Westcliffe, and the adjoining town of Silver Cliff, were founded during the mining days of the late 1800's. Gold and silver were found on the site of the Ghost town "Rosita" which is located about 10 miles southeast of Westcliffe. The town of Rosita quickly grew to have a population of more than 3,000 hardy individuals. Not long after, a major silver strike was made lower down in the Valley and Silver Cliff was born. The mining activities in the Valley grew to such proportions that Railroad spur lines were brought into the Valley from the north - initially along Grape Creek and later from Texas Creek. In the years that followed, after the mines played out, only Silver Cliff and Westcliffe survived. Today, the estimated populations of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff combined is about 2,000 people.

Sangre de Cristo National Wilderness Area
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains are one of the longest mountain chains on Earth. The mountains were pushed up about 27 million years ago, pretty much as one big chunk of rock. With major fault lines running north-south along both sides of the range, the Sangres stretch from Poncha Pass, Colorado, in the north to Glorieta Pass, New Mexico, in the south. On the west side is the San Luis Valley - a flat, unbroken plot of ranch and farmland the size of the state of Connecticut with the Rio Grande river running right down the middle. On the east side is the Wet Valley and the Raton Basin with a quiet but still active volcanic field.