By Ashlyn Stewart

Pew Research’s Internet and American Life project’s most recent findings come as little surprise to us teenagers – the generation notorious for staying glued to its cell phones. The study, released on March 13, concluded 78 percent of teens have a cell phone, and 47 percent of them own smart phones.

Because so many teens own these devices, countless questions about where and how they should be used by such impressionable minds have surfaced. Pair this with how quickly the technology changes and it’s a wonder any users know what cell phone etiquette should be.

Fortunately, teens do. Read the rest of this article

By Tyler Grimes

Colorado has been known as a beer-brewing mecca for years, and recently that trend has shifted to micro distilleries. In early 2011 the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau had issued 18 distilling permits in Colorado. In November, Wood’s High Mountain Distillery in Salida received the 38th permit in the state. The distillery on 1st Street opened its doors to the public on March 2, becoming the second distillery in the valley. Deerhammer opened in Buena Vista in February 2012, and two more distilleries hope to open this spring: Two Guns in Leadville, and Boathouse Distillery in Salida. The boom in craft-beverage making has certainly made its way to the Upper Arkansas River Valley. Read the rest of this article

By Patty LaTaille

When I was asked to write a story about Bill Forrest, I hesitated briefly. Having met Bill during an interview assigned by The Mountain Gazette, I spent a number of fascinating hours listening to his stories and poking around his workshop filled with all sorts of innovative climbing devices and snowshoe models. He introduced me to his wife Rosa, and so began a friendship of shared meals, chance meetings and a memorable snowshoe adventure at Beaver Creek, in which Bill in his ever gracious manner shoveled out my Subaru not once, but twice from neighboring snow banks. Read the rest of this article

 By Kevin Patrick

“I’m callin’ about the stay away.”

“The stay away?”

“Yeah. The stay away.”

… “The STAY away?”

We began again. The serves and whiffs went on for a ridiculous minute before I realized a transplanted New Englander was responding to an ad I’d run to get help rebuilding a stairway (“stay away”). What you say hinges delicately on how you say it.

Place names tend to be less confusing, as they’re generally embedded in a rich contextual stew of language, geography and history. But even if the meaning is clear, many within earshot generally stand ready and willing to be offended by your pronunciation. Read the rest of this article

By Mike Rosso

One of Salida’s early residents went on to become the wife of a well-known author as well as a tragic and controversial figure herself.

In the summer of 1884, Caroline Starr Balestier, aged 21, moved to Salida from New England with her brother Wolcott, then a promising young author. Wolcott had been impressed with Colorado from an earlier visit and was returning with his sister. She had a friend in Salida, Miss Amy Graves, whom ”Carrie,” as friends called Caroline, had met at an Eastern school. Read the rest of this article

By Elliot Jackson

The city of Salida got to do one of the things it does best in September. To welcome a special group of economic developers, it threw a walkabout of its art galleries and local businesses for the 300+ participants of the Heart of the Rockies Region Rural Philanthropy Days (RPD). The walking tour introduced the RPD conference, including representatives of some of Colorado’s largest nonprofit funders, to Salida in its newly-minted status as a Colorado Creative District. The downtown business owners, in their turn, welcomed the after-hours customers.

“This was something different,” according to Brett Haydin, co-chair of the steering committee for the RPD, whose 45 members were drawn from across a five-county region. “We wanted to give the (conference) participants, many of whom were coming from Denver and the Front Range, a sense of what it was like to be in our rural community.” Read the rest of this article

Robert Martin Stein was seven years old when this photograph of him was taken in 1919 in front of the 365-foot tall brick smokestack near Salida, built for the long-since defunct Ohio and Colorado Smelting and Refining Company.

Robert is wearing his first suit, which happened to be homemade, and is posing in front of “his rock” which he used to leap from as a child. His father helped in the construction of the smokestack, which is still standing in 2012. Read the rest of this article

 By Mike Rosso

When Marilyn and Harold Sampson of Lawrence, Kansas decided to purchase property in Chaffee County in 2005, they probably didn’t expect to someday own an infamous piece of the county’s history.

