Column by Hal Walter
Gardening – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
THIS YEAR, for the first time in many, I’ve planted a garden. A good portion of the seeds I’ve planted here at 8,800 feet are actually near descendants of weeds.
2005 July
Crested Butte doesn’t sound worried
Sidebar by Allen Best
Mining – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
It’s another example of a butterfly flapping its wings in Beijing affecting the weather in the Rocky Mountains. This year, those Beijing butterflies – often used as a metaphor to describe causality – are part of the reason why two old Colorado towns, Leadville and Crested Butte, could become mining towns once more.
$30 Moly and the future of Climax
Article by Steve Voynick
Mining – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
EVERY TEN YEARS OR SO, the Climax Mine seems poised to rise from its ashes, hiring hundreds of miners, bringing the good times back to Leadville, and reclaiming some measure of its former glory as a major source of molybdenum. After circulating quietly for a year, new rumors went public on May 26 with a front-page article in Leadville’s Herald Democrat headlined: Is Climax Making a Comeback?
Collecting artists in Twin Lakes
Article by Lynda La Rocca
Local Artists – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
SOME PEOPLE COLLECT ROCKS. Others accumulate coins or seashells or antique dolls. Sharon Downs “collects” artists–specifically Colorado artists whose work is featured at the High Country Treasures gallery in Twin Lakes.
Mansions of Denver, by James Bretz
Review by Ed Quillen
Colorado Lore – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Mansions of Denver – The Vintage Years 1870-1938
by James Bretz
Published in 2005 by Pruett
ISBN 0-87108-937-8
Currents of Change, edited by Pat Windolph
Review by Ed Quillen
Local History – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Currents of Change – A new era for the Upper Arkansas,. Salida, Buena Vista, Poncha Springs
edited by Pat Windolph
Published in 2005 by Arkansas Valley Publishing
No ISBN
Union Park, a novel by Phil Klingsmith
Review by Ed Quillen
Local Fiction – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Union Park
A novel by Phil Klingsmith
Published in 2005 by Dunsmith Publishing House, Ltd.
ISBN: Pending
A Room for the Summer, by Fritz Wolff
Review by Steve Voynick
Mining – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
A Room for the Summer: Adventure, Misadventure, and Seduction in the Mines of the Coeur d’Alene
by Fritz Wolff
Published in 2005 by University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0-8061-3658-8
Water, Water everywhere, sort of, sometimes
Column by George Sibley
Water – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
WATER ON THE BRAIN these days – I’m trying to organize Western State College’s annual Water Workshop. It’s the 30th conference, so we’re trying to take a larger look at the whole 30-year period – mostly because, water-wise, it has been a really interesting period.
When Dick Bratton, a Gunnison water attorney (and Salida native), and Western historian Duane Vandenbusche held the first Water Workshop in 1976, a lot of things had not happened.
A Central Attraction
Article by Martha Quillen
Pack-Burro Racing – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
ED AND I WERE STANDING just off Main Street in Buena Vista, trying to saddle our not-so-trusty steed. But the fancy pack saddle we’d borrowed came with a confusing array of straps, buckles, and rings, and we had no idea what we were doing. Then a gunfight broke out half a block away. Someone shouted, a woman screamed. Shots sounded and reverberated. Three women with parasols cheered the gunmen on. And Virgil kicked and bolted.
Monte Vista museum features transportation of the West
Article by Marcia Darnell
Local History – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
IF YOU’RE IN MONTE VISTA and looking to fill a half-hour or so after lunch or before an early movie, step into the new Transportation of the West museum. Located on the town’s main drag, the one-room showplace is a great way to get a quick view of regional mobility.
Silver Cliff museum re-opens after five-year renovation
Article by Rayna Bailey
History – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
DESPITE ITS gold-painted wood siding and belfry complete with bell, the Silver Cliff Museum is a simple, unornamented building which reflects its original purpose: to serve as the town hall and firehouse. Located on Main Street in Silver Cliff, the historic two-story building was built in 1879, and is once again open to visitors — following a renovation project that took nearly five years and cost more than $176,000.
Who can afford not to be a hypocrite?
Essay by Martha Quillen
Modern Life – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: Last week, I read a feature that made me think Central Coloradans may be a little more savvy about some things than our neighbors. But on the other hand, even if we’re ahead on the learning curve, we’ve still got problems.
In his June/July issue, Jim Stiles, publisher of Moab’s Canyon Country Zephyr, lambasted the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). Stiles, a former seasonal ranger at Arches National Park, is grass-green, himself, but he contends that his fellow environmentalists have sold out.
Beer, barbecue, and transcendence in Crestone
Article by Peter Anderson
Mountain Life – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
I’VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT THE RATIO of bars to churches could tell you something about a community. Having lived for seven years in Utah, I must admit I get a little uneasy when the bars are heavily outnumbered. That said, I have since come to settle in Crestone, a town full of spiritual communities — including a few churches (Baptist, Episcopalian, and Catholic) and more Buddhists (almost every variety) per capita than any other mountain town I know of. Until recently, there were no watering holes here, unless you count the Desert Sage Restaurant which, as the name suggests, is really more of a restaurant than it is a bar. A year or so ago, that changed.
A day that could happen only in Central Colorado
Letter from Keith Gotschall
Livestock – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
The following email was sent to our daughter Columbine, who, as many of you may know, moved to Bend, Oregon, last fall. She forwarded it to us, and we were not only amused by the content, we were also convinced that this was a day that could only happen in Central Colorado, so we got permission to reprint it here.
