By Jennifer Welch I’m not very good at existential questions, especially those along the lines of: which came first, the chicken or the egg? It could have been the chicken just as easily as it could have been the egg, if you ask me. But does any of it really matter when we consider that …
By Elliot Jackson The twin towns—hamlets, really—of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff, nestled in the heart of the Wet Mountain Valley, boast a surprising amount of public park land. Each town boasts a town park or two with amenities ranging from playground equipment to ball fields to tennis courts. But for sheer, true enjoyment that is …
By Suzy Kelly What can you say about Joe Cogan? Everything. Joe left us on Saturday November 2, 2020 and there is a big hole in the hearts of his family and many friends. I was behind Joe at the Buena Vista schools as he graduated in 1952 and I was in grade school. When …
By Ed Berg Solitary hikes with the family dogs are a source of relief from the anger, intolerance and antagonistic noise of this extraordinary election year in the U.S.A. I recently discovered a gulch north of town that is too steep and boulder-choked for a bike trail or even a foot path … not …
By Mike Rosso November may seem an odd time to feature a small town nestled in the mountains for this column, but since I recently had a mini-vacation there with my friend Ellen, I thought it would be worth a write-up for readers to put on their lists. When we arrived in Lake City in …
By Amy Noltensmeyer The gas erupts with a pop followed by a steady whoosh of the flame. The length of the flame jumps as the glass blower adjusts the heat. The sword of color transforms from bone white at the bottom to saffron at the tip. The artist’s hair is the same color as the reddish flame …
By Jane Parnell My friend Nancy in Buena Vista is sick and tired of my phone calls of the past nine years, ever since I purchased a home in Fairplay with two spare bedrooms that could be rented out. “This is my last tenant, so help me God,” I said in this morning’s call. “You’ve …
By Mike Rosso Fans of Colorado history and culture should consider making the trip to the town of San Luis, Colorado. The town, which lies about 16 miles south of Fort Garland on Colo. Hwy. 159, at the intersection of Colo. Hwy. 142 is the oldest continuously-occupied town in Colorado. It consists of historic Spanish-style …
By Forrest Whitman There’s a movement afoot to rename the Russell Office Building in Washington D.C. “The Ralph Carr Senate Office Building.” That would please Colorado’s Japanese-American community and many folks from the San Luis Valley. That’s because Carr stood up for the Japanese folks during World War II. He had roots in the Valley, …
By Susan Feldman Foster The classic white adobe structure sits alone like a regal throne on the crest of a hill at the base of majestic 14,049 foot Culebra Peak. For years, the unassuming one-story building was home to the only health care available to the approximately 3,000 residents of Costilla County, comprising 1,200 square …
By Andrea Carlstrom The COVID-19 pandemic has brought painful, yet valuable life lessons for Chaffee County, the U.S. and our world. Although it is likely that the pandemic will linger for some time and will most likely bring new challenges and lessons, I consider it prudent to share what I have experienced and learned thus …
By Ed Berg If you’re reading this, you’re one of a fortunate tiny minority of people. Nothing to do with this column, just that you live in a region close to the outdoors and agricultural lands, and you’re not watching television, at least at the moment. Yet early COVID fears of running out …
By Mike Rosso If you’ve traveled in Colorado’s national forests over the past 15 years, chances are pretty good you’ve seen some of Bob Rohrich’s handiwork. Rohrich is a Recreational Technician with the U.S. Forest Service and based out of the Salida shop on East 3rd and C Street. He has been designing and hand-crafting …
2019-20 – William Wei, Professor at the University of Colorado. 2018-19 – Tom Noel, Professor of History at the University of Colorado at Denver. 2016-18 – Patty Limerick, Faculty Director and Chair of the Board of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado and Professor of History. 2008-15 – Bill Convery, …
Duane Vandenbusche is a Professor of History at Western Colorado University in Gunnison since 1962 and has just been named Colorado’s State Historian, the first to be based outside of the Front Range in its 96-year history. He is the author of 11 books including: “The Gunnison Country,” “Around Monarch Pass,” “Lake City” (with Grant …
