HISTORY LA PLATA 1 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii

A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society History La Plata 2 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii

FROM THE DIRECTOR Carolyn Bowra “Watch out!” While not long in We would also like to take this opportunity explanation, that is an example of one aspect of to thank everyone who helps us tell those communication – to warn. Communication stories. Generous citizens have donated so can be practical; the exchange of information many wonderful artifacts for our permanent necessary to accomplish daily tasks. collections, and shared their family history Communication can also be social; an and stories. Collections volunteers have spent exchange of ideas, an expression of affection or thousands of hours over the years cataloging emotions, a means to motivate or even control. and researching those items. Interpretive Over the years, the means of communication volunteers have worked tirelessly to tell the may have changed, but communication itself stories to visitors, or place the items in exhibits. has not. The social aspects of communication Volunteer researchers and authors have written are the root of a community. We talk to one the stories for this, and other publications. This another. We read the newspaper. We tell team effort brings the past to life and helps us stories. At the Animas Museum stories are our keep La Plata County history and culture alive lifeblood. Whether it is the recollections of a for present and future generations. homesteader or an amusing anecdote from The La Plata County Historical Society last Thursday, we are all about the stories. The welcomes you to its annual publication, as artifacts in our collection help tell our stories. we communicate about communication. We Without those stories a museum is a warehouse. hope you are inspired to learn more about The stories bring life to the humblest object, as our community and seek an opportunity to it links us to our past. discover the stories of your family and friends. Employees

Carolyn Bowra, LPCHS/Animas Museum director Jan Postler, curator of collections Brianna McCormick, museum assistant Board of Directors

Jennifer Stollman, president George Hozier Kathy McKenzie, vice-president Marilee Jantzer-White Marie Roessler, secretary-treasurer Yvonne Lashmett Jeanne Brako Bruce Spining Jeff Johnson Duane Smith (emeritus) Museum Hours

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday (May – October) 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (November- April)

The Animas Museum is located at 3065 West 2nd Avenue in Durango on the corner of 31st Street and W. 2nd Ave.

