Springer

The town carries the name of Frank Springer, lawyer for the Maxwell Land Grant company, and his rancher brother Charles, so it stands on one side of the dispute its own panel describes. The flare-up came in 1885, when deputies opened fire on George Curry's party on the courthouse lawn. Curry's brother and a companion were killed, and Curry was fined five dollars for carrying a gun. Twenty-two years later he was governor of the territory, and the reform school he proclaimed opened here.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Springer Population 1,696 - Elevation 5,857 Located in the old Maxwell Land Grant and near the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail, Springer served as Colfax County seat from 1882 to 1897. Several men were killed here in one of the late flare-ups of the Colfax County War, a dispute between land grant owners and settlers.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• St. James Hotel — 20 mi
  Henri Lambert's 1872 inn and saloon on the Santa Fe Trail at Cimarron, a stage for the Colfax County War, where the old saloon ceiling still shows 22 bullet holes.

More markers nearby

• Old Colfax County Courthouse — 0.5 mi
• Clifton House Site — 20 mi
• Women of the Santa Fe Trail — 20 mi
• Black Jack's Hideout / Colfax County War — 20 mi