By Mike Rosso Here we are, heading into the fifth month of the COVID-19 pandemic and our efforts to “flatten the curve” have been met with only some success. Back in April, I mused that the pandemic could become an opportunity to hit the reset button—this crisis might be used for the betterment of society. …
By John Hausdoerffer This past March, as my campus closed in the midst of the emergence of COVID-19, it felt like a different historical era passed with each daily news cycle. The day before, my daughter Atalaya, 12, and I could not wait to drive across the Utah desert in search of California snow. One sunset …
By Jennifer Welch Typically, when something ends or come to a close, something new takes its place. Usually that thing has some similarities to the thing it is replacing. And most often, the change can feel seamless, as if you’d never actually experienced a change at all. But that is not the case here. Today …
By Madelyn Porter March 19, 2020. The last day of school for the Salida School District. At the time it didn’t seem like a big deal. Now, five months later we still don’t know for sure if we will go back. The coronavirus pandemic has launched a unique set of challenges at everyone and completely …
By John Cameron When your legs burn, but you are not there yet, you have to keep pedaling. The thought comes at the end of yet another day of biking with Salida in the distance settled down in the valley bottom. A new style of bicycling is emerging and the Arkansas Valley is at the …
By Becki Rupp It was late March when Brian Beaulieu, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Chaffee County, and his board realized that they may not be able to hold their traditional Casino Night fundraiser in Salida in early May. They had five weeks to figure out how to shift gears. Cancelling …
By Kim Grant, Colorado Preservation, Inc. Are there really tunnels under downtown buildings in Colorado’s towns? Where do the open staircase entrances in front of many downtown businesses lead to? What kind of businesses occupied these spaces? To find answers to many of these questions and highlight these unique historic resources, Colorado Preservation Inc. listed …
By Susan Tweit When social-distancing and shelter-in-place became “things” in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, I figured I was prepared. As a friend said, “At last, a skill-set I can use!” I’m an introvert and a writer: alone-time is a necessity for me. And I’ve been a widow for nearly a decade, so I’m quite …
By Martha Quillen This year’s Fourth of July celebrations will likely be less boisterous than usual because Americans are ailing. Coronavirus, however, may not be the most serious challenge facing us this year. This spring, President Trump was being his belligerent self, threatening to shut down Congress, blaming Obama for the pandemic, and revoking health …
By George Sibley One of Henry Thoreau’s most intriguing lines, in my mind, was his exhortation: “Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature.” I thought of that one day last week, while following a few public land managers up a gully in an intermittent watershed near Gunnison called Cabin Creek. That quote led, …
By John Mattingly Everybody knows that The Virus will gut-punch parts of the U.S. economy. Regardless of “what might have been,” the sheer cost of dealing with the disease—as it behaves alternately like a glacier and wildfire across the States—will be considerable. To approach “what next,” consider the parable of the $100 bill. A banker …
By Peter Anderson In the dream, I was teaching a class with Wallace Stegner, once known as “the dean of Western writers,” and it wasn’t going well. Standing up in front of the students, I was thumbing through an anthology, trying to locate a poem I wanted to share with them, but the font was …
By Ed Berg Setting out on an early morning walk with Joe Dog, I passed two men on their way toward the F Street parking lot. They were obviously homeless. One was in bad shape, walking slowly with a stick and coughing hard enough that he had to pause to catch his breath. The other …
By Tina Mitchell Among the last species of breeding birds to arrive from their South American wintering grounds, Common Nighthawks zip and zoom through the dusk and dawn skies starting in late May and early June. A nighthawk has a big head with large eyes set on each side; its small bill opens to reveal …
By Mike Rosso Located in the foothills of the Wet Mountains south of Florence, this city-run park offers a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities. The Newlin Creek Trail, which begins within the park, follows an aged logging road to the remains of an old sawmill. The first half mile begins in a canyon and is …