Animas Museum staff, from left to right: Carolyn Bowra, Brianna McCormick, Jan Postler A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society HISTORY LA PLATA 3 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii Upcoming Events There is always something happening at the Animas Museum! PRESIDENTS MESSAGE Jennifer Stollman Saturday, May 12 Mother’s Day at the Colorado” and Carol Turner, author of “Notorious Welcome to History La Plata’s 2012 issue! you read, you will understand that because of Animas Museum’s Joy Cabin: Drop San Juans.” These are the yarns that don’t show This year’s theme is “Word Up: Communication our unique geographical and somewhat isolated by between 10-2 for “Cabin Tea Time” and up in the “regular” history books. Presented in experience a Victorian Era tea service, as it would partnership with Maria’s Bookshop in La Plata County.” It is only fitting that this location, our people utilized traditional forms have been in early Animas City. Kids can create a year’s edition would celebrate and examine of communication and developed innovative special Mother’s Day card to take home. Saturday, September 8: Activities for the historical legacy of communication in La forms of communication to suit our public, Animas City Day will take place at the museum Plata County. We live in a world where we can professional, and personal needs. Friday, May 25 Community Heritage and around the area of north Durango that was contact each other across the globe and into The La Plata County Historical Society Awards: Help honor Diane and Fred Wildfang Animas City. Also that day the museum will space and where in an instant we can connect members and the Animas Museum staff and and the La Plata Electric Association for their host the Animas City School Reunion for former professionally and personally through our cell volunteers are dedicated to the project of contributions in preserving the heritage of La students who attended school in the building phones and the Internet. history—its research and dissemination. We Plata County. The gates open at 5:30, dinner is that now houses the museum. If you, or someone The speed of communication has had understand that only by studying our county’s served at 7:30. Tickets are $40 each and may be you know, attended the Animas City School in the a correlative effect on how we live. Life history can we know who we are as individuals purchased at the Animas Museum, 3065 West two-story stone building please be sure the La moves more quickly and we are inundated and a community. Whether you have just arrived 2nd Ave. Tickets may also be purchased by phone Plata County Historical Society has your contact with information and communication that to our space or claim a generational legacy, we (970-259-2402) or on-line at information so we can send your invitation to this overwhelms our senses. What a perfect time to are all citizens of our county. Understanding our www.animasmuseum.org. special gathering. take a moment to study and contemplate our history strengthens our ties to the land and each Saturday, June 9, 10:30 a.m: Join us at history of La Plata County and its forms of other. Throughout the year, the historical society Saturday, October 13, 1-4: Observe Durango Greenmount Cemetery for a tour of the Catholic communication. Across the historical landscape, promotes a love of history through exhibitions, Heritage Celebration with demonstrations of section of the cemetery. Wear comfortable shoes, communication has been a vital element of our events, and informational campaigns. We are ladies’ hat making. and bring a water bottle as we hear the stories of county’s inhabitants. so very fortunate to be in a place replete with early settlers in this historic setting. As you read this year’s articles you will history. You cannot take a footstep in any of our Friday, December 7, 5-7: Begin the holiday learn that La Plata County has had local, fine towns or rural areas without encountering season with a sneak preview of the Holiday Saturday, July 14, 10-2: Mosey to the national, and international relationships marvelous historical stories. Our ancestors Craft Bazaar, then relax by the fire in the 1870s museum for some western style living history with communications. This year’s authors shared space to survive, be productive, and to at “Cowboy Camp”. Visitors can try their hand Joy Cabin. Enjoy refreshments by lamplight, describe the historical importance of the thrive. Reading about their history provides us at roping and other cowboy skills, as well as Christmas carols and historic ambience! telegraph, Fort Lewis’ heliograph, our county’s with strategies of success and camaraderie that sampling some of the cowboy grub, cooked on a relationship with the trans-Atlantic cable, the we can implement in our daily lives. campfire. Yee haw! Saturday, December 8, 9-3: Holiday Craft Bazaar: The solution to all of your gift giving vital role played by radio station KDUR in So, please enjoy the efforts of our members Monday, July 30, 7 p.m.: Join us for an evening dilemmas will be under one roof as area artists delivering local and distant information, how and take a step back into La Plata County’s of weird and notorious tales from the history and crafters offer their best wares for sale. From public and private communications assisted history. While you are thinking about history, pages of the San Juans, presented by Colorado jewelry to baked goods, there is sure to be in the development of our county, the role consider bringing your friends and family to authors Charmaine Ortega-Getz, author of “Weird something for everyone. of quilts and other commemorative forms of the Animas Museum. We have marvelous communication, our connections with local and permanent and new exhibits, lectures and events distant worlds, and the ways in which improved designed to ignite your love of history and steep New Exhibits at the Animas Museum communications fostered positive relationships you in our rich historical tradition. The staff and volunteers at the Animas Museum destructive power of water from historic floods. between the county’s diverse populations. As have been busy updating exhibits. With over In June the Animas Museum will present a On the cover: “ Telephone crew at work on the east 100 block of 11th Street, Durango in 35,000 items in the permanent collections, it is showing of quilts from the permanent collection, June of 1908. Photo Courtesy of The Animas Museum Photo Archives no small task to select artifacts for exhibit. The many of which have never been exhibited before. Word Up: I comprehend what you are saying and verify that your statement is true my 10th anniversary of the Missionary Ridge wildfire “Quilts: Where History Meets Art” will explore the good brother. From the Urban dictionary, an online resource. will be marked with the opening of a new exhibit role quilts have played in the history of La Plata “Forged by Flame.” The exhibit will explore how County. In addition to being a functional item fire, both urban and wildland, have changed La to keep family members warm, quilts offered an Plata County. Firefighting tools from yesterday opportunity for their creators to make an artistic and today will show the role technology has statement or to commemorate a special event played in fighting “the fire fiend.” or relationship. This rare opportunity to see the The museum will host a traveling exhibit, Water museum’s quilt collection is not to be missed. 2012, from May 14 to May 26. Water is said “Fe-males: Pumping Iron” showcases many of to be the most valuable resource in our state. the “labor saving” devices the women of La Plata The exhibit will explore the role water plays in County have used over the years. Many of the Colorado’s growth. Photos from the museum tools are indeed made of iron and serve to show archives will show the roles the Animas River the hard work that was done in the home, and has played in generating power, supporting in the case of Olga Little’s burro shoes - outside agriculture and providing recreation. The exhibit the home. will also feature a series of images showing the A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society History La Plata 4 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii

