Great Sand Dunes National Park

William Wellington and his wife, Esther, came from Iowa in the 1870s and settled with other Mormon families in Uracca. The Wellingtons had four children: Frank, Charles, Elizabeth (Lizzie), and Ada. On Zapata Creek, two miles north of Uracca, William started one of the first sawmills in the San Luis Valley. His son Charles was a ranch hand at the Medano Ranch and later operated a sawmill in Sawmill Canyon, just north of today’s campground in Great Sand Dunes. William’s son Frank worked as a fireman for the D&RG Railroad out of Alamosa.

The story is told that, in 1888, William Wellington was a member of a party sent to Alamosa to secure an American flag, which the citizens of Uracca would raise on the northern Twin Peak for the Fourth of July. There were no flags to be had, but they did return with red, white, and blue bolts of cloth, which were sewn into a flag by Lizzie Wellington and some of the local women. On July 4th, a group of 27 people, including William Wellington and his four children, hiked to the top of the peak, hoisted the flag on a log pole, sang the national anthem, and enjoyed a very memorable picnic lunch.

William’s son Frank married Virginia Miller in 1895. They had eight children—one born in Mosca, three born in Uracca, and four born in Alamosa. In 1928, Frank and his son Harold constructed three buildings just north of Mosca Creek, in what is now Great Sand Dunes National Park: a cook shack; a cabin; and a tool shed, which held tools for their mine shaft just up the hill. The Wellingtons dug an irrigation ditch from Mosca Creek toward their cabin. Today’s Wellington Ditch Trail, from Montville to the campground, follows a portion of the original ditch and passes above the remains of the cabin. Other than gravestones in Uracca Cemetery, the cabin is the last remaining legacy of the Wellington family in the San Luis Valley.

WILLIAM THOMAS WELLINGTON, C. 1870. William and his wife, Esther, brought their family west from Iowa in the 1870s and settled with other Mormon families in Uracca. William’s sawmill on Zapata Creek produced pine planks for siding, flooring, and roofing for houses in the area. His extended family is shown in the chart below. (GRSA.)

WELLINGTON FAMILY GENEALOGY. Due to space limitations, the only marriages shown are that of Frank Wellington and Virginia Miller and that of Ernest Wellington and Daisy Barrantes, since their photographs appear in the following pages. Leona Wellington, daughter of Ernest and Daisy, is the main source of this genealogy.

SAWMILL CANYON, 2012. William Wellington’s son Charles built a sawmill in this vicinity. Today, the National Park Service has developed a handicapped-accessible campsite here, one mile north of Pinyon Flats Campground on the Medano Pass Primitive Road.

URACCA CEMETERY, 2012. William Wellington’s wife, Esther, and their son Frank are buried next to each other in Uracca. Frank lived to be 94 years old and was well known in the Great Sand Dunes area.

FRANK WELLINGTON AND VIRGINIA MILLER WEDDING, JUNE 30, 1895. After settling in Uracca, Frank and his wife, Virginia, moved to Alamosa about 1903. Frank worked for the D&RG Railroad for many years, retiring in 1936. He was a fireman on steam locomotives, shoveling coal into the fuel box. He earned the nickname “Old Iron Claw Wellington” because he never wore gloves when shoveling coal. (GRSA.)

FRANK WELLINGTON FAMILY, C. 1920. Two of Frank and Virginia’s children died in infancy, but the other six are pictured here with their parents. They are, from left to right, Gladys (born 1907, Alamosa), Ernest (born 1905, Alamosa), Howard (born 1912, Alamosa), Virginia, Frank, Harold (born 1899, Uracca), Esther (born 1897, Uracca), and Oscar (born 1896, Mosca). (GRSA.)

ERNEST AND GLADYS WELLINGTON, C. 1922. Ernest and his sister Gladys dressed up for this photograph on a celebratory occasion for Gladys. As Ernest was born in 1905, he was too young for service in World War I, and by 1940, he was too old to serve in World War II. (GRSA.)

ERNEST WELLINGTON AT DEAD COW RANCH. Frank Wellington owned the Dead Cow Ranch southwest of Uracca, and Ernest worked for his father there for a number of years. Ernest inherited the ranch in 1963 when his father died. When Ernest died in 1967, the ranch went to his wife, Daisy. Daisy sold the ranch in 1969 when she moved back to her native Costa Rica. (GRSA.)

BABY LEONA WELLINGTON, C. 1946. Proud grandfather Frank Wellington (left) poses with granddaughter Leona (center) and daughter-in-law Daisy (right). Daisy married Ernest Wellington in San Jose, Costa Rica, on December 31, 1942. Their daughter Leona was born in Costa Rica in 1944, and the family moved to Alamosa at the end of World War II. (GRSA.)

GRAVE OF ERNEST WELLINGTON IN URACCA. Ernest Wellington became a civil engineer, traveling to Costa Rica in 1939 and 1940 to work on the Pan American Highway. There, he met his wife, Daisy. Their daughter Leona was born in Costa Rica in 1944, and the family moved to Alamosa a year later.

FRANK WELLINGTON AND HORSES ON THE DUNES, C. 1920s. Frank and his son Harold built a cabin just north of Mosca Creek in 1928. Frank was always concerned with obtaining water in this arid landscape, as his granddaughter Leona recalled, “Grandpa’s main concern was always getting water, so he was always digging ditches to divert the water for family use or planting.” (GRSA.)

WELLINGTON CABIN AT GREAT SAND DUNES, 1940. The cabin was built in 1928 for Harold and Eva Wellington and their two children. After Frank Wellington (right) retired in 1936, he spent a lot of time at the cabin entertaining visitors like Guy Bourgain (left) from Kansas. (GRSA-736.)

SUMMER 1940 AT THE WELLINGTON CABIN. The Bourgain family from Kansas visited the Wellington cabin. Here, Emma Bourgain (left) chats with a neighbor identified only as Ellen (right). Note Emma’s dress and hairstyle—she is also in the photograph at left with her back to the viewer. (GRSA-738.)

FRANK WELLINGTON STILL DIGGING DITCHES, 1940. Even at the age of 71, Frank (top right) was still digging irrigation ditches. He was assisted by Emma Bourgain (bottom right) and her children Beulah (bottom left) and Guy (top left). (GRSA-739.)

WELLINGTON CABIN, 1964. By 1964, the cabin was in a sad state of deterioration. Frank Wellington died in 1963, and ownership passed to his son Ernest. Ernest then sold the land to the National Park Service for inclusion in Great Sand Dunes National Monument, which surrounded it. (GRSA-2145.)

SAND DUNES VIEW FROM WELLINGTON CABIN, 1964. The Wellington land was first claimed by Ernest Wellington in 1928, recorded as Township No. 27 South, Range No. 73 West, Sixth Principal Meridian. The federal government withdrew the land around the dunes from homesteading in 1930, preventing further inholdings in what became Great Sand Dunes National Monument in 1932. (GRSA-2144.)

WELLINGTON CABIN, 2012. Snow and time continue to ravage the cabin, and the front porch has now collapsed. The National Park Service has deemed the structure not worth preserving. Leona Wellington vividly recalls collecting pinion nuts from the surrounding pine trees with her grandfather Frank in the 1950s.

WELLINGTON DITCH TRAIL, MAY 10, 2012. The Great Sand Dunes (visible in the background) and the trail are covered by a late-spring snow. Although the Wellington cabin may someday collapse, the family name and legacy are preserved in this trail commemorating Frank Wellington’s irrigation ditch.