Colorado Central Articles From — August 2001

ANOTHER WATER ELECTION

In a hotly contested election, Jeff Ollinger defeated Lloyd Johnson by a vote of 456 to 335 for an open seat on the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District board. This is only the 4th such election in Colorado’s history, but the 3rd in 3 years. About 4,500 people were eligible to vote. Read the rest of this article

Column by Hal Walter

Mountain Life – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

I ONCE REMARKED that you really need a good reason to live here. And it’s true. This is my 11th summer here in the Wet Mountains. It is by far the longest I have ever lived anywhere, actually nearly twice as long as I have ever stayed in any one place.

I have seen a lot and learned a great deal in my decade here. But if one thing stands out, it is that this is a land of extremes and diversity. There is extreme beauty and extreme harshness, and something extremely beautiful about that harshness. Between the extremes there is a richness that I have not found elsewhere. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Modern times – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

From the Great Beyond

Editors:

Thought you might like to know, I’ve been channeling Ed Abbey. In fact we sat down over Negra Modelo and came up with a gringo lyric for Cielito Lindo, like this:

No faxes, no Elvis, no President, no Pepsodent,

no bush-hog, no smelly dog, NO PROBLEM. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Joanna Sampson

Growth – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Watch out, Central Colorado!

Ed & Martha:

A pesky varmint is overrunning the mountains and plains of Eastern Colorado and appears to be spreading to other parts of the state. This varmint multiplies rapidly. It ruins its environment, destroying as it advances. It is dirtier than the infamous pack rat, and spreads filth into the air, water, and soil. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Charlie Green

Geography – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Developments in greater metropolitan Cotopaxi

Editors:

OK, Ed. I was pretty ticked to find that you made Cotopaxi the east edge of your Central Colorado diamond. I had always visualized CC as an approximate rectangle: Parkdale; Trinidad; SW corner of the San Luis valley; and Gunnison. I will adjust my boundaries to be more limited. But squinting closely, I could see Texas Creek on the cover of the phone directory which was [almost] geographically congruent with your Salidian (or whatever) oriented vision. On the other hand, this is a case where being in “greater metropolitan Cotopaxi” makes me Central. Read the rest of this article

Column by George Sibley

Mountain Life – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

A SPECTER IS HAUNTING the mountain valleys — _not the specter of a working-class revolt against the owning class, but the specter of no working class at all.

Well, it will probably never be quite that desperate. But for the past half decade or so, changes in the local economy, amplified by changes in the national and global economies, are creating interesting new labor problems for retailers, restaurateurs and other service businesses in the mountain towns dependent on tourists and resort vacationers. Read the rest of this article

Sidebar by Ed Quillen

Transportation – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

In 1878, two railroads battled over the right to run trains through the Royal Gorge. Now, 123 years later, two railroads are again fighting over the same piece of track.

The 19th-century battle was between the Denver & Rio Grande and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé railroads. Both wanted to build west from Cañon City to go up the Arkansas River to the booming silver camp of Leadville, and there was room in the narrow defile for only one set of tracks. Read the rest of this article

Sidebar by Ed Quillen

Transportation – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Want to ride a train?

It’s hard to find a freight to hop, and besides, that’s dangerous and illegal.

Fortunately, there are some legal rides available. All you have to do is buy a ticket and show up at the depot: Read the rest of this article

Sidebar by Ken Stitzel

Transportation – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

More information:

Primary sources for this article were agents within the Tennessee Pass Underground, a super-secret spy organization of railroad fanatics who have nothing better to do than monitor the Tennessee Pass rails with an array of high-tech surveillance equipment that would make the CIA, NSA, and FBI jealous. The rest of you can look up these additional resources: Read the rest of this article

Article by Ken Stitzel

Transportation – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

THE RUSTY, WEED-GROWN TRACKS of the Union Pacific Railroad run along the Arkansas and Eagle rivers from the Royal Gorge over Tennessee Pass and down through the I-70 ski valleys. The empty rails hardly resemble the transcontinental mainline that boasted 15 to 20 trains a day only five years ago. Read the rest of this article

San Luis Valley – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

I Came from El Valle
by Ruben E. Archuleta
Published in 1999 by the author
ISBN 0962974838 Read the rest of this article

Review by Ed Quillen

Transportation – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Tribute to Tennessee Pass
110-minute video
Published in 1997 by Pentrex
P.O. Box 94911, Pasadena CA 91109
www.pentrex.com
No ISBN Read the rest of this article

Colorado Tourism – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Colorado Guide
Fifth Edition
by Bruce Caughey and Dean Winstanley
Published in 2001 by Fulcrum
ISBN 1-55591-006-8 Read the rest of this article

Utes – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Blood on the Wind The Memoirs of Flying Horse Mollie a Yampa Ute The Story behind the Meeker Massacre
by Lucile Bogue
Published in 2001 by Western Reflections
ISBN 1-890437-50-6 Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Politics – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

MORALITY AND MONEY. Personally, I wouldn’t think those two subjects had much in common, but modern politicians always manage to highlight both of them in every speech.

