Sopris, Colorado
An undated photo of Sopris's Little Italy neighborhood. Sopris, located in the Southern Colorado coalfields, was established in 1889. The town's neighborhoods grew up around the mines, and were largely populated by immigrants--including many from Mexico and Italy--and their descendants. From 1968 to 1970, the US Army Corps of Engineers bought out the town and displaced its residents to make way for Trinidad Dam and Lake.
About this community
- Dam
- Trinidad Dam
- River
- Purgatoire River
- Established
- 1873
- Inundated
- 1972
The community that was displaced
- Displacement cost
- $16,895,244
- Property value
- $972,906
- Vocations
- farmer, fisherman, rancher
- Birthplaces
- local
Archive artifacts
Photos
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Snow of '58 1958 -
Aerial of coke ovens and St Thomas 1960Paul Fantin -
Aerial of school, homes, and baseball field 1960Paul Fantin -
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Main Sopris 1900 -
Shablo Home 1900 -
Looking at the dam tower from Sopris Plaza 1900Norm Sands -
Martini Home 1900 -
Shotgun-style house on Sullivan 1900 -
Coal Tipple 1900 -
Blasi and Cuccia fields during the May 1955 flood 1955Sopris Plaza experienced extensive inundation during the May 1955 flood of the Purgatoire River. This photograph shows flooded fields owned by the Blasi and Cuccia families. -
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Cuccia alfalfa fields and house of Devil Mike 1887Cuccia family alfalfa fields with the house of Devil Mike in the background. Giuseppe and Vita Cuccia immigrated to the US from Sicily in 1887. At their farm in Sopris Plaza, they raised goats and crops. Their son Frank took over the farm and ran it until 1968, when USACE purchased his property to pave the way for Trinidad Dam. -
Baca Family 1900Emma Vigil Baca (holding Anthony Baca) and Nina Baca Santillanes (holding Luis Santillanes). The babies' grandparents, Juan Rosendo "Roy" and Venina Baca, owned a store in St. Thomas, Sopris. -
Mondragon Home 1950The Mondragon home in Sopris's St. Thomas neighborhood. -
Frontier Tavern 1900Angelo and Teresa Brunelli owned the Frontier Tavern, which was one of several watering holes in Sopris's St. Thomas neighborhood. The Frontier was a popular after-work hangout for local miners. -
Caroline Menapace by her home 1900 -
Cunico Grocery and Market 1900This store in Sopris's Jerryville neighborhood was operated by Giovanni Batista and Marie Cunico, and then by their son Louis "Binda" Cunico and his wife Angie Incitti. Binda was a strong believer in customer service: he would visit his customers' homes to take their orders in the morning, head to the wholesale houses in Trinidad to stock up on goods, and then deliver orders to those same customers in the afternoon. -
Cunico Home 1950Cunico home in Jerryville, Sopris. -
Panorama of Sopris 1900Panorama of early Sopris. The two-story building is the Colorado Supply Company Store, which opened in 1888.Steelworks Center of the West, Bessemer Historical Society, Pueblo, Colorado. -
Komora Home 1900Sandstone home of Elsie and Martin Komora, who were born in Germany and Austria, and their children. The growing family moved to Colorado from Illinois in 1900 and relocated to Main Sopris in 1909, after Martin got a job at Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. -
John Cerame and Bernadine in garden 1900John Cerame and his granddaughter Bernardine in his garden. Cerame, his wife Anna, and his daughter Seraphina left Sicily for Louisiana in the early twentieth century. They later relocated to Sopris, where John worked as a miner. -
Jennie Faoro in her kitchen 1930Jennie Faoro in her kitchen in Main Sopris. -
Incitti Forno 1900Jennie Incitti baked bread in this outdoor oven, called a "forno" in Italian and "horno" in Spanish. -
Buccala Garden 1900 -
Back alley in Main Sopris 1960Children in an alley behind the Donachy, Sebben, and Archuletta homes. -
Houses in Sopris Canyon 1916Around 1916, Colorado Fuel and Iron Company built modern homes for their employees in Sopris Canyon. Each of these homes, which replaced earlier adobe dwellings, included an outhouse.Steelworks Center of the West, Bessemer Historical Society, Pueblo, Colorado.
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News
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"Army Engineers Make Visit to Proposed Dams," 1937 1937Article about the US Army Corps of Engineers' 1937 Las Animas County visit. During the trip, they toured possible dam sites.
Personal Accounts
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"La fine di Sopris," Joe Incitti 1960The title of Joe Incitti's handwritten poem translates to "The End of Sopris." The Incitti house was across from Lincoln High School, and the reference to "LHS" in the poem refers to the school letters on a nearby hillside. The letters remain there to this day.Joe Incitti · Pikes Peak Library District Special Collections, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Sources
- Genevieve Faoro-Johannsen and Robert D. Vigil Jr., Lost Sopris (2024).
- https://latinohistoryproject.org/primary_source_set/sopris-trinidad-las-animas-county/
- https://gazette.com/2025/06/01/soul-of-sopris-remembering-a-colorado-town-now-under-water/