Dear Columbine,
Today has been absolutely bizarre. Here’s how it started:
Economic illusions and real-estate bubbles
Letter from Daniel G. Jennings
Rural Economies – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
The ongoing Real Estate Bubble exposes a very disturbing truth about America: All across our great nation real economies based upon the production of goods and services have been replaced by economic illusions rooted in hype, hysteria and speculation.
Drillers want to work with surface owners
Letter from Jerry Mchugh Jr.
Surface Rights – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
After reading Representative Kathleen Curry’s letter in the June 2005 edition I wanted to weigh in regarding oil and gas companies’ use of surface for drilling and production operations. Rep. Curry has proposed surface use bills so that industry will be forced to negotiate agreements with surface owners BEFORE moving equipment in to drill.
Great days with the bikers
Letter from Monty Holmes
Tourism – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
Well, there were thousands of bikers around this Valley on Memorial Day weekend, and we thank them for visiting! There were so many places (especially with 360º views from a motorcycle) of exceptional beauty, that they were spread out all over the area. And darn nice folks they were!
Removing ‘Service’ from the IRS
Letter from David Larkin
Government – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
To the Editor:
There is a key document at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), where I work, that tells us how we are to do our jobs. It’s called the Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) and this is what it says about Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) and the employees who work there: “The TAC program provides an opportunity to create a positive image for the IRS to the general public,” the manual says, adding: “You are the IRS to every taxpayer you assist, so it is especially important to be fair, patient and willing to listen to every taxpayer’s situation.”
Ask and ye shall receive
Letter from Greg Hobbs
Colorado Central – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Dear Editors,
You have welcomed more letters. I am sure after all the work you writers and editors do to shape up this magazine through the months and years, you like to hear what readers think.
I think the magazine is interesting, provoking, informative, and sometimes delightfullly zany. I always find something to enjoy.
Regional Roundup
Brief by Ed Quillen
Regional News – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Faster Art?
Salida holds an Art Walk every year in June, giving visitors a chance to stroll around and see not just the artists’ work, but often, their workplaces. Generally, it draws such a good crowd that it’s impossible to go at a faster pace than a comfortable strolling walk.
About those railroad posters
Brief by Central Staff
Transportation – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
It’s hard to walk more than a few yards in downtown Salida without seeing a store-window poster that says we should “Keep Steam Alive,” even though steam engines haven’t operated out of Salida since the Monarch Spur went to standard-gauge and diesel in 1956.
Good year, but not great, for ski industry
Brief by Allen Best
Recreation – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
It was a good but not great year for Colorado ski areas. On one hand, the ski areas collectively posted 11.81 million skier days, the third biggest year on record. The record year was set 7 years before.
Also promising was the return of lucrative out-of-state destination visitors, whose ranks swelled by 7%. Notable was the 28% increase in international visitors. Colorado Ski Country USA, the trade group, said that the United Kingdom, the largest international market, produced 31% more skiers this past winter, while visits from Australia grew 25% and those from Latin America grew 16%.
Berthoud Pass ski area closed and its lodge razed
Brief by Allen Best
Recreation – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
A lodge at one of Colorado’s first ski areas is no more. As ordered by the Forest Service, the 30,000-square-foot building at Berthoud Pass was reduced to rubble recently.
The ski area, one of Colorado’s oldest, opened in 1937, but has only operated sporadically since the mid-1980s and not at all since 2001.
It’s too soon to celebrate end of drought
Brief by Allen Best
Climate – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Droughts are peculiar natural events. You known when a thunderstorm or earthquake starts and ends.
But you don’t know when a drought starts until a few months or years later (a dry month, or even a dry year, doesn’t necessarily mean a drought), and you’re never quite sure when one ends (a wet month or wet year could be an aberration).
Briefs from the San Luis Valley
Briefs by Marcia Darnell
San Luis Valley – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
High-Tech IDs
Three Alamosa liquor stores are the first in the country to test a new identification machine. The device stores a customer’s ID data and forefinger print, making it quick and easy for a regular to touch a screen and be verified as being of age. The machine is expensive, but not as expensive as a liquor license suspension.
SouthArk Funnies
Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck
Mountain Life – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
State gets to say which roadless areas will stay that way
Brief by Central Staff
Public Lands – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Bush Administration has started to reverse a Clinton Administration order that prohibited road construction in 58.5 million acres of roadless National Forest, but don’t expect any immediate construction.
The change affects about 4.4 million acres in Colorado. We couldn’t find detailed information about Central Colorado, but a general map showed some affected land in the Arkansas Hills, Wet Mountains, and Sawatch Range.
Real Estate Lingo for the New Westerner
Essay by Linda M. Hasselstrom
Development – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
I’M A RANCHER, so almost every day some Realtor explains how much money I could make if I sold the ranch. Developers are subdividing pastures nearby, and soon, it’s true, I may not be able to afford ranching.
So, I’m studying up on the new real estate lingo and — in typical friendly Western fashion — offer this handy dictionary for prospective New West landowners. Words, it turns out, don’t always mean what they seem:
Western Water Report: July 3, 2005
EXPERT WARNS WATER SHORTAGES AHEAD FOR COLORADO RIVER
A three-day symposium at the University of Colorado on the Colorado River opened with a warning that critical shortages are possible within the next six years and that shared risk should inspire Western states to find new ways to manage the river. Denver Rocky Mountain News; June 9 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_3841643,00.html>