Sangre de Cristo Creek is a stream in Costilla County, Colorado. It starts atop La Veta Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The creek flows alongside Highway 160 as it descends from the top of the pass into the San Luis Valley.
| Sangre de Cristo Creek | |
|---|---|
 The creek near Fort Garland, viewed from a bridge on Trinchera Ranch Road North. | |
 | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | La Veta Pass |
| • coordinates | 37°36′56″N 105°11′35″W / 37.61556°N 105.19306°W[1] |
| Mouth | |
• location | Smith Reservoir |
• coordinates | 37°23′54″N 105°31′25″W / 37.39833°N 105.52361°W |
• elevation | 7,730 feet (2,360 meters) |
| Basin features | |
| Progression | Trinchera Creek — Rio Grande |
The creek's mouth is at Smith Reservoir, south of Blanca. Before the reservoir was built, the creek had a confluence here with Trinchera Creek, of which it is a tributary.
In 1879 there was a railroad accident on a grade above the creek, killing one person.[2]
References
edit- ^ "Sangre de Cristo Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
- ^ "Perils of Mountain Railroading". The Garden City Paper (Kansas). Garden City, Kansas. 25 September 1879. p. 2. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
...the train was cut at the little station at Sangre de Cristo Creek, on the west side of the Sangre de Cristo Range, being too heavy for the engine to take up the grade.