Last month I wrote about a visit a friend of mine and I made to the Koshare Museum in La Junta. On that same tour we also visited the John W. Rawlings Heritage Center and Museum in Las Animas. Both museums are well worth visiting. The Rawlings Museum in particular is home to some unexpected treasures.

As you enter the Rawlings Museum, one of the first displays you encounter is of someone you might have heard of once or twice before: Zebulon Pike.

As you might remember, the Pike expedition came west along the Arkansas River, stopping where Pueblo is today. Pike and a few of his men then tried unsuccessfully to climb the peak that bears his namesake. The first time he saw the peak was when he was close to where Las Animas is today. (Pike said the mountain looked like a small blue cloud on the horizon.) The museum also has a photo on display of a monument to Pike southeast of Las Animas noting the first sight location. An excellent read on Pike is “Citizen Explorer, The Life of Zebulon Pike,” by Jared Orsi, if you want to learn more about the explorer.

Another interesting display shares information on Las Animas native Llewellyn Thompson. Thompson graduated from Bent County High School in 1922 and eventually joined the foreign service. Amazingly, Thompson served Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. Among his many assignments, he was ambassador to Russia and was a key adviser to President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Thompson was awarded the Distinguished Federal Civilian Service Medal by President Kennedy.

Those of you of a certain age might remember the TV series “Gunsmoke.” One of the memorable characters on the series was Festus Haggen, played by Ken Curtis. Curtis (born Curt Gates) spent time in Las Animas, as his father was the town’s sheriff for several years. His family actually lived in the jail, and his mother cooked meals for the family and the prisoners. It seems some of the prisoners got much better food in jail than they had on the outside!

There are numerous other historic displays in the museum — one of them showing off various cooking utensils. I must be getting old as some of the utensils displayed I used in the kitchen as a kid.

A significant part of the history of Bent County is a small site known as Boggsville. Close to Las Animas, Boggsville is named after Thomas O. Boggs and his wife, Rumalda Luna Boggs. Rumalda’s story is compelling. Her prominent family, the Jaramillos, came from Taos, N.M. According to a handout on Boggsville, the Jaramillos, with their portions of a significant land grant, provided the rangeland that Rumalda’s husband and others needed to run livestock. Interestingly, Rumalda’s mother, Ignacia Jaramillo, had a sister named Josefa. Josefa married the famous frontiersman Kit Carson, so Rumalda’s aunt and uncle were Josefa and Kit Carson. Further, one of Rumalda’s mother’s marriages was to Charles Bent — the Bent brothers and Ceran St. Vrain were partners in Bent’s Fort — now Bent’s Old Fort — near La Junta. And another part of the story: Boggsville was where Josefa and Kit were living when they both died in 1868. Josefa died about a month before Kit did — Kit was actually not far from their home at the new Fort Lyon when he died. For the Kit Carson story, see the outstanding “Blood and Thunder, An Epic of the American West,” by Hampton Sides.

The Rawlings Museum in Las Animas is not difficult to find. Take I-25 south to Pueblo, and then head east on Highway 50. It is right at 125 miles and should take you a little more than two hours to get there. Once you are in Las Animas, Highway 50 goes east for a bit and then turns north. Shortly after you turn north the museum will be on your right, next to 6th Street. Boggsville is just south of Las Animas. Just before Highway 50 turns north in town, turn right on Carson Avenue (Highway 101). The site is about two miles from Las Animas (just before the Purgatoire River) and the buildings and parking will be on your left. See bentcountyheritage.org for details of both the Rawlings Museum and the Boggsville Historic Site, including hours of operation. The telephone number is 456-6066 for the Rawlings Museum and 456-1358 for Boggsville.

Doug McCormick is retired from the Air Force after spending 21 years as a space operator. He started his own business, American History Tours, LLC, and specializes in taking people to see locations associated with significant American history. Send your questions and feedback to doug@historytoursamerica.com.