The sent their son Darrell on a scouting mission and he discovered six acres of land on County Road 160 that bordered State Wildlife land. On it sat a newer barn and a dilapidated old brick structure on the edge of some wetlands below the mesa. Read the rest of this article

By Eric Sampson

Since we here in Central Colorado have been singled out as a bicycle mecca, we thought we’d take a closer look at this enigmatic machine. First, consider what life may have been like at the dawn of the 19th century. Most in the community lived and worked on local farms, some distance from the town center. For community events, folks would come to town by horse. After trading for some staples, a meal and perhaps a nip of apple wine, some sport could be had by racing horses around the square. A little money would change hands, along with the entertainment, and the social machinery was oiled for another day. As towns grew, and the square shrank the horse, fine fellow that he is, could become a nuisance – hard to house break, and quite willing to share his flies. Best to leave him at the livery stable. Read the rest of this article

The Fritz
113 East Sackett St., Salida, CO
(719)539-0364

 By Ann Marie Swan

The Fritz opened in a space that’s seen a number of eateries come and go. Yet, the Fritz, a hot spot for locals and visitors alike, seems to have broken the curse of restaurants past with real success. Most of the time, the restaurant is busy enough.

The street-side wall of glass invites sunlight into this handsome, historic space with a wood floor, gold and espresso-colored tin ceiling and exposed brick wall holding up local art. Patrons in the back of the restaurant can see through to Riverside Park’s treetops. Comfy, lounge patio furniture and tables fill the spacious outdoor area, a welcoming spot to sip cool drinks and watch the comings and goings at the park. Read the rest of this article

New Beginnings in Salida for a 100-year-old Hotel

By Mike Rosso

With the hiss of brakes and a jolt, you’ve arrived. It’s been a long, noisy journey from Kansas City, but now you can get some rest, a cold beverage and a hot meal.

Claiming your luggage from the porter, you step into the slightly chilly evening air and walk over a bridge with the deafening sound of a river at peak runoff below. You head towards the bright lights of town and within a block, you’ve found accommodations. Entering a hotel lobby you line up with other weary travelers at the register, eager to check in. The lobby is full of chatter and men smoking stogies. Several glance up from their seats but quickly go back to reading the Salida Mail. Read the rest of this article

By John Mattingly

The winter of 1992 was so brutal in the San Luis Valley that I bought the Palace Hotel as a place to come where it was warm. I really liked the Hotel basement. My son and I had our private hibernaculum down there with a pair of old hospital beds, a poker table, and a black-and- white TV that got one channel. Water ran in a stone-lined trough along the north wall of the basement. We sometimes snuck out through the coal chute to get sandwiches from Danny at Mama D’s. And, my son had the only 25-cent pop machine in Salida, stationed in the Hotel’s north entry, so when we needed a ginger ale, we took a quarter from our war chest, and bought one from ourselves. Read the rest of this article

by Ann Marie Swan
For retired astronaut Dominic Gorie, the final frontier is some land outside of Salida under an inky silhouette of Mount Shavano.

After a career as a naval aviator, test pilot and veteran of four space shuttle missions, Gorie is building an adobe-style home with his hands alongside his wife, Wendy. It’s a grounding task that Gorie said he finds “physically and mentally challenging.” Read the rest of this article

By Ed Quillen

For fifteen years, we ran Colorado Central out of our house. While that’s convenient in many ways (i.e., short commute, and if you get a neat idea at 3 a.m. you can do something about it), there’s also a problem in that homes aren’t really set up for certain aspects of commerce.

So for those fifteen years, the First Street Café was where we generally met with writers, advertisers and whoever else might have had business with Colorado Central. The restaurant was more or less our front office. Read the rest of this article

By Mike Rosso

Mass transportation in Central Colorado? Up until recently that meant piling as many folks as possible into the bed of a pickup for a trip to WalMart.

The last passenger train service around these parts stopped running in July of 1967, according to Ed Quillen. But in the last few years this has changed thanks to an effort by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to improve transportation options to rural areas of Colorado. Read the rest of this article

Read the rest of this article

By Maddie Mansheim

Sixteen teams totaling 128 professional bike riders will embark on a seven day feat of extraordinary physical ability, mental endurance and competitive ambition through a strenuous 518-mile trek traversing the demanding Coloradan terrain in the upcoming USA Pro Cycling Challenge (UPCC). This inaugural journey begins on Aug. 22 with the prologue in Colorado Springs, the start of the race in Salida on the 23rd, with the final destination being Denver on the 28th. The route entails a plethora of grueling climbs up challenging passes, mountains, and perhaps the most taxing of all obstacles, the elevation of over 12,000 feet. Read the rest of this article

By Jennifer Dempsey

For Salida artist Tammy Grubisha, solving complicated engineering problems for custom orders was the easy part. Coming up with a name for her company was the hard part.

“It was difficult naming my business because of all the things I do,” said the 44-year-old furniture maker/sculptor/welder/muralist. “I gave up trying to label what I do long ago. There are people who wouldn’t call me an artist, and some who wouldn’t call me a welder. All I know is I love what I do, it’s my gift to this world, and I make myself and other people happy with my creations.”

