I just returned from a trip to southern Colorado and feel compelled to comment on the mostly vacant country I traveled both on this trip and others. Much of the interest comes from communities that have severely declined (or disappeared) due to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Photos from that recent trip:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/r1Uyo8vXUNKa7NJK6
This is the second time I have avoided the Raton Pass between Raton NM and Trinidad CO by traveling alternate Santa Fe Trail routes about 50 miles to the east of Raton. The diversion around Raton is a total of about 100 miles and goes through two nearly disappeared towns: Folsom NM and Branson CO. On that 100 miles there is not a convenience type store or equivalent. No place for a cup of coffee or a head break. The photos include a bulletin board where you may read of the history of Branson. The bulletin board and a solid concrete jail are features of a small municipal park maintained by the remaining people of Branson.
Note photos of "New Mexico Fence Corner Posts". Columns of mesh wire filled with rock. Reminds me of German rock fences you see in Texas Hill Country. They served several purposes: keep teenagers occupied and tired, get rocks out of cultivated fields, build durable, useful, valuable, and long term structures.
Several years ago, I visited Claunch NM which is around 200 miles south of Colorado but is similar in history to Folsom and Branson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claunch,_New_Mexico
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1MV6bG9rxYpedTqY6
Before the Dust Bowl, all three communities were thriving (perhaps semi-thriving) centers of farming with significant surrounding populations. Now, the areas are desert or near desert with very sparse populations.
It is challenging to think of the areas before and during the Dust Bowl era. Much of the most devastated land is now "National Grasslands"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_grassland
