Colorado Central Articles From — September 2008

Article by Alan Robinson

History – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Introduction

When driving up Highway 24 past Granite, who among us has not wondered what it must have been like to make the same journey by stage along the faint and narrow track you can see on the Arkansas River’s east bank?

The early history of transportation in the Upper Arkansas region is nowhere more clearly evidenced than in the constricted canyon which connects the wide valley north of Buena Vista through Granite to the next wide spot north at Hayden Flats. Read the rest of this article

Column by Hal Walter

Diet – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

FRENCH FOOD PHILOSOPHER Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote in 1825: “Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are.”

In 2008, Brillat-Savarin might peer into the depths of our shopping carts, shake his head, and tell us that what we are is broke. He might also note that many in our society are overweight and unhealthy, primarily the result of eating too many highly processed foods. Read the rest of this article

Column by John Mattingly

Agriculture – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

I recently received an offer to contribute to a Sustainable Agriculture Think Tank — not my thoughts, but rather surplus cash I might have lying around the stock tank, now that commodity prices are at record high levels.

After the Think Tank elaborated the complex web of ingredients comprising “sustainability,” the group concluded: “But no matter how elegant the system or how accomplished the farmer, no agricultural system is sustainable if it’s not also profitable.” Read the rest of this article

Column by George Sibley

Politics – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

IT WAS AN INTERESTING WEEKEND. I spent most of Saturday doing “community stuff,” but of the enjoyable sort (no meetings) — helping set up the Library’s Used Book Sale (highgrading a couple of books); then over to the Farmers’ Market to pass out copies of the new Gunnison Valley Journal, a collection of local writings and pictures I’d helped edit; then back to the Book Sale for another foray (found a brand new John LeCarre I hadn’t read); then back to the Farmers’ Market (via the Gunnison Brewery for a liquid lunch and The Bean for liquid dessert) to help dismantle things; then back to the Book Sale to help pack up the unbought books (free by then, and I found a “Cremation of Sam McGee” for the new grandson)…. Read the rest of this article

Article by Lynda La Rocca

History – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

BEING A PERSON whose fantasies revolve around escaping to another time, one that I usually (and incorrectly) perceive as kinder and gentler than the age I’m living in, I feel right at home in Fairplay’s South Park City Museum. Read the rest of this article

Column by John Orr

Water – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Great Sand Dunes National Park water right

In August, Division Three Water Court Judge O. John Kuenhold signed the decree for a water right for the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The decree was the final piece of the puzzle in converting the former Great Sand Dunes National Monument to a national park. Read the rest of this article

Review by Robert Adams

Colorado – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

The New West – Landscapes Along the Colorado Front Range
Written and photographed by Robert Adams with a foreword by John Szarkowski
Originally published in 1974 by Colorado Associated University Press
Reissued as a facsimile using original prints by the Aperture Foundation in 2008 Read the rest of this article

Wildlife – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Born Wild in Colorado
By Wendy Shattil and Bob Rozinski
Published in 2007 by Far Country Press
ISBN 1-56037-412-8 Read the rest of this article

Snakebite – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Zero at the Bone – Rewriting Life after a Snakebite
by Erec Toso
Published in 2007 by University of Arizona Press
ISBN 0-8165-2591-9 Read the rest of this article

Essay by Ed Quillen

Energy – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

LAST WINTER, with fuel costs rising, I talked with a writer about some articles focusing on energy in Central Colorado. The plan was abandoned for a variety of reasons, but one big reason was that it seemed almost impossible to draw up an “energy budget” for our region.

That is, how much energy do we produce? How much do we consume? How will rising petroleum prices affect us, and how might we best cope? With a regional economy that relies heavily on auto-based tourism, what happens when potential visitors decide it’s too expensive to drive here? Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Geography – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill….

Plainly, the mountain doesn’t give a hoot what you call it or who gets the credit, nor do dead soldiers seem likely to take offense, however, the backers of this presumptuous KIAMIA notion have got some more free publicity out of the squabble in your letters column. Seems to me they ought to call off the whole affair for lack of interest and leave the mountain in peace. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Bruce Salisbury

Geography – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

On the 6th of August a small group of us gathered at Mount KIA/MIA. Royce and Barry Raven, and Barry’s wife Raman came there to climb the mountain for all the KIA/MIA, and to determine a best route and to take photos of the event. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Keith Baker

Transportation – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Only one transportation arterial consisting of segments of Highways 24, 50, and 285 runs the length of the Upper Arkansas Valley. An unused railroad parallels this route. High speed light commuter rail would reduce vehicle miles traveled and all sorts of pollution, probably increase tourism revenues, and serve as an attraction for our area. Citizens of several counties wish they had an existing rail line. Some can, like the Roaring Fork Valley and I-70 corridor, even rue a day they allowed a rail line to be torn up or defeated light rail proposals (NOTE: a high speed monorail would have come with the 1976 Winter Olympics). Read the rest of this article

Letter from Dorothy M. Brandt

Colorado Central – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

If the article entitled “Misnomer in Stucco” in the July 2008 issue, by Marcia Darnell, is to be construed as investigative or interpretive journalism, it leaves much to be desired. The title alone is incorrect since the word “history” has not appeared on the building nor in the museum identification for many years. The name of the museum is the San Luis Valley Museum. However, since apparently she obtained much of her information from a museum clerk, it is perhaps understandable, but inexcusable, for an article so distorted to be printed in a magazine such as yours. Read the rest of this article

Article by Ed Quillen

History – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

These days, presidential campaigns don’t venture into Central Colorado. Pueblo or Grand Junction is about as close as they get.

