FORT GARLAND — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet visited the San Luis Valley on Tuesday, including a stop at the Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center where, thanks to his advocacy, the museum received $164,000 to put toward expansion of the site’s existing geothermal heating system.
The funding, allocated as Congressional Directed Spending, came through the National Park Service.
Museum Director Eric Carpio took Senator Bennet and the Valley’s State Representative Matt Martinez on an abbreviated tour of the museum, including the “Commandant’s Quarters” where geothermal heating, which is in use in other places in the historic military compound, will eventually be expanded.
“There’s no heat in this building, at all,” Carpio told Bennet and Martinez, “and it gets pretty cold in the winter months. People don’t spend much time looking at the exhibits. They’ll just watch the video for a few minutes and then move on, only because it’s uncomfortably cold.”
With geothermal heating, water comes out of the ground typically around 40 to 50 degrees. It then gets a “boost” that takes it up to roughly 65 degrees, with the warm air distributed through small radiators placed near the floor. Since the water is perpetually recycled, the heating system is sustainable.
The expanded geothermal heating brings another advantage as a building temperature in the sixties allows for future exhibits at the Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center to include artifacts, something not currently possible because of colder temperatures.
As is typical of Senator Bennet anytime he is around a historical site, he was just as intrigued to learn about the history of the museum, itself, and the exhibits on display as he was in hearing about the future installation of geothermal heating system.
After a few gentle reminders from Erin Minks, Bennet’s Regional Representative and Senior Advisor on Rural Affairs, the senator was out the door and on to his next stop – but not before making a note to come back at some point and peruse the extensive collection of books in the Fort Garland Gift Shop.
