LA JUNTA

city, seat of Otero county, southeastern Colorado, U.S. It lies along the Arkansas River at the northern edge of the Comanche National Grassland, at an elevation of 4,052 feet (1,235 m). Founded in 1875, it was first called Otero, after a Spanish settler, and its present name is Spanish for the junction, referring to its location at the convergence of the old Santa Fe and Navajo trails. La Junta developed as a shipping point to New Mexico and is now a railroad junction with large railroad shops. It lies in an irrigated-farming area devoted to sugar beets and vegetables; cattle auctions are important. Otero Junior College opened there in 1941. Inc. town, 1881; city, 1901. Pop. (1990) 7,637.