Editing Baca County, Colorado (section)

==History==
Baca County was created by the Colorado legislature on April 16, 1889, out of eastern portions of [[Las Animas County, Colorado|Las Animas County]]. Baca County was named in honor of [[American pioneer|pioneer]] and [[Colorado General Assembly|Colorado territorial legislator]] [[Felipe Baca]].

Prior to the 1880s there was little activity in the county, other than along the Cutoff Branch of the Santa Fe Trail that crosses its extreme southeastern corner. The 1910s saw wet years and expansion due to the increase in acreage that could be homesteaded. World War I also brought increased demand for agricultural products. The arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad in 1926 created new towns and a population increase.

The [[Dust Bowl]] arrived in the 1930s, with Baca County being one of the hardest hit areas.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/17/books/17lask.html?_r=0 | title=Laying Bare Dust Bowl's Scar Tissue | work=The New York Times | date=December 17, 2005 | access-date=January 17, 2014 | author=Laskin, David}}</ref>  This prompted soil conservation efforts by the federal government. Part of this effort was the purchase of cultivated land by the government in order to return it to grassland. Today the U.S. Forest Service supervises 220,000 acres of Comanche National Grassland which was purchased in the 1930s. These areas include Carrizo Creek and Picture Canyon. [[Colorado Parks and Wildlife]] maintains the recreational areas at Two Buttes Lake and Turk's Pond.

On May 18, 1977, an [[Tornadoes of 1977#May 16–21|F4 tornado]] struck the southeastern portion of Baca County, causing an estimated $2.5 million in damage. It tracked from [[Keyes, Oklahoma]], where damage was estimated at $25,000.<ref name="NCDC event 9987497">{{cite web|title=Event 9987497|publisher=[[National Climatic Data Center]]|access-date=August 13, 2016|work=Storm Events Database|url=http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/eventdetails.jsp?id=9987497}}</ref> As of 2020, this is the only [[Fujita scale|F4]]/[[Enhanced Fujita scale|EF4]] [[tornado]] ever recorded in [[Colorado]] since 1950.<ref name="NCDC event search">{{cite web|url=http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/listevents.jsp?eventType=%28C%29+Tornado&beginDate_mm=01&beginDate_dd=01&beginDate_yyyy=1950&endDate_mm=04&endDate_dd=30&endDate_yyyy=2016&county=ALL&hailfilter=0.00&tornfilter=4&windfilter=000&sort=DT&submitbutton=Search&statefips=8%2CCOLORADO|title=Colorado EF4+ tornado search|publisher=[[National Climatic Data Center]]|access-date=August 13, 2016|work=Storm Events Database|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820065618/http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/listevents.jsp?eventType=%28C%29+Tornado&beginDate_mm=01&beginDate_dd=01&beginDate_yyyy=1950&endDate_mm=04&endDate_dd=30&endDate_yyyy=2016&county=ALL&hailfilter=0.00&tornfilter=4&windfilter=000&sort=DT&submitbutton=Search&statefips=8%2CCOLORADO|archive-date=August 20, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=All Colorado F4 tornadoes |url=http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/Colorado/F4/map |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318232511/http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/Colorado/F4/map |url-status=usurped |archive-date=March 18, 2016 |website=Tornado History Project |publisher=Storm Prediction Center |access-date=September 10, 2020}}</ref>