Rainbow Chasers Welcome

In the early 1890's, hard-edged men came up the river from Questa and over the mountain from Elizabethtown with one thing on their minds: finding the end of the rainbow.

They were former shopkeepers and unemployed school teachers; out-of-work bakers and blacksmiths gone broke; ex-soldiers and sodbusters who were sick of breaking their plows in the dusty fields of stone.

Gold. Silver. Copper. They searched the stream bottoms and the banks of the river for that telltale glint in the water, a sign that precious metal lived somewhere nearby in a jagged outcropping of rocks, born when the earth was young.

It was the rainbow chasers who founded Red River City in 1895. By 1898, population estimates proclaimed 3,000 hardy souls in the town and adjacent canyons and clearings.

High expectations. Disappointing yields. Promising assays. Low grade ore. Hardrock digging by hand. Flooded tunnels. By 1905, less than 150 people remained in town.

You can still see the evidence that the rainbow chasers were here. Abandoned cabins and mine shafts abound, some visible within town limits. The homes of the more successful early settlers can also be seen in town.

Stop by Calamity Jane's on West Main, next to Shotgun Willies and watch Paul Gatton work the sluice box looking for color. Better yet, pan for gold yourself. Paul will show you how and help you get the hang of it. It's interesting and fun.

And you never know: you may find the rainbow's end.