According to the the oral tradition of the high country, it was on July 3, 1895, during the administration of U.S. President Grover Cleveland, that a young girl of 16 years named Vesta Coffelt climbed to the top of Flagge Mountain – pronounce Flag-e – and planted a 44-star flag of the United States of American for all in the valley to see.
It was in celebration of the founding of the town of Red River City by the Red River City Town & Mineral Company of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Edward I. Jones was the company representative in the country of Taos, New Mexico Territory.
He had platted the town and the company declared they were the official representative for land sales within the new town.
Thus began the tale of a mining camp that became an “official” town.
It is on July 3, 2020, that the citizens, past and present, and a legion of friends will observe and celebrate the founding of a town that refused to die when the mining boom was over, reinventing itself as a hospitality destination known far and wide as “The Playground of the Great Southwest!”