Colorado Central Articles From — June 2006

Letter from Jeff Stern

Colorado Central – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Ed and Martha:

This could be the big scoop that vaults Colorado Central into the national spotlight. Then again, maybe not…. Read the rest of this article

Column by Hal Walter

Rural Life – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

DESPITE THE ILLOGICAL RAMBLINGS of letter-writing cranks, there is yet another good reason to not build a wall or fence along the border with Mexico.

What if some of our residents want to get out? Read the rest of this article

Article by Steve Voynick

Mining – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

ALTHOUGH I HAD heard rumors of dancing in the streets, I didn’t see it myself, at least not on Harrison Avenue. But judging from the banner headlines in the Herald Democrat and the joyful comments of Lake County’s commissioners, Leadville’s mayor, and dozens of local merchants and residents, salvation is nearly at hand. And in Leadville, salvation means only one thing: the reopening of the Climax Mine. Read the rest of this article

Essay by John Mattingly

Agriculture – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

HAL WALTER’S PIECE in the May edition stimulated some thoughts.

I started farming in 1969, and as I recall, Colorado Senate Bill 35, circa 1972, prescribed the 35-acre limit to stop the spread of subdivisions. Land traders responded by chopping up big, open spaces (mostly ranches and windblown bestiaries) into 35-acre subdivisions. But 35-acres is too big for a home lot, and isn’t an economic unit for farming or ranching in the arid West. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Immigration – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Too many chiefs

Dear Editors:

I’d like to thank the Book Haven and all who made the Earth Day Sustainability Fair a success. Notable, however, was the lack of participants from the ag sector. As everywhere, we seem to have too many chiefs, not enough Indians. Vendors and management and preaching can get us started, but we all need to follow through. New approaches to education are essential, so thanks to the folks who represented Waldorf schooling. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Jeff Stern

Colorado Central – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

A Maine-stream publication?

Dear Ed and Martha:

This could be the big scoop that vaults Colorado Central into the national spotlight. Then again, maybe not…. Read the rest of this article

Article by Elaine Foster

Local Events – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

WE HAVE IN OUR MIDST an annual spring event that occurs every year on the first weekend in June and draws hundreds of regulars from as far away as Denver. It’s the Howard Chili Cook-off, which happens this year on June 3rd and 4th. Read the rest of this article

Article by Marcia Darnell

Theatre – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

THE CREEDE REPERTORY THEATRE has a flock of new shows and a herd of new seats for its patrons in this, its 41st season. A recent donation of cushier theater seats means comfier sitting while taking in some of the best entertainment in the Rockies. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Ed Quillen

Transportation – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

SINCE I WAS a little kid, trains have fascinated me, and Salida’s status as a one-time rail hub was one factor that made the place attractive when we moved here in 1978. Passenger service had stopped in 1967. In 1971, Salida quit serving as a terminal where all freights changed crews. The immense old railroad shop building housed a limestone-processing plant, and the two roundhouses had been razed. Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]140004006X[/amazon-product]Review by Ken Wright

Pre-Columbian America – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann
published in 2005 by Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN 1-4000-4006-X Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0874808243[/amazon-product]Review by Marcia Darnell

Radiation – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Folding Paper Cranes
by Leonard Bird
Published in 2005 by University of Utah Press
ISBN: 0-87480-824-3 Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0977127265[/amazon-product]Review by Ed Quillen

Mountain Life – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Silverville Swindle
by Kym O’Connell-Todd and Mark Todd
Published in 2006 by Ghost Road Press
ISBN 0-9771272-6-5 Read the rest of this article

Column by George Sibley

Retirement – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, I will have crossed another of those thresholds that we Americans have made sacred in a secular kind of a way. Or maybe we’ve secularized something once sacred. Whichever it is, since my last column I’ve turned 65. Read the rest of this article

Article by Shanna Lewis

Local Musician – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

WILD APPLAUSE, WHISTLES AND CHEERS. It’s not the typical response a bunch of high school kids usually give an instructor after a lesson, is it? Yet that’s what happened at the end of a recent performance at Salida High School by a master percussionist known simply as Bones. Read the rest of this article

Article by Ed Quillen

Transportation – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

IF YOU LOOK at this region’s excursion trains as journeys through time as well as space, then the Canon City & Royal Gorge takes its passengers back about half a century to the 1950s, when air travel was a novelty and trains were the way to go. And 120 miles upriver, the Leadville, Colorado & Southern has the feel of even earlier times. Read the rest of this article

Article by Virginia McConnell Simmons

Transportation – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

NEED A VACATION but can’t afford to drive a thousand miles? Look no farther than the San Luis Valley for rail excursions to help you leave behind the heavy stuff, like pain at the pump, water shortages, and the meaning of Tom Cruise’s baby’s name. Your only problems regarding your railroad adventure will be figuring out the names of all the trains, their schedules, and fares; the rest is pure pleasure. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Water – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Disputes and disagreement continue at Wolf Creek Pass, where Texas billionaire Billy Joe “Red” McCombs proposes to build 2,172 residential units next to a ski area that has no overnight lodging and not even much base area development. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Migration – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Washington Post recently focused on a phenomenon that tourist towns in the West understand very well. Ed Quillen, a columnist for The Denver Post, several years ago called it “the invasion of rich people,” and it remains as good a summation as any about the process underway. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Climate – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