But this relative isolation of Central Colorado from national politicians and their campaigns is rather recent. From 1880 to 1952, they came through often.

We can start with a visit in July of 1880 by Ulysses S. Grant, who rode the narrow-gauge rails west to Salida, then crossed Marshall Pass in a four-horse Sanderson stage to Gunnison and mining camps in Taylor Park. After returning to Salida, Grant proceeded to Leadville to assist in celebrating the arrival of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Read the rest of this article

Article by Central Staff

History – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Remarks by President Harry S Truman on Sept. 20, 1948, during his famous whistlestop campaign. It was the last time a presidential candidate spoke in Central Colorado. These are from transcripts at the Truman Museum and Library in Independence, Mo. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Avalanches – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

It’s the sort of stuff that only a snow nerd could care about, but mountain towns are full of snow nerds.

The issue is how slab avalanches are precipitated. The conventional thinking has been that gravity mattered a great deal. In other words, the angle of the slope was all-important. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Energy – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

The new trophy home, proclaimed the New York Times, is small and ecological.

The newspaper tells that story from the perspective of Venice, Calif., home to movie stars, and cites one woman who says that something energy-conscious “doesn’t have to look as if you got it off the bottom shelf of a health-food store.” Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Law Enforcement – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

An Aspen man died of a heroin overdose in March. Although it got little attention at the time, an agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is making sure it does now.

Aspen has long been at odds with federal and other jurisdictions about the war on drugs. Aspen’s attitude is best exemplified by Bob Braudis, sheriff of Pitkin County, who said he believes — and most Aspen-area residents believe — that drugs are a health issue, not one of criminality. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Ed Quillen

Local News – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Politics makes for no bedfellows?

There is the old saying that “Politics makes for strange bedfellows.” There was also the observation, 40 years ago after Lurleen Wallace succeeded her husband as governor of Alabama, that “Bedfellows make for strange politics.” Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Tourism – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Gas prices reached record highs in June. Yet at Yellowstone, the quintessential drive-by national park, visitation reached a record high. What’s going on?

Jonathan Schechter, an economics columnist in the Jackson Hole News & Guide, said there may be an easy explanation for this seeming anomaly: international visitors. Because park officials don’t track the nationalities of visitors, there’s no way to know for sure, he says, but anecdotal evidence points firmly toward that as an explanation. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Forestry – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

California is talking about ways to tax people in rural areas for the cost of fighting wildfires. The cost is huge, about $950 million in the last year. The state has a budget deficit of more than $17 billion, reports the Wall Street Journal. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Recreation – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

You know what’s wrong with Yosemite and a lot of other national parks? They don’t have enough five-star hotel rooms.

So says The Economist magazine from its perch overseeing world affairs in London. The magazine notes that visitation to Yosemite during the last 13 years has dropped 9 percent. This is despite population growth of 17 percent in California, much of it inland, closer to the Sierra Nevada, where Yosemite and other parks are located. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Energy – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

You go deep enough underground, even in places blanketed by snow half the year, and the rocks get hot. The question is how near the surface. In Aspen, there is at least anecdotal evidence to suggest that heat can be found relatively close to the surface. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Economy – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

The real estate skid continues in mountain towns. Sales reports from June document continued sluggishness in the Aspen and Jackson Hole markets, at least when compared to the previous three years. Sales volume in total dollars was about half of what it was going into the Fourth of July weekend last year. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Geology – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

The earth has trembled again in Central Colorado — pretty close to the center of the state at 11:37 p.m. on July 25.

Charlie Green, our Texas Creek subscriber who follows these matters closely, said it probably awakened him that evening. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Board Brouhaha

The Alamosa City Council is taking a hard look at its advisory boards. The city has three discretionary boards, the city’s ranch, arboreal and historic preservation boards.

“These are advisory boards,” explained City manager Nathan Cherpeski, “and the city council didn’t feel they were getting the advice they were looking for.” Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Energy – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Investigation is underway into the possibility of creating a central heating system in Oak Creek, a small town about 20 miles south of Steamboat Springs. The specific proposal calls for burning wood from the dead and dying forests in northwest Colorado to produce heat and possibly electricity. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Courtney White

Agriculture – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

AS THE 21ST CENTURY unfolds, it’s becoming clear that we need more family farmers and ranchers on the land, not fewer. We need them not only for the food they provide, but also for a lesson in how to live on the land.

It’s an ironic turn of events. Read the rest of this article