By Martha Quillen Today the world seems to be locked in an existential crisis, with people from far and wide wondering: Who are we? What are we? Where are we going? And Americans are said to be more partisan, divided and antagonistic than they’ve been since the Civil War. In late January, Bret Stephens, a …
By George Sibley Last month most of us wrote about snow here; maybe this month I’ll write about snow’s dark partner, cold. It’s been so cold over here in Gunnison that when I stepped outside yesterday with a cup of coffee, it froze so fast that it was still hot …. I’d like to be …
By John Mattingly The right to domestic water, like the right to own guns, is constitutional. (Imagine Charlton Heston pointing at a glass of water.) The Colorado Constitution states no citizen of the state shall ever be denied access to clean drinking water. It’s a guarantee from the early days of statehood, when the East-West, …
By Mike Rosso In the previous installment of this column, the interior framing of the new house was getting finished along with the electrical wiring. While this was happening, the first stucco coat was applied to the exterior. I chose a stucco finish for the exterior for a number of reasons. For one, it fits …
By Peter Anderson 1. Dear Blanca, On this postcard we see you from the north. The clouds have saddled up on your high ridges, where for a while, they will stay, until they realize you’re not going anywhere. Then they’ll get restless. One of them will say something like, “Hey, I’m gonna get me a …
Desert Cabal: A New Season in the Wilderness By Amy Irvine Torrey House Press & Back of Beyond Books ISBN: 978-1-937226-97-8 $11.95; 89pp. Reviewed by Eduardo Rey Brummel Last year, a 50th anniversary edition of Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire” was planned, with Amy Irvine providing its introduction. Irvine is the author of 2008’s, “Trespass: Living …
By Jennifer Welch They say that if you do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. Well, I don’t know who “they” are or how they came to that conclusion, but I’m calling BS. Maybe “they” loved being inherently wealthy or being suntan models – if that’s even a thing. But …
By Virginia Simmons The story of this mountain pass really begins a few hundred years before any Europeans entered North America. Until the U.S. Government and pioneers pushed the Ute Tribe onto the reservations on the Western Slope in 1868, the nomadic Ute Indian hunter-gatherers of the Tabeguache Band often used this route as they …
By Mike Rosso Our cover photo this month is a single panel from a panoramic shot of Marshall Pass, taken between 1890-1900 by renowned photographer William Henry Jackson, a partner with the Detroit Photographic Co. The original print was 8 1/2 x 22 inches and is labeled as a Photochrom, a process for producing colorized …
Chaffee County’s past comes alive at a unique historic spot between Salida and Poncha Springs, just off U.S. Hwy. 50. The Hutchinson Homestead and Learning Center is a place where it’s easy to imagine what life was like in the early settlement days in the Upper Arkansas Valley. The Hutchinson family settled in the region …
By Hal Walter I’m not sure when winter began in earnest but probably back in January. I knew I was in trouble when I bought a 25-pound bag of wild bird seed at the feed store. I grew even more troubled when I realized the wind chill was such that I was feeding only two …
By Laura Van Dusen In 1913, Fremont County nearly split in half. A group of civic leaders from Florence almost pulled it off. They proposed a bill to the Colorado legislature in January 1913 to split Fremont County in two and develop a new county naming Florence as the seat of government. It might have …