Why Are So Many Americans Disgusted With Politics?

By Martha Quillen Americans persistently gripe about negative campaigning, back-biting politics, and candidates who talk more about their opponent’s shortcomings than their own intentions. Yet this sort of campaigning persists because fueling disgust works. Disgust is, according to psychologist David Pizarro, one of the easiest emotions to elicit, and it unduly “influences our moral beliefs …

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Leadville Heritage Museum

By Sharon Galey The Heritage Museum, located at 102 East 9th Street in Leadville, has a focus on preserving and sharing Leadville’s history. Built in 1904, and primarily funded through a Carnegie grant, the building served as Leadville’s public library through the early ’70s. When the newer Lake County Public Library was built to serve …

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Down on the Ground with Loss and Transformation

By George Sibley Said farewell to a couple of friends last week. One was an aspen – a lovely tree about thirty-five years old according to its stump, in the prime of life. After three years of increasingly evident decline, it budded this year but failed to produce any leaves. It was one of a …

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The Monarch Tram and Giftshop

By Mike Rosso For many years, I’ve driven right past this popular tourist attraction on top of Monarch Pass, but have never stopped in the gift shop or ridden the tram. This morning I took advantage of some relatively clear weather to visit and learn about the Monarch Crest Giftshop and Tramway, the highest commercial …

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The Road to Chimera: Chapter 1

By Peter Anderson What follows is the opening chapter of a mystery-in-progress set in a fictional San Luis Valley town that may bear some resemblance to the town where I live. Ray followed the road through some cottonwoods and crossed the bridge over the Gonaway River. It had been almost twenty years since he and …

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Between Fire and Flood

By Hal Walter After the driest spell in recent memory, the rains came pitter-pattering on the leaves of thirsty plants, splattering upon the dusty ground and at last creating a steady pouring sound as the water streamed from the roof splashing into the flower beds. I’d just finished a long period of “work” which mostly …

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Following A Drop: One Man’s Mission to Trace the Arkansas River from Leadville to The Gulf of Mexico, Part 2

In part one of this series last month, we introduced the effort by Hannes Zacharias of Lexana, Kansas, to follow a drop of water from the headwaters of the Arkansas River in Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. He is making the trip mostly by kayak, but as you’ll read in the following account, he’s …

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Book Review: The Last Stand of the Pack

The Last Stand of the Pack By Arthur H. Carhart University Press of Colorado Press, 2017 ISBN: 978-1-60632, paper Reviewed by Virginia McConnell Simmons Readers of outdoor West literature value several well-known authors, whose works are like bibles for anyone with concern about what is left of unspoiled landscapes and wildlife that once inhabited them. …

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Eye on the Fifth

By Daniel Smith   The primary election in the Fifth Congressional District – with some drama to it – is over, and the stage is set for November with a new and an old feel to the screenplay being acted out. The familiar is the return of Doug Lamborn, the six-term incumbent who, despite an …

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Chaffee County Writers Exchange

By Judy Reese The Upper Arkansas River Valley is a smorgasbord of creative folks – some sculpting stunning vases from aspen, some capturing the beauty of the Chalk Cliffs in oils, others entertaining with bluegrass tunes or making characters come alive on stage. Some create with fiber or craft whimsical beasts in papier-mâché. Yet those …

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About the Cover Photo

Back in the mid-1950s, Salida entrepreneur Elmo Bevington, and former Gunnison Sheriff George Cope, leased land on the top of Monarch Pass from the United States Forest Service (USFS) to construct a gift shop and restaurant. It was completed in 1954. Bevington then decided to develop an old trail near the building site which went …

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