Finally deciding on the trade name Mz. Allaneus, (pronounced ‘miscellaneous’) Grubisha creates furniture, railings, lighting, tile work, signage, hardware and sculpture using metal, clay, wood, glass and found objects. Describing herself as a “full-time functional fine artist,” her style ranges from eccentric to elegant, and her work includes everything from Halloween ‘Grubkins’ (gargoyle inspired pumpkin faces) to high-end chandeliers and furniture. Read the rest of this article

Salida’s newest rock band, Ironically Charged, proves it’s never too early to rock ‘n roll

By Jennifer Dempsey – photos by Mike Rosso

Ironically Charged

Lily Pinto, 10, lead and rhythm guitar

Musical inspirations: Michael Jackson, Chris Nasca, Bones and Sunga Jung.

Musical goals: to play lead guitar more efficiently and share my music with the world.

Alexandra Maes, 12, lead singer/songwriter, piano

Musical inspiration: Christina Aguilar, Gwyneth Paltrow, Beatles, Madonna, Bones.

Musical goals: to get more successful with the instruments that I play, to constantly learn more; keep writing songs that people love.

Read the rest of this article

Regional Artists Display their Work at the Hospital in Salida

By Jennifer Dempsey
More than 50 regional artists are showcased in the hallways and waiting areas of the Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center (HRRMC) in Salida in a permanent collection and rotating exhibition.

The artwork is selected through a juried process by the hospital’s Art Advisory Committee which believes “art can help promote a healing environment,” said committee member Dan Downing. “We also recognized the reputation of our area as a nationally renowned art community and we wanted to build on that. To do this the committee decided to purchase art from local and regional artists to become part of a permanent collection.” Read the rest of this article

By Nathan Ward

Whistle shrieked, rubber squeaked, eyes flared, arms pistoned and two “jammers” sprinted each other toward an imposing wall of women decked out in pads, helmets and grim looks. A shuck, a jive, a dip to the left, and a fast woman jammer named “Pain in the Bass” burst through the wall, skates smoking as she circled the track. She burned through the group of women again, narrowly avoiding loose elbows, blinding lipstick and debilitating hip checks. She was off again, scoring points at will. It was a run-away.

The Ark Valley High Rollers (AVHR) is the Upper Arkansas Valley flat-track women’s roller derby team, and they are a force to be reckoned with. Drawing on a derby tradition in America that dates back to the late 1800s, women’s derby has been born, died and reborn through the decades in one form or another – six-day endurance races, 24-hour skate-offs, glam rock and big hair, and finally to its punk-tinged, pseudonym-strewn version today. Read the rest of this article

Little Cambodia
135 N. F Street
Salida, CO
719-539-6599

by Elliot Jackson

It was a couple of years ago, on a trip to San Francisco, that I became acquainted with Phò. I remember the meeting vividly – I was sitting at a large table in a Vietnamese restaurant, surrounded by the family and friends of my travelling companion. “Order the Phò,” was the command of the cognoscenti in the crowd and, obediently, I did. A large steaming bowl of noodle soup jammed with meat, fish and bean sprouts, all flavored by basil and hot spices came to the table, and I was in love. Read the rest of this article

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Salida, Colorado is the highest, driest, coldest, windiest and probably, based on per capita income, the poorest place I’ve ever lived.

So, how the heck did I end up here anyway?

Partly it was because, unlike many other mountain communities in Colorado, I was actually able to afford to buy a house in town after moving here from Durango in the Fall of 2001. Colorado’s more desirable zip codes were quickly being priced out of proportion to the average income base. Durango among them. Read the rest of this article

This November Salida residents will be given an opportunity to vote on a bond which would allow for the construction of a new high school.

School bond 3A would approve a $17.9 million bond, payable over 20 years, which would qualify the school district for a $12.5 million B.E.S.T. grant to build a new high school. Read the rest of this article

by Susan Bavaria

But Tessie weeks later shared a similar fate
And wound up one night on a Senator’s plate;
With lemon and spices and other things good
Our Tessie from Frantzhurst had now become food.”

from A Tale of Tessie the Trout © Frantzhurst Trout Farm

In the 1930s, the Frantzhurst Rainbow Trout Company of Salida shipped their product fresh in wooden boxes covered with ice by truck and refrigerated railway car. Two million pounds of rainbow trout went annually to clubs, hotels and restaurants from coast to coast who found its “firm white flesh” as good as advertised. The company employed about 30 people and was second only to the Royal Gorge Bridge in attracting tourists to this area. Read the rest of this article

by Mike Rosso and Elliot Jackson

Many Americans might be tempted to conjure up pictures of barefoot, dentally-challenged Appalachians when they hear the words “string-band” or “old-timey music.” Almost needless to say, they will think of it as “white music.” In fact, this music does has deep roots in the experience of white immigrants from the British Isles and Ireland. The early settlers of Appalachia played their own versions of ancient tunes brought over from their homelands. Blues, jazz, country music, even rock and roll has its origins in these tunes found throughout the Eastern mountains and the deep South of the United States. Read the rest of this article

