By Ed Berg Back in 2019 I attended a meet-your-neighbors open house for a new landowner who wanted to set up a tourism business; eco-tourism was to be part of it. He stated that they would not be letting “destructive cattle” graze on the riverside property. He didn’t know that the lady standing next to …
By Ed Berg Solitary hikes with the family dogs are a source of relief from the anger, intolerance and antagonistic noise of this extraordinary election year in the U.S.A. I recently discovered a gulch north of town that is too steep and boulder-choked for a bike trail or even a foot path … not …
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 Virginia McConnell Simmons During Colorado’s gold rush and mining boom, rugged Methodist circuit rider Father John L. Dyer, the “Snow-shoe Itinerant,” is famous for carrying a Bible and packs of mail across 13,135-high Mosquito Pass. Enduring physically, economically, emotionally, and spiritually were his challenges. During his walk from the upper Midwest to Denver in …
By Mike Rosso
Some old-time Salidans still refer to it as the Clifton Ranch. It was Clarence Clifton who sold the vast ranch on the eastern end of Salida to Harold Vandaveer in 1957.
Chaffee County records indicate that Clifton had purchased some or all of the ranch from Theodore and May Driggers in 1948, but records before that grow cold. It was in 1947 that the new “interstate” highway, U.S. Hwy. 50, split the ranch in half in an effort to create a direct route from Maryland to California.
Central Colorado and the entire state once had a booming head lettuce growing operation from the early 1920s into the 1940s that is now all but forgotten. With good rail access via the Denver & Rio Grande to eastern markets, favorable growing conditions and plenty of ice to chill the leafy vegetable, head lettuce production was all the rage.
However, changing market conditions and the introduction of the refrigerated rail car doomed the local industry. Growing head lettuce in Colorado followed a national trend of the time where agriculture was expanding, and growers were taking chances with crops that ultimately didn’t grow well in certain locations.
After years of on-the-ground research and action that stretched all the way from the rapids of the Arkansas River to Washington D.C., the Friends of Browns Canyon (FOBC), a local nonprofit group, still needed an effective way to tout the landscape and allure of Browns Canyon, which lies between Buena Vista and Salida.
They’d made great progress on the effort, particularly with help of photographer John Fielder, who donated his time to create beautiful images of the proposed wilderness area. They also captured the attention of Colorado Sen. Mark Udall, who has visited the Browns Canyon area several times.
By Wendy Oliver
When I first moved to Buena Vista, I expected to gain a traffic-free life in the mountains while losing out on performing arts. Three months later, I attended the 1999 Alpine Orchestra’s Christmas concert and discovered a high caliber community orchestra right in the Upper Arkansas Valley. By January, I’d dusted off my oboe and joined both the Orchestra and the pit band for the local production of Brigadoon. More than a decade and a hundred performances later, I’m still impressed with the depth of talent in our small communities.