How Do You Pronounce Salida, Colorado?
Researched & written by local historian, Steve Chapman, founder of Salida Walking Tours and author of six books on Salida history.
Learn why Salida is pronounced "Suh-LYE-duh," how the town got its name, and why locals rejected the original Spanish pronunciation.
Salida is pronounced "Sa-LYE-da" (suh-LIE-duh), not the Spanish pronunciation "Sa-LEE-da." The name comes from the Spanish word salida, meaning "exit" or "gateway," but local residents adopted their own pronunciation more than a century ago—and it stuck.
Visitors to the Upper Arkansas Valley are often as confused by local pronunciations as they are impressed by the scenery. But names are part of the region's character, especially when you know the stories behind them.
The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad created Salida and, as they did in other company towns such as Durango and Alamosa, wanted a soft-sounding Spanish name that would make the dusty frontier settlement more appealing to prospective settlers.
A.C. Hunt, Colorado territorial governor from 1867 to 1869 and later an employee of the railroad, asked his wife to select a name for the new town. In 1880, she chose Salida, a Spanish word meaning "exit" or "gateway," and intended it to be pronounced Sa-LEE-da.
From the beginning, however, local miners, ranchers, and railroad workers rejected the railroad's preferred pronunciation. Many felt Sa-LEE-da sounded too refined or "dude-ish," using the frontier term for an urban outsider or city slicker.
Instead, residents insisted on saying Sa-LYE-da.
Despite decades of efforts by newspapers and local officials to promote the Spanish pronunciation, the local version prevailed. More than a century later, visitors, newcomers, and Spanish speakers are still surprised to learn that Salida is pronounced differently from the Spanish word it came from.
Interested in more stories like this? Join the Salida Wild West History Tour or the Salida Historic Downtown Tour.
Buena Vista Has the Same Story
The story does not end there.
About 30 miles away, the settlement of Mahonville was renamed Buena Vista in 1879. The name, suggested by resident Alsina "Sadie" Dearheimer, means "beautiful view" in Spanish.
Yet she deliberately chose the pronunciation "Byoo-na Vista" rather than the Spanish "BWAY-na Vista," borrowing the first syllable from the English word beautiful.
Her husband was a language and music teacher, so the choice was intentional. Like Salida, Buena Vista developed its own distinctive local pronunciation.
As William Shakespeare wrote, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." In the Arkansas Valley, however, locals know that how you pronounce a town's name matters almost as much as the history behind it.
Related Stories
• Why Is Salida Considered Haunted?
• Why Did the Railroad Make Salida Famous?
• The History of the Palace Hotel
Explore Salida, Colorado's History in Person