A landmark building in historic downtown Salida is in imminent danger of demolition unless drastic steps are taken to save it.
The building, known locally as the Unique Theater was built in 1889 to replace the original Salida Opera House which was destroyed by fire. The Opera House was part of the “Silver Circuit” which helped bring high quality shows, theatricals and operas across the nation. Read the rest of this article

By Mike Rosso and Elliot Jackson

It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon at “The Vic,” or the Victoria Tavern, in Salida – early for barflies, although there are a few of them buzzing quietly over their beers and shots. It’s quiet, mellow, but the atmosphere is about to change. By twos and threes, calling greetings to the owner, the patrons and each other, a group of about ten guys and attendant entourage come sauntering into the bar with the breezy assurance of favored sons – which, it could be argued, they are. Probably no other group of musicians has played the Vic as much as the Lazy Alien Blues Band – going on for thirty years, if some of the lies can be believed. Deke, J.N., Denny, Ernie, Jimmy, Chris – as they cluster around the pool table, invoking a pose from a long-bygone photo shoot, a voice suddenly rises in song:

Going to the hot tub and we’re … gonna get laid …

We recognize the tune: isn’t that “Chapel of Love”?

Read the rest of this article

by Susan Bavaria

Imagine a grand opportunity to pursue your creative craft unencumbered by phone, to-do lists or obligatory conversation for 30 days in a picturesque part of Colorado. Sound ideal? An artist residency makes it possible.

Artist residency programs exist worldwide, offering as much variety as there are interpretations of art. Some enjoy illustrious, historic reputations. Author Willa Cather toiled over Death Comes for the Archbishop at MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. Composer Aaron Copeland as well as author Sapphire, who wrote the book that became the movie called Precious, both found inspiration at the Yaddo Artist Colony in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Read the rest of this article

by Charles F. Price

Editor’s note: In part one of this piece, which ran in the Feb. 2010 issue, the author documents a visit by the notorious gunman to Salida and attempts to determine whether it served as stopping off point for a secret trip to Arizona to “dispose” of John Peters Ringo.

In Denver during the extradition wrangle, a goofy con-man named Perry Mallon, pretending to be sheriff of Los Angeles County, California, briefly got the authorities to detain Doc on a trumped-up murder charge, but was soon discredited. While Doc was embroiled with Mallon, Bat Masterson, then marshal of Trinidad and a friend of Wyatt’s, slyly filed a bogus larceny complaint against Doc, hoping that case would give him legal dibs on Holliday over Mallon (this was a favor to Earp since Masterson actually despised Doc). The larceny case was slated for a hearing in Pueblo on July 11 — thus Doc’s trip through Salida. Read the rest of this article

Ever since we took over the reins of this magazine last March we’d been hoping to do a profile on George Foott. His wonderfully realistic historic paintings and his legendary boating skills — skills he was still developing well into his late 60s — were an inspiration to many in a variety of intersecting circles in Colorado.

Then suddenly, he was gone, a victim of the melanoma which had metastasized and quickly took George on December 17, 2009 at the age of 70.

Rather than write a tribute to the man ourselves we sought out some of his old friends, kayaking buddies and business associates and asked them to tell us about George in their own words. We thank them for their memories and contributions. — M. Rosso Read the rest of this article

by Charles F. Price

Was Salida the jumping-off point for the last killing in the West’s most famous vendetta, the one spawned by the so-called Gunfight at the OK Corral?

At least one recognized historian thinks so. Karen Holliday Tanner, whose collateral ancestor was the Georgia-born gambler/gunman/failed dentist Dr. John H. (“Doc”) Holliday, writes in a 1998 biography of her famed forebear that when he stepped off the train in Salida in the summer of 1882 he quickly met with Wyatt Earp and others west of town and in a roundabout trek by horseback and train slipped secretly into southeastern Arizona to slay John Peters Ringo, one of the last remaining members of the cowboy gang they had battled in Tombstone earlier that year. Read the rest of this article

by Mike Rosso

It was a chance visit to an Englewood, Colorado dog park that ultimately led to the creation of Chaffee County’s first open space for dogs, Loyal Duke’s Dog Park.

