Pryor, A Rancher's Name on the Map

Pryor is a small unincorporated community in Huerfano County, settled in the era when Texas cattle ranchers were pushing herds into Colorado's southern grasslands. The community was named for Ike and Mack Pryor, brothers and cattle ranchers, though sources say little more about the two men. A post office opened at Pryor in eighteen ninety-eight and stayed open until nineteen ninety-six, a nearly century-long run that speaks to how long a rural community can hold together.

The nearby Aaron coal mine operated a few miles away, so Pryor sat at the edge of both the ranching and mining economies that shaped this stretch of Huerfano County. It remains a quiet place on the Apishapa Creek drainage today.