While glaciers across much of the world have been shrinking, four small glaciers in Rocky Mountain National Park have been holding their own since the 1930s, according to then-and-now photo comparisons. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Mining – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

The startling prosperity of China and India continues to reverberate in mountain towns and valleys of the West. Those surging economies of Asia have caused heightened demand for all manner of minerals, which in turn is producing some attention to the potential of renewed mining. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Tourism – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Breckenridge, as a modern tourist resort, has always taken pride in its history as a gold-mining town dating to 1859. The town continues to work toward leveraging that legacy into the lucrative market of cultural and heritage tourism. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Agriculture – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

A new report from an organization called Environment Colorado points out how rapidly agricultural land is being lost to residential and commercial development. While the usual phrase is “cows not condos,” the report says that single-family homes on large lots, usually 2 to 40 acres, proportionately cause the greatest loss. Read the rest of this article

Cartoon by Jack Chivvis

Modern Life – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Brief by Ed Quillen

Local News – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Creativity Needed

Too many subdivisions have names that are too much alike, according to the Chaffee County Planning Commission, which would like to put “Mt. Princeton” out to pasture.

The suggestion came at an April 25 meeting which dealt with the “Mt. Princeton Foothills” sketch plan. A change to “Cody,” the name of the family requesting the minor subdivision, was suggested, since the county already has “Princeton Estates,” “Mt. Princeton View Estates,” and “Mt. Princeton Hot Springs Resort.” Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Housing – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

The twin towns of Telluride and Mountain Village are having a problem finding room for all their employees. They don’t want to use their open space or building sites, which means that they’ve been looking elsewhere — down-valley or even beyond.

Located 25 miles away and across Lizard Head Pass, the tiny town of Rico has served notice that it doesn’t want to be the dumping ground for Telluride’s housing needs, reports the Rico Bugle. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Water – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Since the surface waters of Colorado are already spoken for — and often even over-appropriated — the focus in the search for more water has turned downward to groundwater.

That’s a complex realm of tributary and non-tributary aquifers and confined and unconfined basins, along with the usual Colorado water concerns of priority and adjudication. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Cycling – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Denver Post’s annual Ride the Rockies bicycle tour almost always comes through Central Colorado, and this year is no exception. With 2,000 peddlers, and an accompanying throng of support staff and companion vehicles, it can double a town’s population for a night. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Correction – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

An article about the proposed Wolf Creek village in the May edition said that the ski area was owned by the Pilcher family, when in fact it is the Pitcher family.

They are descendants of Otto Mears, founder of Saguache, toll-road and railroad builder, newspaper publisher, and “Pathfinder of the San Juans.” Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Livestock – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Mules and donkeys will soon rejoin the United States Army, and to start the process, 31 soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division spent most of a week near Powell, Wyo., learning how to work with pack animals so they can be used in high and rugged Afghanistan.

In the original World War II days of the 10th, when it was based at Camp Hale north of Leadville, mules were part of the team. The outfit is now based at Fort Drum, N.Y., but has many soldiers in Afghanistan. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Pike Tunes

For those Coloradans who spent last winter in a cave — without a subscription to CC — this year and next mark the 200th anniversary of Zebulon Pike’s expedition to this region. In addition to the symposia, walking tours, speeches and publications planned to commemorate the event, there will be music. Alamosa musician Don Richmond is teaming with Pueblo singer and historian Tom Munch to produce a Pike CD with Rex Rideout. For more info, check www.tommunch.com. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Geography – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

We sometimes explain Colorado Central as “the monthly magazine for America’s highest deserts,” but a recent excursion got us to wondering about high deserts. That’s because we visited the Museum of the High Desert just outside Bend, Ore. There, the “high desert” is defined as a combination of the Columbia Plateau and the Great Basin, and does not extend to Colorado. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Essay by David Feela

Rural Life – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

IT’S LIKE A SOAP OPERA romance, this ongoing affection of mine for the old-style single or double-wide mobile homes, more commonly known as trailers.

To me, their appeal is strongest when I’m driving a gravel county road, and out in a field I see one, perched like an alien spacecraft on a few open acres. Or, I’m turning into the shaded niches of a well-worn trailer park, and it’s there, like a time machine, made of corrugated tin and glass. Sometimes it’s been repainted, not the bland manufacturer’s color from 30 years ago, but a fresh swath of purple, or yellow, or even turquoise and pink. Read the rest of this article

DRY MONTH MELTS PROJECTIONS ON COLORADO RIVER WATER SUPPLY

In April, federal forecasters predicted that the Colorado River would get nearly 97 percent of its average in-flow for the year, but dry weather reduced that prediction to 86 percent by the end of April, down to 79 percent at mid-May. Las Vegas Review-Journal; 5/19 <http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/May-19-Fri-2006/news/7487934.htm=> l Read the rest of this article