Cortez has an important historical value, being registered as one of the historic places of Colorado. In the area of the city, the history passionate can visit the Crow Canyon, the Mesa Verde National Park, and also the smaller historical sites such as Cowboy Wash or Lowry Ruins.
One of the most important events happened here was the heroic landing of an aircraft back in 1959, which caught fire while it was 70 000 feet in the air. The pilot didn’t even know that there is a landing field in the area, but he was guided by the lights. It was a miracle, because this is one of the fewest airports in the area that benefits of light during the night. Otherwise, this is a small locality of only 5 square miles, where people prefer to live their live sin peace, far from the crowded metropolitan areas.
Cortez is an important commercial center of the area, where people from Utah and New Mexico come during the important trading events. However, tourism remains one of the most beneficial activities here. Besides the monuments and landmarks, the place is perfect for winter sports, biking and hiking.
It is normal for the Montezuma County in Colorado to have a matching municipality, at least when it comes to the name. Cortez is a city of 9000 people in Colorado, and one of the most populous ones in this county. The name of the city as well as the name of the County, in an area that does not have much to do with the Aztecs and Mexicans is still a mystery. The city was named after the Spanish Conquistador Cortez, but the reason for this was not found even today. It is believed that some of the Cortez soldiers decided to leave their leader, so they had to run away as fast as they could, in order to avoid the revenge of the feared conquistadors, which considered them as traitors.