The Hippies of Archuletaville

By Kenneth Jessen

Hippies are usually thought of in negative terms, especially when it comes to any kind of work ethic. To run across a town – ragged and run down or not – founded by hippies is certainly a rare find. During the late 1960s, landowner Dan Archuleta allowed a hippie colony to move into his goat sheds along the north side of C.R. 580 a little over a mile west of Red Wing. The hippies named the place Archuletaville and made improvements to the property. A row of south-facing stone sheds was enclosed and windows added. They may have added several free-standing log cabins, but these may have been moved from another location. There is also an adobe house. 

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My Introduction to the “Joys” of Winter Hiking

By Maisie Ramsay

It was about this time last year that Adam, Aaron and I decided November was a perfectly reasonable time to hike up Mount Yale.

Adam is my husband.

Aaron is a guy who knows a thing or two about cold weather, having spent the summer on an Alaskan glacier.

I’m an idiot.

“I’m an idiot,” I thought to myself, as I leaned into a frigid gale with all the cooling power of liquid nitrogen. The wind sucked the heat from my body until my teeth chattered like a wind up desk toy. My fingers, stuffed into flimsy gloves with all the insulation power of tissue paper, were bone white and immobile with cold. I kept imagining myself as a human popsicle, blown off the mountain and permanently iced to a boulder some thousand feet below.

To my horror, I began to cry.

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Music Review: Justin Allison – Take Me Where the Moon Lives

By Brian Rill

A new work has come from the Howard, Colorado artist and composer Justin Allison who breathes life into a sweet set of 14 tunes. Teaming up with Grammy-nominated woodwind player Bob Rebholz on the CD Take Me Where the Moon Lives, Justin presents a tome of striking creativity. His collection of original songs gets mixed with modern arrangements from classic and contemporary artists. His anthems present an array of striking guitar chords aligned with Bob’s astounding flute solos and succulent saxophone melodies. Thelonious Monk’s swinging jazz standard, Monks Dream, is brought to life through the guitar and alto sax. The 1954 duet of Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Joy Spring jumps to the old smooth sounds of New York Bop. Innovative covers of Phyllis Molinary and Artie Butler’s Here’s To Life with the Brazilian pop tune Being Cool by Lorraine Feather and Djavan help us discover the real essence of modern jazz.

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Living Small – The Tiny Home Movement

By Mike Rosso It might be a reaction to the mega mansions and trophy homes of the 1990s and 2000s. Housing shortages and rising home prices may also be contributing to it, but the minimalist, tiny home movement is alive and kicking, nationally and here in Central Colorado. What is a tiny home? Also known …

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A Farmer Far Afield – Morgan Goat Company

by John Mattingly Colorado Central readers who have driven through the San Luis Valley on Hwy. 17 and looked east between Roads Z and X may have noticed large herds of cloven-hoofed and horned creatures interrogating the grass and brush inside a six-foot-high woven wire fence enclosing about 800 acres. The above-mentioned creatures are, for …

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Quillen’s Corner – I’m Still Learning the Difference Between Right and Wrong

by Martha Quillen I used to hate the idea of mixing politics and religion. I assumed politics were about public issues: schools, roads, disaster relief, regulatory agencies, courts, prisons, trade agreements…. And religion was about personal matters: What do I believe? What’s right? Wrong? Good? Or evil? Why am I here? What is my purpose? …

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On the Ground – Down on the Ground with Rationality Part Two

by George Sibley As birds have flight, our special gift is reason. … Should we choose, we could exercise our reason to what no other animal can do: we could limit ourselves voluntarily, choose to remain God’s creatures instead of making ourselves gods. – Bill McKibben, The End of Nature Reason is just not as …

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places – Boss Lake

by Ericka Kastner Situated at 10,880 feet in elevation and surrounded by stunning 12,000-foot peaks, Boss Lake is an idyllic spot to spend a day in any season of the year. Initially built as a reservoir to collect snowmelt and runoff back in the 1890s, the lake has naturally decreased in storage capacity by about …

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Book Reviews – The Railroads of Leadville, Colorado

SILVER RAILS: The Railroads of Leadville, Colorado By Christopher James Sierra Grande Press ISBN 978-0-9670867-2-6 Reviewed by Forrest Whitman This is the book I want for Christmas. I’ve read many books about railroads and railroading, but this one stands out. Many of these rail books have great pictures of a historical era or region. Others …

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News from the San Luis Valley

“Patriot” Arrested A man who claimed to be the founder of the Operation Patriot Rally Point militia was arrested in October by the Colorado State Patrol and Alamosa police, according to The Denver Post. Rodger Marsh, 48, also known as Colt Severs, was arrested in Alamosa without incident on warrants from Texas for probation violation …

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Regional News Roundup

Cold Case Reopened A 35-year-old missing persons case in Salida has been reopened after new DNA testing has revealed the identity of the person missing. Beverly England disappeared on June 12, 1980 after last being seen in Riverside Park in Salida. In 1992, human bones were found at a site on Mount Shavano and were …

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From the Editor – Prison Labor

by Mike Rosso There was a big news story this past month that hit close to home. The national grocery chain Whole Foods, after protests from a small but loud group of customers, decided to stop carrying products grown and processed by Colorado inmates through a work program run by Colorado Correctional Industries (CCI). Here …

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Luthier Kent Viles Gunnison’s “Dobrato” Resonating Far and Wide

By Chris Rourke What began as a garage project has struck a chord as the hallmark product for a Gunnison business that serves guitar players throughout the country – some of them having pretty “big” names in the music industry. The “Dobrato” is the brainchild of Kent Viles, owner of Castle Creek Guitars on Main …

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Luthier Jeff Bamburg – Bamburg Guitars

by Mike Rosso Although he professes to be “just a toolmaker,” Salida-based luthier Jeff Bamburg is hand-crafting some of the finest steel-string guitars in North America. A builder for just ten years, his instruments are garnishing high praise from around the U.S. and the world. Bamburg first caught the guitar bug while listening to recordings …

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Luthier Kurt Snyder – Kutthroat Stringworks

By Ericka Kastner Fire-singed Douglas fir deadwood, collected at the base of Mount Shavano, makes up the soundboard of the steel-stringed baritone ukulele crafted by luthier Kurt Snyder. For every instrument that he makes, Kurt’s intention is to reflect the beauty and grace of the Rocky Mountains, both in styling and in sound. Seven years …

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A Docent Out of Retirement

Photographer Grey Villet had a saying: “Every story should be as real as real could get.”

Grey was an award-winning lensman for Life magazine back in the 1960s, and he never had any idea that someday I’d be representing his photos at the annual Art for the Sangres here in Westcliffe.

Each year the San Isabel Land Protection Trust organizes Art for the Sangres as its major fundraiser for the year. The annual art sale brings together artists of many mediums from all over the country, as well as locally, to raise funds for land and water conservation in Southern Colorado. Celebrating its 20th year in 2015, San Isabel has administered 128 conservation easements protecting 40,000 acres of land, 174 water rights and 61 miles of stream frontage.

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