By Steve Chapman Baxter Stingley was one of the first people to arrive in Salida, in 1880. He was part of the exodus from nearby Cleora, when that boom town went bust overnight, following the relocation of the railroad. Stingley and his brother Jessie arrived in the Arkansas Valley from Iowa. Not much is written of his life prior, but Baxter Stingley was 36 when he settled in Salida. An entrepreneur, he quickly formed Stingley and Company, a saloon. That enterprise ended almost as soon as it started, and his partner bought him out. Stingley went down the road to…
