Legend tells us that Col. John M. Francisco, upon reaching the verdant Upper Cuchara Valley in present-day Huerfano County in 1862, declared, "This is paradise enough for me," and settled down. To ward off potential attacks by Native Americans and to encourage commerce, he and his French Canadian partner, Henry Daigre, built a four-sided adobe fort with a central plaza. The fort became the social and commercial hub for Francisco, Daigre, and a small community of farmers and ranchers that located in the valley. In 1876 William Jackson Palmer's Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company laid tracks westward through present-day Huerfano County and over La Veta Pass to the San Luis Valley. The company platted the town of La Veta next to the fort. Over 140 years later, the fort continues to contribute to the region's cultural identity through a museum housed within its mud-brick walls. However, by the mid-1990s, the fort began to display signs of its age.
The preservation community rightly praises builders, craftspeople, and architects who marshaled capital and creativity to construct the landmarks that define our neighborhoods. Buildings or structures that are associated with significant people and are distinguished by "the work of a master" are often rewarded with eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places. Less often do we cheer the people who didn't build; the stewards who, through accident or intent, fashioned a balance between built and natural beauty.