Pagosa History Museum unsalvageable, to be demolished after devastating southwest Colorado floods

Demolition is tentatively scheduled for Monday at the Pagosa Springs Museum after devastating floods in southwest Colorado washed out the ground underneath part of the building.

The building was initially constructed in 1938 for a CCC camp approximately four miles up Piedra Road. When the camps were disbanded in 1942, the building sat empty until it was gifted to historians in Pagosa in 1970. They had the building moved to its current location.

Following the flooding, the museum said it was working to recover as many artifacts as possible before the building collapsed or was demolished.

Museum board president David Hamilton says the photos of the building show the restroom and a custodial closet hanging over the edge of the riverbank, but behind those was a room full of ranching and farming equipment that was lost. He says most of those were bridles and harnesses, and some were found downstream after the flooding.

He expressed gratitude to a local construction crew for saving some artifacts from the building that were on the wall overhanging the river and were deemed too dangerous to retrieve. Hamilton said that, without being asked, the crew shoring up the building gathered up the items and put them in storage.

Overall, Hamilton said the museum was able to save a "great percentage" of the artifacts.

Video and photos from Hodge Podge Pagosa gift shop show crews carefully extracting a large safe, sleigh, wagon and other items from a hole in the side of the building.

Crews were scheduled to begin demolishing the building on Saturday, but Hamilton says they were called away to help repair the road on Wolf Creek Pass. That demolition has been tentatively rescheduled to take place on Monday morning.

Hamilton said it feels awful to see the building go, but they hope to rebuild and have begun accepting donations.

"I've walked in the footsteps of several people who dedicated their lives to the history of Archuleta County. I've worked hard, too. It's just sad to see it go, said Hamilton. "But it's just a museum. It's not somebody's house."

In a message on the museum's website, they shared their dedication to rebuilding, stating, "The pioneers, after the 1911 flood, were able to overcome, and we are determined to do the same."