EARLy COMMUNICATION IN LA PLATA COUNTY THE OLD SPANISH TRAIL : Communication on a Mule Train by Douglas M. Knudson Dear Sister, alternative routes easier than Armijo’s. Most of Since my last letter to you, we’ve added two them followed what became the “main route,” sons and a new baby girl to our family. Juan which crosses the Southern Ute Reservation helped build the first church in our village, and all of La Plata and Montezuma counties. where the priest baptized the children. Now, he’s Their trading boosted the economies of both working on a little school building. California and New Mexico. Several neighbors disappeared in the flood last After learning of the warm climate, year but we live on higher ground. We’re now hundreds of New Mexicans and Anglos also growing oranges—what a luxury! … How are took the trail to settle in California. Many of things in Santa Fe? … them became key leaders in the Los Angeles basin. letter like this from California in 1847 Amight take two or three months to get The Trail’s Name delivered. No roads—just faint horse and When John C. Fremont encountered the mule trails–connected California with New main route in southern California in 1844, Mexico. he recorded the joy of “following the Spanish No trucks, no trains, no airplanes carried Trail,” going eastward. That name in his goods; no telephone lines, no Internet widely read book soon appeared on maps and provided communications across the land. other books. Someone who moved west from the island of This modern map of the of the Old Spanish Trail shows its route through today’s La Plata County. After 1848, when a U.S. and Mexico treaty Spanish civilization in northern New Mexico Map courtesy of the Old Spanish Trail Association transferred the Southwest to the United States, basically severed ties with the home folks. this trading route became less used. The Some of them tried to send messages via fine tanned leather westward to California, by priests and pack mule caravans; it arrived stories and importance of the Old Spanish the annual caravans that brought woolen east to the Mississippi, south into Central every year or two. Trail began fading into history. However, goods made in New Mexico to the California America and north onto the cold plains. Spanish kings banned trade with any some emigrants, such as Josefa Moya Young, coast. Those horse and pack mule caravans (no The tribal traders were the newsmen of these country but Spain or New Spain. That made continued traveling the old trail back and wagons) sometimes brought new settlers to early centuries. They traveled lonely routes. New Mexico a small island of Spanish people forth to visit relatives in New Mexico and the Los Angeles area. They provided 3-month- They seemed eager to share news and stories in a vast sea of land occupied by Native Colorado. old news from Santa Fe, Abiquiú, and Taos. with the different tribes and clans who fed and Americans. Only 170 years later Spanish Over time, parts of the routes were graded hosted them, eagerly listened to their tales settlers moved from Mexico into California. and paved as county and state roads. In Communications by Early Native Priests from southern California and northern other places, new property owners built Traders The Spanish Connection New Mexico tried to connect the colonial fences, making some segments inaccessible Trade didn’t start with the Spanish. In 1598, Spanish colonists moved into outposts in 1776, but didn’t make it. to travelers. (About 40% of the route crosses Communications of tribes with each other the area of the Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan) Only in 1821, after Mexico freed itself public lands.) had been going on for centuries. Shells and Pueblo, New Mexico. After ten years of from Spain, did legal and profitable trade with Then, in 2002, U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse beads brought from California centuries ago makeshift arrangements, they moved to a people from Missouri start on the Santa Fe Campbell, of La Plata County, guided the are on view now in Taos Pueblo and Southern new site and called it Santa Fe. Farmers and Trail. Then in 1829, young Antonio Armijo Congress and the President to officially Ute museum collections. ranchers scattered through northern New headed west from Santa Fe, with some designate the “Old Spanish National Historic Some Utes traveled portions of these Mexico supplied this small town and a few guidance from trappers, Navajos, and Paiutes. Trail,” as the nation’s 15th such route. unnamed routes for centuries. They carried others. Their “news” came from Mexico City His 30 New Mexican men and 100 loaded This historic trail now reminds us that, mules emerged from the great desert (Mojave) even without instant communication gadgets, to the east, startling Alta California officials people traveled long, hard, slow routes to and the 2,000 citizens of Los Angeles. connect with others and to trade goods for They brought woolen goods made in New their mutual benefit. We have also learned Mexico from fleece of Spanish churro sheep from our Ute friends that this trading trail has (now called Navajo Churros). They traded been used for uncounted centuries. blankets and serapes for surplus mules and For more information visit: horses that were consuming the pasturage of www.oldspanishtrail.org. the California cattle ranches. When Armijo’s men arrived in Santa Fe, they found that Douglas M. Knudson is a professor emeritus Missouri traders were eager to pay high prices at Purdue University. He resides in South for the big mules. Fork, CO and is active in the Old Spanish Trail Until 1848, one or two caravans per Association. year headed out to California, using two

