Letter from Ken Jessen
Energy – January 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
I love letters like the one written by Stephen Glover which ran in the December 2007 issue ofColorado Central. We need creative thinking to solve our energy crisis, but we also need realistic solutions. To add to Glover’s popular myths is that we can run our automobiles and SUVs on ethanol.
Letter from Ken Jessen
Piñon Canyon – November 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
In Doug Holdread’s letter in the October issue of Colorado Central Magazine titled, “Modern-day range war,” he points out the danger of letting the U. S. Army take over much of south-central Colorado for the expansion of its already large land area in the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site.
Letter from Ken Jessen
Cotopaxi Colony – March 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
I could not resist commenting on the fine piece by Nancy Oswald on the little-known Jewish colony at Cotopaxi. Diversity of race and religion reflects one of the fundamental strengths of our nation. Although the Jewish colony failed and their effort was abandoned, Oswald’s article clearly points out the many problems faced by these people.
Sidebar by Ken Jessen
Local History – January 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Story Behind the Story
I met the Salazar family quite by accident during the summer of 2000. My wife Sonje and I were in the San Luis Valley hunting ghost towns for Volume 3 of Ghost Towns, Colorado Style. We were eating in La Jara and talking about the location of Los Cerritos, when John Salazar overheard our conversation and introduced himself and his father Henry. John told us about Rincones and the Salazar ranch. The information was added to the book.
Sidebar by Ken Jessen
Local History – January 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Archuleta, Ruben E. Land of the Penitentes; Land of Tradition, El Jefe, Pueblos West, Colorado, 2003.
Bauer, William H., James L. Osment and John H. Willard. Colorado Post Offices 1859-1989. Golden, Colorado: Colorado Railroad Museum, 1990.
Sidebar by Ken Jessen
Local History – January 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Francisco Esteban de Salazar y de Sandoval (b. 1800) married Maria del Carmen Valdez. Two of their children were Refugio and Eusebio Salazar. Eusebio married Amada Garcia and Refugio married Felipe Cantu.Eusebio and Amada’s son, Juan Bautista Salazar (b. 1884) married his first cousin, Antonia Cantu (b. 1884), daughter of Refugio and Felipe.The Cantu family had also moved from New Mexico to Los Rincones.
Article by Ken Jessen
Local History – January 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
ONCE UPON A TIME, the Mexican government expanded its domain northward into what is today New Mexico and southern Colorado, not only to add to their territory, but to provide a buffer zone to reduce raids by aggressive Indians. Wealthy families were given generous land grants and the only requirement was that they promise to establish a colony.
Brief by Ken Jessen
Rural Politics – June 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
IN APRIL, small towns throughout Colorado elected new mayors. Despite the popular image of small towns as harmonious places, these positions can come with some controversy.
For instance, some years back former stripper Koleen Kae Brooks was elected to the office of Georgetown mayor. According to the Rocky Mountain News, she was accused of flashing her ample breasts in a Georgetown bar. She then allegedly staged an assault on herself and was subsequently charged with filing a false police report. Ousted by a recall election, she temporarily hosted a show on KBPI.
Sidebar by Ken Jessen
Local Lore – January 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
Certainly, in visiting over 600 abandoned town sites in the American West, I have had some very eerie feelings. This is especially true when I am alone poking inside some old miner’s shack on a dark overcast day near dusk. Might ghosts live in ghost towns? It certainly seems logical, but I have never seen a ghost in a ghost town. However, in the quiet solitude of the mountains, I can be startled by the sound of a piece of corrugated sheet metal flapping in the wind.
