Purgatoire River
The Purgatoire River is a river in southeastern Colorado, United States. The river is also known locally as the Purgatory River or the Picketwire River. Purgatoire means Purgatory in French. French trappers named the river to commemorate Spanish explorers killed in a Native American attack.
The Purgatoire River originates at the confluence of the North Fork Purgatoire and Middle Fork Purgatoire rivers near Weston in Las Animas County, Colorado, and flows generally east-northeastward approximately to a confluence with the Arkansas River in John Martin Reservoir State Park near Las Animas in Bent County, Colorado. The Purgatoire River drains an area of. 96.4% of this area is in Colorado, the remaining 3.6% is in New Mexico.
The Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site is a large military base located along the western bank of the Purgatoire River. Citizens groups opposed plans of the U.S. Army to expand the base. On November 25, 2013, the U.S. Army announced that its plan to expand the Piñon Canyon Maneuver site had been cancelled.The river is frequently referred to as the Picketwire in the film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. This is a folk-etymologizing anglophone phonological approximation of the French pronunciation /pyʁ.ɡa.ˡtwaʁ/, developed by English-speaking settlers who later came to the area.