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EARLy COMMUNICATION IN LA PLATA COUNTY THE OLD SPANISH TRAIL : Communication on a Mule Train NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTE MUSIC: The Courting Language of Love by Douglas M. Knudson by Marilee Jantzer-White porting a finely carved animal, its spotted medium, as seen in the museum’s acquisition, Sand painted body a composite of lizard but a variety of other woods as well as eagle and weasel with what appears to be a turtle’s bone could also be employed. Many courting head, this flute recently acquired by the La Plata flutes were crafted to resemble the long neck of County Historical Society’s Animas Museum a bird, with the sound emanating from a beak is definitely worth your visit. The entire length shaped end. Carved animals affixed to the flute of the flute is richly embellished with carved by rawhide were common features on courting and painted decoration. Twelve alternating flutes. Frequently the human body served as a bands of black and red accented with sunburst template for the overall measurements used in patterns decorate and define each of the six air designing a courting flute, and determined the holes. In addition a painted crescent moon at flute’s length, its distance between finger holes the flute’s far end is flanked by two enigmatic and distance from the playing end to the first blue circles, echoed in the next segment by two air hole. But first and foremost courting flutes corresponding red circles attached to the skeletal were about function, used to assist in winning framework of a tree. As individual expressions the favor of the woman chosen. of their owners, no two flutes are the same and In an autobiography dictated in 1833, the tribal traditions did not dictate uniformity in Sauk leader Black Hawk provides an engaging aesthetic appearance within tribal societies. account of the courting flute’s magic in action. Flutes have a long history in the Americas. During community feasts where everyone The earliest examples found thus far are from dressed in their finest, the flute owner selected the Southwest, dated around 620, and currently the woman he wished to court. The girl’s mother reside in Tucson’s Arizona State museum. In was informed and arrangements were made for The carved animal on the stem of the Animas Museum’s courting flute is a composite representation of a pictographs and petroglyphs flute players, him to visit the girl that night. She may accept weasel with a turtle’s head and a lizard’s tail. These animals, attached by strips of rawhide, could be moved to associated with proper rituals for growing corn, or reject him, and signaled her intent by snuffing tune the instrument. Photo: La Plata County Historical Society attest to the ubiquity of the flute’s presence out the candle or light he carried. If rejected, at throughout the Southwest. Yet Native American daylight he would draw on the power of his flutes were common across North America and flute. When a woman passed he would alter their usage has been documented in fur trappers’ the flute’s tune waiting until the one he desired accounts, settlers’ diaries and the journals of passed: he then resumed with his own personal military expeditions. The flute of the Americas courting tune. That evening the ritual would differed from the European flute, however, in begin again and usually ended with favorable that it was outside the western diatonic system results. While slightly different variants on the of major scales. The recent acquisition by the details of courting rituals exist, all partake in a Animas Museum of this Ute Mountain Ute similar magic. Each relies on the flute’s power to courting flute exemplifies a musical instrument summon a spirit for the desired task, to convey that, in many tribal societies, was used primarily the language of love, a language unique to each for courting. individual courting flute. Each courting flute is unique to its carver, routinely male, and owned throughout his life. Marilee Jantzer-White is an art historian and an Some were even handed down, father to son. emeritus professor at Fort Lewis College. Cedar wood was, and is, the most common Animas Museum Develops Volunteer Program