The dog park, which opened its gates on November 29, 2009, is the brainchild of Salida resident Laura Pintaine, who, along with her husband and family, first stumbled upon the dog park in Englewood sometime in 2005 and were thrilled to see the interaction that went on between dogs and owners. Read the rest of this article

Valley View School, located two miles west of Salida on County Road 140, represents one of the last of more than 30 rural school districts formed in Chaffee County at the peak of mining activity. Built in 1903, this one-room schoolhouse held classes for up to 42 students from ranching families. The property includes a rectangular plan, gabled roof, cloakroom, tall narrow windows, one large classroom and outdoor privies. One teacher commented: “The outbuildings should be fixed to prevent the drifting of snow in them. They should be whitewashed inside and plenty of lime scattered about.” Besides a schoolhouse, the building was also a community center. Read the rest of this article

by Sue Snively

She exudes personality, showing kindness in her eyes, determination in the set of her jaw and subtle humor in the “almost” half smile on her lips. There is wisdom coming from the overall expression on her rugged and wrinkled face. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but the elegance of this lady with her dangling earrings and her creased and folded hat makes for a very attractive portrait. It is a portrait of what it means to grow old gracefully, accepting the wrinkles, the gray, and other affirmatives of the later stage of life. Read the rest of this article

by Jennifer Dempsey

When Salida resident Harold Coffman was diagnosed with bladder cancer last year he began taking a cocktail of prescription drugs that included pain-relieving narcotics, antibiotics and laxatives to ease his pain.

On the recommendation of a friend, Coffman tried marijuana as an alternative pain reliever. The relief was almost instantaneous and he immediately went to his doctor in Salida to apply for a medical marijuana user’s license. Read the rest of this article

by Betty Plotz

In order to pay tribute to his life, I’ve been casting about to find a word to describe Mike Rust. A unique and independent person who proudly lived “off the grid” near Saguache, Co, “Mike Bike,” as he was known by friends, disappeared on March 31, 2009 after confronting burglars near his home.

I decided to go with the word “intense” to describe Mike. He lived life at a very intense level. Coming from a raucous Colorado Springs family that included six other intense children, he began building bicycles in the seventh grade.

Read the rest of this article

by Jackie W. Powell
Photos courtesy of The Salida Library

People say “Soft Salida brick” as if it were one word. Many believe it was sun-dried, like adobe, and therefore not as hard as fired brick. The myth of sun drying is reinforced by photographs such as Figure 1 , showing thousands of bricks lying in the sun. But this was only one of the five steps needed to transform clay into fired bricks: mining, tempering, molding, drying, and firing. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Deric Pamp

Salida – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Friends:

We are leaving Salida. Barb has been working part- and then full-time in Colorado Springs for a year — our judicial district dangled a job for her twice but each time decided to spend the money elsewhere, never mind that tape recording is inferior. We need the medical insurance her job permits, but we are really tired of living apart so much. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Ed Quillen

Salida – October 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

While we have no idea just what it takes to be one of America’s “101 Best Outdoor Towns,” we won’t argue that Salida is a pretty good place to live if you like the outdoors, and can handle the mud, dust and dreariness of February, March and April. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Salida – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Mike Rosso, an occasional contributor to these pages, was excited: “I finally got a photo on the cover of a national magazine.”

It was a picture of a golfer to accompany an article in the June 11 edition of U.S. News & World Report about the 10 most affordable retirement towns in the United States. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Sue Price

Salida – October 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine

IT ALL STARTED with the Outside Magazine article, published in August. I’m sure you know the one – yes, the one that half of you are bemoaning because it might attract (too many) people (like me) to the area and the other half (Realtors) are thrilled over because it might attract (many!) people (like me) to the area. Anyway, my husband, Larry, and I were sweating out another 90º/90% humidity day in suburban Atlanta, Georgia (after a hour-plus commute complete with at least three near death-by-vehicle experiences) when the magazine arrived. Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0738520675[/amazon-product]Review by Martha Quillen

Salida – May 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine

Images of America – Salida Colorado
by Kay Marnon Danielson
Published by Arcadia Publishing 2002
ISBN 0-7385-2067-5 Read the rest of this article

Brief by Mike R0sso

Salida Yards – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

It’s hard to miss the lawn ornament on the 400 block of 4th Street in Salida.These weapons of mass destruction aren’t the product of some politician’s imagination. The late John Ribal of Salida, who served in the U.S. Navy, created the bomb memorial as a tribute to his brother Chris who had served in the Vietnam War in the 1960s. John’s daughter Janet, a Pueblo resident, believes that it was done in the same spirit as the yellow ribbons that have become a common way to show support for members of the military serving over seas. Read the rest of this article