Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Saguache, CO

Saguache is a statutory town and the county seat of Saguache County in southern Colorado.

The town sits at the northern gateway to the San Luis Valley, between the Sangre de Cristo Range to the east and the San Juan Mountains to the west, with Saguache Creek flowing through it.

Saguache had a population of 539 at the 2020 United States census, up from 485 at the 2010 census.

The town was founded by Otto Mears, who arrived in 1867 and built a grist mill and toll roads over the nearby mountain passes to supply the mining camps.

The Saguache Town Company was formed in 1874, turning the settlement into a booming supply town for the surrounding mines, and the town was incorporated on August 13, 1891.

The name Saguache comes from a Ute word variously translated as "sand dunes" or "water at the blue earth," and the town's name is pronounced suh-WAHTCH.

Saguache stands at an elevation of about 7,704 feet, covers roughly 0.4 square miles, and is served by its own ZIP Code, 81149.

The town is served by U.S. Route 285 and Colorado State Highway 114, and the highway over Cochetopa Pass follows the route of the original Old Spanish Trail.

The town's weekly newspaper, the Saguache Crescent, is still printed on a flatbed press built in 1915 using a Linotype machine that may be the only one still in use in the United States.

Convicted cannibal Alferd Packer was held in the Saguache County Jail in 1874 before escaping, an episode that remains a well-known part of local history and is covered by the Saguache County Museum.