Through generous funding by the which placed several volunteers in the Ballantine Family Foundation and the collections and education departments. Community Foundation serving Southwest In addition, Peggy developed a “Volunteer Colorado, the La Plata County Historical Handbook” to serve as a guide for Society and Animas Museum hired a volunteer recruitment, placement, training museum consultant, Peggy Zemach, to and recognition. For information about help develop the museum’s volunteer volunteering, contact Director Carolyn program. The funding helped make Bowra at [email protected] or possible a volunteer recruitment event, call 970-259-2402.

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EARLy COMMUNICATION IN LA PLATA COUNTY COMMUNICATION WITH SUNSHINE by Duane Smith “It was a flashing light,” some worried Lewis fit the first use perfectly as they rode conditions the message could be transmitted post he sent signals to Point Lookout (about locals claimed. News quickly reached Fort west into Utah. up to ninety miles without relay stations. 23 miles away) and then on to the Blue Lewis, then located along the La Plata River The post was actively involved with this The sender used a mirror with a small non- Mountains in Utah, another 50 miles distant. southwest of recently settled Durango. communications marvel. At last, troops reflective spot in the center. He aligned the Mosher sent heliograph signals whenever Fortunately, the commanding officer knew campaigning in the field were no longer out of heliograph to the target by looking at the troops were in the field to the west. Troops what it was. A new invention to send messages touch with their base of operations. Reports reflection of the target in the mirror, then campaigning in Utah and western Colorado over long distances, the heliograph, had come and orders flashed back and forth to the moved his head until the target was hidden by benefited from this new device and were much to the Four Corners area. amazement of civilians that happened to see the non-reflective spot. Keeping his head still, more quickly able to respond to an area where It was a simple device, using mirrors to send the flashes. he adjusted the aiming rod so its cross wires there might be trouble between the settlers and signals by flashes of sunlight, as in the case The post’s most active signal officer was bisected the target. He then aligned the mirror renegades raiding in the region. of Fort Lewis, or by using flags or torches. First Lieutenant Theodore Mosher, who had with tangent and elevation screws, thus aiming For a fleeting moment, the heliograph had Typically, the sender used the Morse code. entered the signal corps back in the 1870s and the sunbeam at the target. been a factor in the settlement of the Four The idea had been developed early in the 19th enthusiastically became involved with this new Opening and closing a shutter mounted Corners region. Locals were amazed as they century, but it was not until about 1869 that communication “wonder.” on a second tripod produced the flashes. If watched signals flash back and forth. As long as the British devised the apparatus for use in First stationed at Fort Lewis in 1885, the sun was in front of the sender, its rays the fort remained active, so did the heliograph, military operations. Mosher discovered that the “signal property were reflected directly from this mirror to which finally went dark when Fort Lewis was The United States military, in 1880, is in unserviceable condition.” He promptly the receiving station. If the sun was behind abandoned in 1891. established a line of heliographs between Forts had two working heliographs shipped to the the sender, the sighting rod was replaced by Keogh and Custer in Montana, a distance of post. With its reliance on mirrors for signaling, a second mirror, to capture the sunlight from 140 miles. At the same time, a message was sent the heliograph worked particularly well in the the main mirror and reflect it to the receiving Duane Smith is a professor of history at Fort over 200 miles, from New Mexico to Arizona. sunny, dry Southwest with its abundant high station. Lewis College and an emeritus member of the That proved exciting news to scattered posts points from which to flash signals. Mosher trained the men. Four people were Board of Directors for the La Plata County throughout the West. Under ordinary conditions, the field needed, one to operate the device, another to Historical Society. Finally, it was possible to signal troops in heliograph could transmit messages (called receive messages, another to record messages, the field or isolated posts that did not have heliograms) thirty to forty miles at a maximum and yet another to keep the mirror adjusted the telegraph. Troops campaigning out of Fort rate of ten words per minute. Under ideal as the sun moved. From the ridge behind the

