents Carter, Reagan and Eisenhower. A writer whose books in print totaled ’round 270 million.
The trail could have begun in Jamestown, North Dakota, where Louis Dearborn L’Amour was born in 1908. Or Los Angeles, L’Amour’s home, where he died in 1988. But Durango filled the bill. Settin’ several books in southwestern Colorado, L’Amour spent many a summer soakin’ up the atmosphere at the Strater Hotel. Later, he owned a ranch just outside of town.
The man chasin’ the legend could see why L’Amour loved the Strater. It’s historic, built in 1887, pretty convenient if you’re ridin’ the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. L’Amour loved room 222. He liked the ruckus bein’ raised just below in the Diamond Belle Saloon. Put him in the mood to write Westerns. Food’s mighty tasty, too.
Animas City got a mention or two in L’Amour’s books. Animas City is gone, though, incorporated into Durango’s city limits, but the Animas Museum over on Second Avenue is a pretty good spot. Even had some files on L’Amour. The man checked them out, wonderin’ if L’Amour ever did any research here, then made a beeline for Silverton.
The Proving Trail
“If Louis L’Amour says there’s a rock in one of his stories, you can go there and find that rock.” The man thought about that as he wound up mountain roads. If he had a dime for every time he had heard that sayin’, to his figurin’, he wouldn’t have to write travel stories to pay his bar tab.
The man liked Silverton. The train stopped in town, lettin’ off tourists to wander its Western streets. Silverton could pass for many a town mentioned in many a L’Amour story. Like The Proving Trail. Yep, this was L’Amour Country.
But the trail had gone cold. Mainly because of the snow. Snow in early fall. Well, L’Amour wrote about that, too.
The man drove back to Durango and turned west, west toward Mesa Verde and The Haunted Mesa. That 1987 novel was science fiction as much as Western, contemporary Western at that, the last original novel published durin’ L’Amour’s life.
Yet, he understood L’Amour’s fascination with the mystery of the Anasazi. Loved the adventure of gettin’ to Balcony House. Besides, it was cowboy country. Didn’t cowboys discover the ruins at Chapin Mesa? The man hated to leave the park—especially the elk tenderloin at the Metate Room at Far View Lodge—but L’Amour wasn’t here. So he drifted toward Cortez.
Comments (1)
Louis l'amour was good at characterization and bringing to life the land that the characters that were traveling the land
Post A Comment