Walsenburg 1882: August Sporleder announces he has reopened his hotel. Tables always supplied with the best the market affords, and beds clean and comfortable. 1890: Miss Katie Gantz has 79 enrolled in her primary class and Miss Minnie Guy has 53 in the first intermediate department. Mrs. M.E. McKay, wife of the principal, has 40 students enrolled in the second intermediate. 1896: Dick Brothers have finished putting up ice for summer use and have 542,000 pounds stored, purchased from the La Veta Milling and Elevator Company. 1902: Fremont McIntire, A.M. Rice, J.C. Fugate and Oregon Pharis are putting the finishing touches on the Dick Brother’s new ice house on Russell Street, their third ice storage building. 1908: Donaciano Vigil, 71, and his two-year-old granddaughter Della, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Felix Vigil, were killed instantly when their buggy was struck by a Colorado and Southern engine at Mayne, about a mile south of Walsenburg. 1914: The Walsenburg Fuel Company has consolidated with the Niggerhead Coal Company, whose; mines are adjacent to one another on about 600 acres, and will now be known as the Walsenburg Coal Mining Company. 1920: The Levy brothers lost a good delivery horse the other day after it fell into an arroyo. 1927: Members of the newly organized high school boys PEP club went to the Star Theater last night to stir up enthusiasm for the Panthers
game with the Pueblo Central Wildcats this week. 1933: Wholesale theft of coal in the railroad yards and from freight trains rounding the curve near the Cucharas River bridge is being investigated by the C&S which says it’s losing 100 tons a month. 1939: Nearly 50 of the county’s rural schools are now participating in the conservation of natural resources and are learning Americanism under the program of the Young Citizen’s league. 1945: A total of 155,000 pounds of Huerfano County turkeys were shipped to eastern markets this past season and another 30,000 pounds were sold in southern Colorado markets. 1952: Joe C. Martise, Kebler, and Norman Pfaffenhauser, Pictou, received their 25-year service pins from Colorado Fuel and Iron. 1958: No trace has yet been found of the three Walsenburg men who escaped from the Huerfano County jail on New Year’s Eve. 1964: Patio Enchilada Frozen Dinners, 59 cents; Maxwell Coffee, 75 cents a pound; R-F Vermicelli, 27 cents a pound. Safeway Store. 1970: June Marie, daughter of Eddie and Roberta Medina, was the first baby born in Huerfano Memorial Hospital in 1970. 1977: George Amidei was granted an extra-territorial ¾ inch water tap for his proposed drive in restaurant north of town. 1983: Walsenburg crews are still removing snow after the 27 inch snowfall over the Christmas holiday, which brought the annual precipitation to 21.14 inches. 1989: December high, 68 degrees, low, 4 degrees, precipitation, .97 inch. Total precipitation for 1988 in Walsenburg was 19.51 inches. 1995: Judge Claude Appel will issue at least 20 contempt citations to potential jurors who did not show up for jury duty Jan. 4.
La Veta 1889: Rocky Mountain News: La Veta, Colo. Jan. 3 – A fire at 10:30 to-night destroyed the buildings occupied by S.L. Strange as a furniture store, and the office of Dr. Morton. The flames spread to the building on the opposite site of the alley, owned by John F. Moore and occupied by G.S. Emerson as a warehouse, but by the heroic work of the bucket brigade the building was partially saved. The buildings destroyed belonged to A.P. Mac Auliffe. No insurance on any of the property. 1895: Papers were drawn up this week transferring the western part of the Daigre ranch to J.K. Kincaid, perhaps the most valuable ranch on the Cucharas. 1901: The Woodmen of the World’s New Years Eve dance in Ryus Opera House was quite a success with a poverty lunch counter. The last guest left at 5 Tuesday morning. 1909: The La Veta Mercantile of Messrs. McLain, Hayes and Moore purchased the grocery stock of George Hansen instead of that of E.L. Smith, as announced last week, and will remain at the same stand on the east side of Main Street. William McLain will manage it. 1915: Professor Rote and the pupils of the 10th and 11th grades made a tour of the town on New Year’s Eve serenading several homes. 1922: The community was shocked by the sudden death of Mrs. Henry Tiedeman who died of a hemorrhage after a fit of coughing. 1928: Some good ice has been harvested and stored in the big ice house at the mill for next summer. 1934: A 10-pound boy was born to Mrs. Lilly Riggins whose husband died Oct. 13. 1940: Mr. McClure, supervisor of the construction of the new forest ranger residence, conducted a tour for Rotary members and their wives following Tuesday’s regular dinner and meeting in the La Veta Hotel. 1946: One of La Veta’s oldest buildings, just south of Gambles store, is being torn down. The building to the south of it is also scheduled for removal. 1953: Forest Ranger Lewis Cummings measured 19.4 inches of snow with 4.6 inches of water content on La Veta Pass, less than half the amounts at this time last year. 1959: A classroom and lavatory are being built in the new addition to the rear of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. 1965: Donald Eugene Andreoli of La Veta will be presented in a vocal recital Sunday afternoon in the Washington School auditorium by Mrs. Louise Sporleder Pisarczyk. 1971: Mr. and Mrs. Simon Aguirre entertained 25 of her relatives on Christmas Day. 1977: Brett Arnold, a senior at Adams State College, will do his student teaching in John Mall High School in Walsenburg. 1984: Jim and Karen Vietti have announced they will open Vietti’s restaurant, specializing in steaks and Italian foods, in the immediate future at the site of the former miniature golf course above Cuchara. 1990: Marshal Phil Wilson and Deputy Lee Ellis reported they had worked a total of 2,724 and ¾ hours in 1989, drove 19,997 miles, issued 444 written warnings and 74 citations.