Company A, 22nd Regiment Infantry in front of their quarters at Fort Lewis, about 1885. There are no known photographs of the heliograph device at the post, but this photo does date to the time of its use. Courtesy of Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society HISTORY LA PLATA 7 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii

History Comes Alive in La Plata County With funding from the Colorado State in April and Session Two is May 19, 9am-2pm, Historical Fund, the San Juan Mountains (registration deadline May 4). Association and the La Plata County History Detectives: Youth Day Camp is Historical Society are pleased to announce being offered for ages 10-12 in two sessions. “Heritage Education,” a three-program The Animas City Detective Agency will project to increase community awareness of focus on the history of Animas City and local historical resources and the importance its importance to the development of La of historic preservation by involving Plata County and mining in the San Juan participants in engaging activities. The Mountains. The camp will be July 19, 9am- project will expand knowledge about historic 3pm, (registration deadline May 14). preservation through first-hand experiences If Headstones Could Talk will highlight the of multi-generational participants. historic Animas City Cemetery. Participants In History-Hands On! participants will learn will learn about the concepts of historical about historic cemetery documentation and archaeology and cemetery documentation. preservation techniques through visits to The program is offered July 26, 9am-3pm, the Animas City and Hermosa cemeteries. (registration deadline July 18). The Animas City Cemetery program will be offered June 22-24, 9am-1pm, with a required The cost per session/per person for all of orientation June 20 at 7pm in the Animas the programs is $25. Participants must bring Museum. The Hermosa Cemetery program their own lunch. For more information or to will be offered August 14-16, 9am-1pm, with register contact: a required orientation August 13, at 7pm in the Animas Museum. Registration deadlines Ruth Lambert, Ph.D. are June 6 and July 30, respectively. Cultural Programs Director History In Your Own Backyard consists of San Juan Mountains Association two educational tours to the historic towns [email protected] 970-385-1267 of Allison and Tiffany. Session one was held

A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society History La Plata 8 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii

