Palmer Divide Research

Southwater

Railroad stations, depots and structuresHistoric or vanishedEl Paso County

What we know

The post office that replaced Bassett's Mills in April 1872; postmasters Dr. S. S. Wallihan (1876) and James M. Wadsworth (1877); Husted's sawmill 'near Southwater' burned in December 1877; the office moved to Husted and took its name at the end of 1878. Place Names of Colorado also calls it 'Borsts', but the 1872 guide lists Borstville as a separate station.

Where it was

Center of Sec. 1, T12S R67W, from Place Names of Colorado ('RR Post Office on D&RG 1872-1878. Moved from Bassetts Mills. 4 mi S of Monument'), via the BLM PLSS survey grid; good to about half a mile. The News's 1872 guide to the line puts Southwater 'at the sixtieth mile-post', with 'a postoffice and extensive siding for the loading of ties and lumber'; Husted, a mile south, was 61 or 62 miles from Denver (1873, 1881).

Placed from a written description, such as a land section, a distance from a landmark or an old survey note.

See it on the map

Sources

Sources are named in the text above. Numbers such as S-0080 refer to our source list. Most newspaper quotations were read in the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Long quotations from recent books are shortened here.

Know more about Southwater?

Corrections, family stories, photographs, deeds, letters and maps are all welcome. Messages and files come to Michael Christensen privately; nothing appears on the site until it has been checked, and you'll be credited the way you ask.