Walsenburg 1881: The good people of Walsenburg were shocked on Sunday evening at the word a man had been shot and lay weltering in human gore. He was Quillian Morgan, a Welshman about 35, who was in a party of coal miners in town drinking and playing cards in Gordon’s saloon when he was killed. 1889: Beautiful moonlit nights. 1895: Work has been slack at the Walsen mines and some of the restless ones have taken to the road. 1901: A contract was let for 30 new houses, a store and a saloon at the No. 4 mine at Aguilar where a new tipple has been built. 1907: Cannon and McDowell, lessees of the Korte mine south of Walsenburg, dumped the first load of coal from the new tipple Saturday. Now the mine is connected with the railroad, it is able to ship out about 400 tons a day. 1913: Kindergarten classes will open after the Christmas vacation, tuition $2.00 payable to the school board. 1919: Vaudeville shows, the Fort Logan military band, races and contests will be added attractions of the county fair next week. 1925: Most pretty women are dumb according to an expert. 1931: Undersheriff Henry Hart and Deputy Shorty Martinez were engaged Sunday in assisting in a region wide search for Forrest Gonce, boy bandit and prison escapee who has been terrorizing the countryside for some time and lately robbed the La Veta bank. 1937: Some 2,500 men are working daily in Huerfano County coal mines, the largest number since 1930. 1943: Huerfano County residents have purchased a total of $479,021.75 in bonds during the Third War Loan Campaign, making a grand total of 135.77 percent of the county’s quota. 1949: The first
edition of the Paladin, student newspaper of St. Mary High School, was released Thursday, edited by Alfred Danti. Dona Mae Zgut is feature editor, Donald Stimack, sports editor and John Tomsic, business manager. 1955: Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company had an open house last night when Carrie Glen Redpath demonstrated how calls are handled by the operator. 1961: Died, C. Victor Mazzone at his home at 128 East Seventh. He was born in Walsenburg in 1877 to Charles Mazzone, operated an insurance business from 1907 to 1945, served as mayor from 1919 to 1921 and as city clerk 1921-1933. He is survived by three sisters and a brother. 1967: Re-1 School Board recently adopted a $626,605 budget for use in 1968. 1973: Some 100 Huerfano County Chamber of Commerce members and guests let their hair down Saturday night at a dance at the Rambler with music by the Vanishing Breed. 1979: John Mall High School freshmen repainted the “W” on the hill in the south part of town as part of homecoming week activities. 1983: Michelin Mobile Homes will have its grand opening tomorrow and Saturday at their location on Highway 85-86 north of Walsenburg. 1989: Good Old Days Gift Shop will open Friday, tomorrow, at 527 Main Street. La Veta 1877: A special meeting of the town board resulted in the decision to forward the bill of Walsen and Levy for clothing and blankets for an invalid pauper to the county commissioners. 1887: M.T. Hills and F.A. “Berry” Moore were appointed new town trustees after F.M. Fain and J.D. Tracy were removed from office as non-residents. 1894: The general opinion of residents is that a hook and ladder company should be organized as fires are getting to be quite numerous. 1900: An Adventist church will be built on the members’ lots west of Ryus Grove on Field Street and some stone for the foundation is already on the ground. 1908: A 100-ton mill has been purchased by the Lost Tunnel Gold Mining Company and will be hauled to their property on Rough Mountain. 1914: Complaints come in daily about the shortage of the water supply and the town dads should stop the irrigation of lawns while in some parts of town people are hauling water by the bucket for household use. 1920: The upper classmen of La Veta High are organizing a literary society, glee club and basketball team. 1926: Four [railroad] cars of cattle and hogs from the Albert Campbell, Walter Campbell and Pene herds left for Peru this last week. Walter Campbell Jr. is accompanying the shipment and the trip will be an educational one for the young man. 1932: The agricultural exhibit in the basement of the Methodist Church opens today for three days and includes canning, baking, sewing, and at the close of the fair the exhibits will be sold for the benefit of the church. 1938: La Veta has Gov. Ammons to thank for the failure to finish Main Street. The roadbed was dug out but never graded. 1944: Old time resident Mrs. J.T. Manning is moving to Denver and sold her Main Street home to Mr. and Mrs. W.G. Ashbrook. 1950: The La Veta Redskins won their football game over Trinidad High’s “B” squad Friday 52-0 with Fred Falk high scorer with four touchdowns. 1956: If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, perhaps you just don’t understand the situation. 1962: Pfc. John B. Viola, a 1960 graduate of LVHS, arrived in Berlin with the 12th Infantry’s Second Battle Group. 1968: The high winds last Friday proved “disasterous” [sic] for some of the class floats in the homecoming parade. 1974: A candlelight wedding at the Quentin Engleman home was the scene for the marriage of Mrs. Frankie Cunningham and Don Kerr on Sept. 29. 1980: Cleo Moorhead will host a Silver Tea in her beautiful home at 218 South Oak as a fundraiser for the La Veta Library. Other recent fundraisers have earned $717.13 for the library. 1986: Enrollment now stands at 221, with 80 in the high school, 31 in the junior high, 96 in grades one through six and 14 in the kindergarten. Of the schools’ 20 teachers, seven are LVHS graduates. 1992: Attendants to the homecoming royalty will be Wendy Springer and Brad Sanchez, juniors, Katie Kuenzler and Zac Brgoch, sophomores and Hannah Bayci and John Howard, freshmen.
