Hooper, Colorado

Hooper is about 30 miles north of Alamosa on State Route 17, right against the Saguache County line.

Hooper was one of those towns that came into being in the San Luis Valley during the land boom that followed the arrival of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in Alamosa. Railroad spurs were built in all directions, one of them coming out of Alamosa and heading north through Mosca and into Hooper. However, between weather fluctuations, water problems and stock market whims, most of the rail lines in the San Luis Valley were abandoned and then pulled up completely. Today there are several places where what remains as a town was started back in the late 1800's at the place where the railroad built a station house and loading platform.

For whatever legal reason, just a couple of miles west of Hooper the valley floor is abundant with irrigated crops and lots of work for farmhands. But not so Hooper... And the lone gas station I found in Hooper had the highest price for gas I've ever seen, but the next nearest gas was in Alamosa (about 30 miles south) or in Poncha Springs (50 miles north) or in Saguache (about 30 miles northwest) or in Center (about 8 miles west).