Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Pagosa Springs takes its name from a Ute word meaning water that heals. For centuries the Ute people gathered at the hot springs along the San Juan River, which are among the deepest geothermal springs in the world. When gold was discovered in the San Juan Mountains in eighteen sixty, settlers and prospectors flooded the region.

To prevent conflict, the federal government established Fort Lewis on the present site of Pagosa Springs in eighteen seventy-eight, initially calling it Camp Lewis after a recently killed officer. Two years later, finding it too remote to supply, the Army abandoned the post entirely and moved it west. The town that remained grew around the springs, incorporated in eighteen ninety-one, and has been a resort destination ever since.

The Great Pagosa Hot Spring is the largest geothermal spring in the world by volume.