Recently, I was reading a Newsweek article about the current political arguments regarding stem cell research (July 9). It should be noted, however, that — despite all of the discussion concerning when an embryo becomes a human being — this argument is not really about science or religion; it’s about money. Read the rest of this article

Article by Columbine Quillen

Art – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

IN SALIDA, where every restaurant and gift shop hangs art, and where galleries are more common than clothing stores, the artwork of Gloria Jean Countryman still stands out. Her watercolors are vibrant, impressionistic landscapes, still lifes, and Salida street scenes that show an attention to detail and a touch of realism which reveal the artist’s dedication to practice and education. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Betsy Marston

Mountain Life – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Lawn Care

As lawns in the West grow and suck down immense amounts of water, Andrew McKean of Helena, Mont., passes on two apropos comments, the first from University of Utah political scientist Daniel McCool: “Utah doesn’t have a water problem; Utah has a Kentucky bluegrass problem.” The second comes from the side of a bus spotted in Orem, Utah: “Love thy neighbor. But have the better lawn.” Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Water – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Sun still rises in east after a water conservancy district election

If you phrase it just right, the July 10 special election in Buena Vista was a first in Colorado history: the first contested election for an open seat on the board of a water conservancy district. Directors are almost always appointed by judges. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

We were talking to someone from a neighboring town recently, who said he liked everything about Salida except that it had too many festivals: FIBArk, then Artwalk, then the Fourth, then the Brewers Rendezvous …

Well, at least it hasn’t reached the level of Telluride, where there’s a bluegrass festival, a film festival, a mushroom festival — indeed, so many festivals that they have even set aside a “no-festival weekend.” Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Media – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

We’ve all read about dogs that can sniff out drugs. But in an article about teenagers using uncontrollable substances at Platte Canyon High School, the Park County Republican quoted Undersheriff Don Lamb: “We’ve run drug-smuggling dogs through the school.”

We’re trying to imagine such K-9s — perhaps a St. Bernard with something other than brandy in the little keg under its chin? Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Local History – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Railroad buffs who visit Salida often leave disappointed, since so little remains of what was once a major center with engine and car shops, two roundhouses, a transfer station, freight and passenger depots, coal chutes, etc.

There’s a reason for that — the Salida facilities remained in active use into the 1970s, and like any operating enterprise, the railroad dismantled things that were in the way and weren’t needed any more. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

History – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

There won’t be an Anza Day in Poncha Springs this August, since Pueblo will be hosting the Anza World Conference from August 31 to September 2.

It’s about Juan Bautista de Anza, the Spanish commander who founded the presidio of San Francisco, Calif., in 1776. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Communications – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Park County is getting more connected with itself all the time these days.

The most recent improvement, approved on June 28 by the Federal Communications Commission, is an expanded local calling zone, so that it’s a local call between Bailey and Fairplay.

They’re only 30 miles apart, but the complication had been a boundary known as a LATA, which is essentially an area code. Fairplay was in 719, and Bailey was in 303 (and now also 920). Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Climate – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Leadville’s mild climate?

This summer has seemed hotter than usual, with Salida reporting a 96° high on July 7.

But we’re not quite ready to blame it on global warming, since that’s not the record. According to the Colorado Climate Center at CSU in Fort Collins, the Salida record high is 100° on Aug. 7, 1902, and the cold extreme of -35° occurred on Jan. 2, 1919. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Wildlife – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

A Colorado Springs teenager was bit by a black bear in the San Isabel National forest northwest of Walsenburg (toward Gardner) on July 8. Kevin Garcia, 16, was asleep in his campsite at 11,000 feet, when the bear chomped down on his shoulder. Still encased in his sleeping bag, the boy jumped up and fought back with a nearby shovel. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Outdoors – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

If you’re wandering around the Camp Hale area, it’s probably not a good idea to pick things up — they could explode.

Camp Hale, on the west side of Tennessee Pass above Minturn, was established in 1943 as a training center for the U.S. Army’s famous Tenth Mountain Division. It remained in use into the 1960s for, among other things, training expatriate Tibetans to fight China for their homeland. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Drama – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

There were two repeat winners this year in the annual one-act drama contest sponsored by the Crystal Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Westcliffe and open to all Colorado playwrights.

Both Isobel McQuiston of Evergreen and Donald J. Grubb of Howard, this year’s first-place winners, were first-place finishers last year. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Water – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

There are lots of things that are unique about Leadville, America’s highest city, and we recently learned of another: It must be the only city in the United States that gets some of its drinking water from a mine-drainage tunnel.

Such tunnels were bored at the base of major mining districts so that the mines on the hillside above did not have to pump water from their shafts and tunnels. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Lengthy Cleanup

The EPA announced a 100-year plan for cleaning up the Summitville mine site near Del Norte. The plan, estimated to cost $75 million over the next century, will include construction of a water treatment plant and a facility to store the cyanide-laced water at the old gold mine. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

The projected employment figures for the Sacrifice Zone are almost frightening.

According to the demographics division of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, in 2020 the resort businesses in Eagle, Summit, and Pitkin counties will need 63,000 more workers than their resident labor pools can provide. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Geography – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

As mountains go, especially in our part of the world, this little rise in Saguache County doesn’t stand out. At 11,861 feet, it doesn’t even reach timberline, and there’s nothing memorable about its shape. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written by Clint Driscoll and illustrated by Judie Moorhead

Mountain Life – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Essay by Paul Tolme

Growth – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

AS COMMUNITIES across the West ponder strategies for avoiding sprawl, they might look to Ward, Colo., for inspiration. This tiny mountain town in booming Boulder County has cooked up a cheap and easy recipe for reining in growth: Be strange, and the gentrifiers will stay away. Read the rest of this article