The COUNTY GROWS ~ COMMUNICATION EXPANDS DURANGO’S FIRST NEWSPAPER: A Record of a Community by Carolyn Brown hen Durango was founded in 1880, it “Nature abhors a vacuum, The Record therefore The first editions were printed on small size the typesetting and printing, and it was noted Wbecame clear the railroad boomtown took form to fill the void in the newspaper field paper, since circumstances only allowed the use with some pride they were paid their weekly would need a newspaper. Newspaper men existing in Durango. The city needed a paper; of her small, job press. By January she had a wages without fail on Saturday nights. With rushed to the area. Caroline Wescott Romney therefore The Record.” “commodious office, 22 X 50 feet” and issues a good head for business, she demanded “all won the race. The Record published a daily edition with reached their full size of 24 x 36 inches, with subscriptions must be accompanied with cash” A widow in her 40s, reported to be small in news from the state, and a weekly edition with seven columns of print to the page. The Record and railed against patent medicine sellers who stature with blond hair, blue eyes and a nose for local news. She praised her new community, “a was a success from the start, owing in no small wanted too much ad space for too little money. news, the newspaperwoman had been a teacher land not only flowing with ‘milk and honey,’ part to Romney’s efforts and energy. She would The Record’s monopoly in Durango was (of Greek and Latin), a librarian and a journalist but seamed with silver and gold and floored gather news on the street and dash to the office short-lived. The Southwest, the Animas City in the East. She came to Colorado in 1879 and with coal.” to write. She had a staff of four helpers to do newspaper, moved 2 miles south to Durango set up her presses in Leadville. But the call of in January of 1881. Romney noted that it was Durango was too much to resist. “a faithful resume of the Daily Record so far as In December of 1880 she boarded the local affairs are concerned.” In April of 1881 the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad and headed Durango Democrat rolled out its first edition south toward Cumbres Pass, then known as and in June the Republican joined the fray. With Alta. The rails stopped a few miles beyond Alta, Durango’s population of 2,500, competition so Romney took the train to the end of the line. among the newspapers was spirited. When the A four-horse carriage took the woman and her Democrat failed, Romney noted in her May 9 baggage a short distance, before plunging into a edition, “Owing to lack of brains and lack of snow bank. They recovered and headed down money the DD came to grief this morning.” a mountain, so steep that she noted, “We held Romney had a lively writing style, and our breaths, shut our eyes and hung on.” faithfully reported the significant events of After spending the night in Chama, she set the community. She was particularly fond of off for Durango. On a trail with no bridges, noting “firsts” in the area. These stories provide Romney figured they crossed one stream 30 a record of the growth of Durango. The first times – “that we counted to say nothing of the hold-up on January 29 was hailed as “a sure times when we were so scared that we couldn’t sign of a booming town.” She reported the birth count – and the San Juan which we struck next, of the first baby, the first church services and sixteen times.” Their thoroughbred horses tired the first (and only) lynching. The Record was out, so they borrowed a horse, which they then part of one “first” when its original tent became traded for mules. When her party reached the the origin of the first fire in the city. She also Ute Agency on the Pine River, they switched reported on social events, providing a glimpse to government horses for the remainder of the of daily life in early Durango. journey. The harrowing trip was too much for Romney noted, “We made money hand over the fine carriage, so it was replaced by a lumber fist the first year. Then we spent it all beating wagon at some point. The trip from the end of our opponent.” The Herald purchased her the tracks had taken three days and three nights, presses and in May 1882 combined the daily in storms of snow and sleet. and weekly Record under the Herald banner. “At last we struck the Animas, coming in Romney headed to California, but by 1884 from a side valley. Ah me! Had it been different she had returned to Colorado, managing the it would have broken our hearts. ‘The Valley of Trinidad Review. the Spirits’ is two or three miles wide, the rapid In 1901 the Denver Republican reviewed river in the midst, so rapid that the ice king has her work and said, “Caroline kept her readers failed to bind it with his fetters…Two miles interested and the town alert. Little escaped her down the valley lies the new city to which we eye and pen.” ride, between the bluffs, in a continual dream Romney’s efforts to inform her community of ideal beauty in the wilderness, the Mecca of serve as a priceless record of the early days of our ended pilgrimage.” Durango. Mrs. Romney wasted no time. The building she had anticipated had not been built, so from a tent she published the first newspaper in Carolyn Bowra is descended from area Durango, The Durango Record, on December newspapermen and is director of the Animas Caroline Romney, photographed later in life after her time in Durango. Photo courtesy of Duane Smith. 29, 1880. In that first issue, she explained, Museum. A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society HISTORY LA PLATA 9 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii

Black, White and Read All Over the County

In a time before radio, television Historically, events in Bayfield were and the Internet, newspapers were the chronicled by the Bayfield Blade; the life blood of the communities they Pine River Times now follows in its served. “With vitality and nervous footsteps. In Ignacio, the Southern energy,” Duane Smith once wrote, Ute Drum followed the town’s original “they reported, defended, promoted, newspaper, the Ignacio Chieftain. chastised, civilized, [and] politicized The only other La Plata County [their communities].” newspapers known to exist outside of Durango and La Plata County have Durango were the La Plata Miner in a rich newspaper history. As Southwest La Plata City and Animas City’s The Colorado’s largest community, Southwest, which moved to Durango Durango can boast the lion’s share in January 1881. of newspaper titles published in La Newspapers are one of our most Plata County – more than 30 in its important resources for history 132-year history. Most had a political research, and the Animas Museum has bent, like the Durango Democrat and an interesting collection of early La the Republican; more extreme was Plata County newspapers, including The Durango Klansman. Only one several rare issues. newspaper has endured more than a couple of decades – The Durango by Robert McDaniel Herald, founded in 1881.

