Walsenburg 1882: Huerfano County will be represented at the National Mining and Industrial Exposition in Denver. A committee including Benton Canon and Fred Walsen of Walsenburg and Col. A.G. Boone and J.L. Patterson of La Veta will select him. 1889: Ye editor was taken on a tour of the famous Rock Island mines two miles northwest of this city where Thomas Lawther is superintendent. The camp is now known as Pictou and the mine produces an average of 500 tons per day and employs about 200. 1896: Leave your orders for Rouse coal at the sheriff’s office or the Clipper Saloon. 1902: The board sidewalk in front of the courthouse is in rather a dilapidated condition with broken and missing planks. This is not only an eyesore but is dangerous, especially at night. 1909: Jose Duvan and James Major, both 32, were killed in a fall of rock in the Hezron mine. Duvan was
buried in Aguilar and Major, a Hungarian, in Walsenburg. 1916: St. John’s Hotel, John R. Dick, proprietor. Rooms to rent with a bathroom and café in connection. 1923: It used to be that girls stayed at home because they had nothing to wear. Nowadays they go right ahead. 1930: More than 800 people attended the graduation ceremonies for the 46 graduates of Huerfano County High School. 1936: Hannah Cameron, H.C.H.S. junior, won a national essay contest with her entry “How Education Trains Us to Think” and received as a prize an electric typewriter. 1942: Died, Willis F. Bourne, who incurred serious injuries Sunday when his horse plunged off a cliff on the north rim of the Apishapa Canon, of his injuries. 1948: The body of Pfc. Henry J. Dunich, who died in Saipan of wounds received on Okinawa, will be returned June 11 for burial in Walsenburg. His brother Thomas Mike Dunich, killed June 25, 1944, was buried here several months ago. 1954: Game Warden J. Frank Cordova reports that fishing conditions locally are poor to fair due to low water. 1960: The Civic League playground opened Wednesday for the season under the supervision of Mrs. Mary Hudran. 1966: Walsenburg High School seniors receiving scholarships were Karen Blase, Ruth DeVan, Ruth Chase, Ben Jaramillo, Leonard Micek, Rose Piazza, Bob Ruiz, Keith Tatman, Arlene Tusing and Laurel Wilkins. 1972: The HAPPY Inc. teenage center will have its grand opening Friday, June 9, with activities to include a dance. 1978: Despite decreases in retail sales taxes both in the city and county during 1977, the Memorial Day weekend brought many more tourists and this may be one of the best years ever. 1984: Around the Corner Ice Cream Parlor, behind Star Drug on Seventh Street off Main, had its grand opening June 1. 1990: Otero Savings in Walsenburg was thronged Tuesday as depositors lined up for as much as five hours in a line of over one block to retrieve funds from the failed institution.
La Veta 1877: The Denver and Rio Grande railway, the iron pathway to the San Juans, which last November had stretched two miles beyond the summit of the mountains, has been completed to the mouth of Greyback Gulch and a new town is expected to be established there before long. 1883: Mr. Fain built the people of Placer a good stone foundation on which to build a school. It is much better and higher than the contract called for. 1892: W.R. Willis, receiver for the La Veta Town and Improvement Company, has been busy selling lots this spring. 1898: Bears seem to be plentiful on the upper Cucharas, two having been killed by Ed Coleman and one by Ransom Denton. 1907: W.P. Powell resigned his position at E.L. Smith’s store and will do some logging on his timber claim up the Cucharas. 1913: Mrs. R.T. McGraw, who is the business manager for her son Bob the pitcher, says her son will not turn professional this summer after all. 1919: Rado Drum and Lena Falk were married last evening by the Rev. Slipher and they are spending their honeymoon at the Crumley ranch on Indian Creek. 1925: My Entire Stock of College Girl and Jane Jackson Corsets at Half Price. E.C. Stream Store. 1931: J.W. Klingen of Oklahoma City is having a 20 by 24 foot log cabin built in Cuchara Camps by Charles Powell and he will call it Kling Inn. 1937: W.B. Carver, 83, died, leaving his wife of La Veta and daughter Minnie Grubbs in California. He had lived on his Wahatoya ranch for 61 years. 1943: H.L. Hubbard was named 4-H Club and County Fair manager and E.E. Engberg, secretary and treasurer. This August will be the sixth annual fair. 1950: June 15 has been set for the school bond election asking voters to approve $90,000 to build a new grade school as well as improve the old building. 1957: The heavy rains washed out the bridge over Middle Creek on the new cutoff to Highway 160 on the Lyle Smith ranch just west of town. 1964: La Veta has received three inches of welcome rain in the past 10 days and Cuchara has had about six inches. 1970: La Veta received six inches of snow Sunday, May 31. 1976: Friends of the Arts Guild and Francisco Fort Museum unveiled a Bicentennial Art exhibit in the old Presbyterian Church last weekend. 1982: Spanish Peaks Garden Club sold more than 14,000 plants and flowers in their annual three day sale in the Masonic Hall. 1988: Coral Anderson of the Adobe Arch Trading Post was elected president of the La Veta/Cuchara Chamber of Commerce, Bob Pierotti, former president, Spoon River Real Estate, is now vice president, Nancy Christofferson, Huerfano World, secretary and Sara Murphy, Webster Insurance, treasurer. 1994: Friends of the Arts will sponsor “An Afternoon of Music” Sunday, June 12, with Peggy Arnold singing modern tunes, Warren Evans playing Broadway favorites and Eileen Bankson presenting classical pieces.
