The Purgatoire River, also known as the Purgatory and Picketwire River, is in southeastern Colorado, United States. The river originates in the high mountains of the Culebra Range. Several tributaries merge near Weston in Las Animas County and the river flows east-northeastward 196 miles (315 km) to a confluence with the Arkansas River near Las Animas in Bent County, Colorado. The Purgatoire River drains an area of 3,449 square miles (8,930 km2), mostly in Colorado but a small percentage of the watershed is in New Mexico. The Purgatoire River watershed is lightly populated. Population has been declining since 1920 as former coal mining and agricultural communities have become ghost towns.
The Purgatoire River has cut a canyon through the Great Plains.
The watershed of the Purgatoire River, Colorado and New Mexico
The Purgatoire River at Trinidad.
The Coke Ovens of Cokedale. Coal mining was previously the major economic activity west of Trinidad.
Weston is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Las Animas County, Colorado, United States. The Weston post office has the ZIP Code 81091. At the United States Census 2020, the population of the Weston CDP was 53.
Weston Supply and U.S. Post Office in Weston.
