Walsenburg
1883: Last Friday was the coldest day ever known in this county. At six in the morning the thermometer stood at 30 degrees below zero, at nine, 22 below and at no time during the day was it about 10 below. 1893: E.T. Murphy is the possessor of Bob Ford’s famous six-shooter that killed Jesse James and says he will take it to the World’s Fair for display. 1899: Monday was the coldest day the oldest resident of this place could remember, with the high temperature 15 degrees below. 1905: W.R. Ramey, formerly with Klein’s Bakery, has opened a school for candy making. 1911: A special train of cavalry horses, soldiers and equipment was rushed through Walsenburg Monday evening on its way to the Mexican border. 1917: During 1916, the 29 operating mines of Huerfano County produced 1,801,625 tons of coal, with 10 fatal accidents among the 2,767 employees. 1924: H.C. Smith of Trinidad has purchased one-half interest in the Walsenburg Baking Company at 704 Main Street. 1930: Mrs. George Ugolini of 220 West Fourth won the free permanent wave for January at the Elsie Marie Beauty Shop. 1937: Died, Payton Grey, 107-year-old Negro and one of Colorado’s oldest citizens. He was born in Africa in 1829 and shipped to the United States at four years. He fought on both sides during the Civil War. 1943: Mrs. Vernie Unfug Hutchcraft was informed her son Lt. Conrad Jefferson Farr had received the Purple Heart posthumously for bravery in action in Europe. 1949: Willburn Realty has completed the sale of Robert Byrnes’ 30,000 acre ranch south of Gardner to J.L. Donley of Boise City, Oklahoma. 1955: The Paladin staff at St. Mary High School was presented with an award for first place for producing the newspaper with the most general Catholic tone and philosophy. 1962: Gross sales in Huerfano County during 1961 totaled $12,113,183. 1968: The 79 members of the Huerfano County Chamber of Commerce voted to spend up to $400 to issue new brochures. 1974: Mr. and Mrs. John Giro celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary Saturday evening in the Elks Lounge with approximately 140 guests including their daughters Mrs. Albert T. Tomsic and Mrs. Joe L. Nardine and families. 1980: City Council hired Octaviano Vigil to be Chief of Police and Antonio Martinez captain. The department also will have seven officers. 1987: Three men have been charged with arson and burglary in the early Saturday morning fire that destroyed the Candlelight Inn at Seventh and Main streets, a half a million dollar loss. 1993: Superintendent Mike Hinnegan told the Re-1 School Board that having Trinidad State Junior College rent part of the high school building has helped not only financially but also academically because many students are taking college courses.
La Veta
1882: The Fat Man’s Association met in McAuliff’s Hall for the election of officers. J.G Cozad was elected president and E.G. Berry, secretary. 1888: Town Board appointed A.A. Foote as town surveyor and set the polling place for the April election to be F.L. Martin’s office on Ryus Avenue. 1896: Master Albert Foote passed the sixth milestone of his life and Miss Jessie passed her 12th the preceding week. 1902: About 3,000 tons of ice is the amount harvested here so far this season. 1908: G.A. Chase has invented a device to subdue obstreperous horses which worked well on one he recently shoed. Formerly, the horse nearly tore the building down during the process. 1915: Another [railroad] carload of ice was loaded Tuesday. It is still about 12 inches thick but is beginning to get rotten. 1922: Martial law ended with the removal of the state rangers. We are glad for Mayor Boyd’s sake as they seemed to be getting on his nerves. 1928: The school board has had the school house connected with the sewer to be rid of the cesspool. 1934: The marvelous weather continues and we vote for re-election of the weatherman; some contrast to last year when wind and sand blew for eight months. 1940: The Works Progress Administrations’ new $50,000 reservoir, with a dam built at the west end of a new lake, will be completed this week and water may be turned into the basin at once. 1946: The library board appointed by Rotary Club is H.L. Hubbard, B.M. Stigall and Rev. J.H. Gerault. The library is temporarily located in the old post office on the east side of Main Street and is open from 1-5 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays. Cost is 25 cents for three months. 1952: There will be a big auction of useful articles, livestock, poultry, etc., at the livestock barn Feb. 16 to benefit the March of Dimes. 1958: Lloyd Sneddon broke the scoring record for La Veta High School with 31 goals and three free throws for a total of 65 points in one game. 1964: The Redskins went on a scoring splurge Friday night to win a 71-57 league battle over Saguache, led by Carver with 22 points. 1971: Jeff Geiser has been selected for a four year football scholarship at the University of Colorado in Boulder. 1977: West Peak Mountaineering is sponsoring cross country ski tours on La Veta Pass and Cucharas Valley areas and has all rental equipment, guides and apparel. 1983: The Re-2 Board of Education is studying two plans for an addition to the elementary school, one with a cafeteria and kindergarten room, and one with a cafeteria and library. 1989: Winter finally arrived and left about two feet of snow in La Veta and 29 inches in Cuchara. The temperature bottomed out at 18 degrees below zero. 1995: La Veta got its first respectable snow last weekend when five or six inches fell. The snowpack as measured Feb. 1 showed it to be about 69 percent of normal.