By Chelsea McNerney-Martinez The UFO Watchtower, on the west side of Colo. Hwy. 17 just north of Hooper, and an hour south of Salida, is a unique trip, camping destination or a must-stop along the way to other San Luis Valley attractions. Judy Messoline, the founder of the Watchtower, along with her partner Stan, who …
By Robert Parker Editor’s note: Renowned Salida artist Mel Strawn passed away on May 17, 2020 at the age of 90. We reached out to local artist and climate activist Robert Parker for his thoughts about this talented and beloved man. Mel Strawn was nationally known as an accomplished non-objective artist and printmaker. He was …
By Kenneth Jessen Halfway up Fairplay’s main street stands a curious monument made of dull gray cement adorned with ore samples from many of the mines in the Fairplay-Alma area. Etched in the cement is the following expression of respect to one particular burro called Prunes. It reads, “Prunes—A burro—1867— 1930. Fairplay, Alma—All Mines In …
By Mike Rosso They say hindsight is 2020. How does that explain this crazy year? Worldwide pandemic, protests, murder hornets … and we’re only halfway through it. We’ve still got a national election scheduled for November and the Colorado monsoon season has yet to hit us. And what about Major League Baseball? Players just voted …
By George Sibley We’ve all heard it said: Give a person a fish, you’ve fed the person for a day. Teach the person to fish, and you’ve fed him or her for life. So—Trump threw me a fish. At least he’s the guy who wanted his name on the checks, but our woebegone Congress had …
By Ron Sering Editor’s note: This article is a follow-up to one written in our January/February 2013 issue. The long journey for the area near Nathrop known as Hill Ranch began in 1886, when irrigation rights were first established for use in agriculture and ranching. Exactly a century later, the Hill family sold the rights …
By Mike Rosso Those who’d like to travel, but continue to social-distance—with an added dose of tranquility and spirituality—should consider a trip to the San Juan Catholic Spiritual Center near La Garita in the San Luis Valley. The center consists of the Capilla de San Juan Bautista (Church of Saint John the Baptist), the San …
By Mel Strawn An adventurous artist, writer, and builder, Thordis Niela Simonsen was, in the late days of March, finishing the conversion of a small building in downtown Salida to be called the Museum of Authenticity: genuine encounters in art and culture. Small, yes, but I believe this museum to be a substantial addition to …
By Martha Quillen Modern first-world residents tend to think they’re smarter than their forebears and the world’s untutored masses. But are Americans smart enough to live in the Information Age? To actually know everything may sound wonderful, but now that we can access unlimited information online and have new ways to communicate with one another, …
By John Mattingly Songwriter Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows” should include the dicta: we need the rain like the rain needs the sky. The Sangre de Christo mountains are as bare as most of us have ever seen them in mid-May. On average, peak runoff from the Sangres is the last two weeks of May, and …
By Mike Rosso Those who’d like to travel, but continue to social-distance—with an added dose of tranquility and spirituality—should consider a trip to the San Juan Catholic Spiritual Center near La Garita in the San Luis Valley. The center consists of the Capilla de San Juan Bautista (Church of Saint John the Baptist), the San …
By Jennifer Welch When I awoke that morning, I had an unsettled feeling. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I had been unsure as to how things would turn out, or if they would even turn out at all. And that’s when I decided, at the end of my 48-hour shift on the …
By Peter Anderson 1. Where you sit determines the water’s alphabet. In the everyday shade where the horsetails grow, a white wave washes-washes-washes over a fallen tree. The letter “s” is shaped like moving water and sounds like steam rushing through a kettle spout. Right here anyway, “S” is this creek’s favorite letter. Yes, Yes, …
We asked some of our readers for a single sentence summarizing any positive effects they might have experienced as result of the social and health-related restrictions put in place since mid-March. Here are some responses: “What’s going on in the world right now has reminded me and many others how precious our relationships are and …
By Mike Rosso Tucked away in her home studio in Buena Vista, Evelyn Gottschall Baker is quietly creating world-class glass art. Primarily focusing on a technique called “Patè de Verre” (paste of glass), Baker brings realism and detail into her art and uses both traditional and non-traditional casting and mold techniques to create sculptures which …
