Huerfano County’s First Choice

Thursday, April 18th, 2013 at 10:25am

by Debi Sporleder
WALSENBURG — When the old Hilltop motel came down and the huge lot was cleared off, Huerfano County residents waited with bated breath to see the new grocery store.

This week in history for April 11, 2013

Thursday, April 18th, 2013 at 10:23am

Walsenburg

1899: Walter Houser, county assessor, has arrived at an agreement with Las Animas County over the establishment of the joint county line.
1905: John H. Fox, the former county treasurer of Las Animas County, was shot and killed in the Trinidad post office by Joe Johnson, a deputy sheriff.
1911: The Colorado and Southern Railroad will give special rates to those wishing to go to Pueblo to see the aeroplane show.

Lawmen—  the fallen

Thursday, April 18th, 2013 at 10:23am

by Nancy Christofferson
HUERFANO — If Huerfano County were to establish a roll of honor of its fallen lawmen, there are at least a half a dozen officers who were killed by violence during their terms of office between the years of 1880 and 1940.

Huerfano artists make good... art

Thursday, April 18th, 2013 at 10:19am

by Stephen Savageau
COLORADO SPRINGS — Local artists, Tom Vail and Reba Lee Savageau, opened their new art show last Friday, April 5th, at the Modbo Gallery in Colorado Springs. The display, titled Collage!, will continue through this month.

This week in history for April 4, 2013

Thursday, April 11th, 2013 at 11:27am

Walsenburg

1881: Colorado Coal and Iron Company shipped 5,977 tons of coal out from its Walsen mines during February.
1889: Peter Krier, the shoemaker, is building a new business house, 16 by 45 feet, on West Sixth Street.
1896: Paul Sowers, a ranchman of the Santa Clara, was found dead after being crushed by his wagon, possibly by a runaway.
1903: A.J. Steele quit his job as stable boss at Walsen Mines and moved Antonio Bertolero’s old saloon to McNally camp where he will run a dance hall.

The law and problem solving

Thursday, April 11th, 2013 at 11:26am

by Nancy Christofferson
HUERFANO — For every Chief of Police and County Sheriff who took office, there was an expressed agenda as to which crime or particular problem was at the time the most important to address, such as rustling, prohibition, gambling.
Rustling was tackled by having ranchers, cowboys and other volunteers assist the lawmen in patrolling the range. Mostly the problem was solved with the end of meat rationing in 1946.

The law and demon drink

Thursday, April 4th, 2013 at 2:25pm

by Nancy Christofferson
HUERFANO — Back in ye olden days, say from about 1870 to 1950, which is the basic time frame of this ongoing series, law officers had very different crimes to deal with than they do today, and very different ways to tackle them.

This week in history for March 28, 2013

Thursday, April 4th, 2013 at 2:23pm

Walsenburg

1894: Forty-one persons of all ages attended the literary in the Scissors schoolhouse last week.
1900: Ernest Krier had his hand badly burned and Professor Hamer received several balls of fire in his clothing in an explosion in the high school chemical department.
1906: Mr. Valdez finished his term of teaching in one of the Capps district school houses. He had a daily average of nearly 50 young scholars.
1912: Make Your Hens Lay! Fresh cut bone and meat, eight pounds for 25 cents at Central Meat Market.

Despite This We Stay for march 21, 2013

Thursday, March 28th, 2013 at 8:53am

by Carol Dunn
HUERFANO — When you reach my age, which is really quite young in terms of geologic time, you’ve had some experience with people bumming money. It starts with your milk money in grade school, and it ends the day you are beamed up by a UFO.
So I feel I have just about seen it all when it comes to panhandlers. WRONG. Last week in the parking lot of a membership warehouse in Pueblo, we had an encounter of the strangest kind – we met a panhandler who should win an Academy Award for best actor.

This week in history for March 21, 2013

Thursday, March 28th, 2013 at 8:52am

Walsenburg

1877: The female suffrageists think that nothing is lacking but to allow women to vote to make the Centennial the model state of the union.
1883: A grand festival in Mazzone Hall will be held Easter Monday, March 26, for the benefit of the Catholic Church. Tickets are $1.50.
1893: We have had wind and sand storms but the one on Sunday beat the record. Drifts of two to four feet of sand and dirt were left in the fence corners.
1900: Victor Padilla, 18, accidentally shot and killed himself while herding sheep for Juan Pacheco of North Veta.