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The COUNTY GROWS ~ COMMUNICATION EXPANDS THE TELEGRAPH: Communication on a Line by Jeff Johnson

tour of La Plata County’s historic maintained their own proprietary lines for not on the radar when General William J. a hopeful and hearty assembly of Colorado Astructures and notable landmarks has company business, yet their poles would Palmer was planning his narrow gauge Denver pioneers. On July 30, 1881, telegraph wires for years yielded wonderful opportunities to often accommodate a separate line for the and Rio Grande Railway in 1870. While reached the new town of Durango while not a observe those aged buildings and settlement Western Union Company as the former the founders of Animas City were toiling to moment was spared in sending a press release remnants that harken to our communities’ entity reached into locales yet untouched by create a new town site by the mid-1870s, their across the nation; now everyone would know roots. Yet, while kicking dust around the the latter. In many railroad stations, the busy future “high speed” communication link to that steam engine whistles were within earshot. county you may occasionally find a much and highly trained railroad telegrapher would the outside world was slowly making its way The first passenger train rolled into the corporate overlooked vestige of our frontier days in the perform double-duty, handling Western from Denver via Pueblo and the Royal Gorge limits on the following morning and the new form of weather beaten and splintered old wires were abuzz while arrangements were being poles. A somewhat rare find these days, these made for a grand celebration on August 5. graying masts carried strands of important wire for a one time ground breaking technology Morse Code: known as the telegraph. Usually found only Communicating in a along the old railroad rights-of-way in our dash – and a dot. region, the oft forgotten telegraph pole and Almost 200 years before the first Tweet the occasional sun bleached glass insulator ever appeared on the internet, the creation have quite a story, one that foretells how we of the telegraph by American painter-turned- have come to communicate to this very day. inventor Samuel F.B. Morse made rapid communication across the country, and “What hath God wrought” eventually across continents, possible. While These four words, taken from Old Testament studying art in Europe, Morse lamented in scripture, became the first electromagnet a letter to his parents that it would take four telegraph communication in the U.S. on weeks for him to return to America by boat, May 24, 1844. Delivered by none other than and almost six weeks for a letter to reach telegraph pioneer Samuel Morse, the electric them. When Morse returned home in 1832, pulses that he transmitted to a B&O railroad he shared the story of his long trip with the depot signaled the dawning of a new era, one American scientist Charles Jackson who helped where information that concerned a fledging Morse understand the science of electricity. nation could move across great distances in After previously unsuccessful experiments, an a short amount of time via the “telegram.” 1843 federal grant enabled Morse to build the During the 1850s, the new Western Union first telegraph line from Washington D.C. to telegraph company consolidated various Baltimore. telegraph systems across the country and Telegraph operators communicated began the task of stretching wire from coast through Morse code, a series of clicks made to coast. By 1861, transcontinental telegraph when an electrical pulse was sent through the capability was a reality, and the stock ticker telegraph line that released a sounding pin held and money transfer services were in place to a magnet. The first Morse code assigned within the following decade. numbers of clicks to specific letters, but was While it may seem hard to compare Morse abandoned and replaced with specific dot code, antiquated poles, glass insulators, and and dash sequences for individual letters. The wires with the latest application on today’s most commonly used letter, e, was spelled in wireless devices, it is easy to appreciate the Morse code with a single dot. In 1850, when profound impact this now defunct technology J.B.Bennett, the first telegraph operator in Ignacio, sits at his station in this undated photograph. undersea cable made international telegraph had upon the masses of another century. Be Photo courtesy of Animas Museum Photo Archives, Pargin Collection communication possible, the original Morse it a simple telegram conveying greetings from code was revised so that messages became a loved one, or a terse delivery of significant Union business while giving priority to the country on wooden poles planted along the shorter, and took less time to transmit. The news events that were shaping our history, the time sensitive train movement dispatches and grade of Palmer’s narrow gauge “Baby Road.” original code became known as American telegraph propelled us forward into an early related information. The efficient dispatching As economic significance of the San Juan or railroad code, and today is found only in “information age” long before the term would of railway train movements via telegraphic region grew in the latter 1870s, young La Plata museums and historical reenactments. The be coined in our modern era. means was paramount to safe and reliable County would soon be earmarked for inclusion International, or Continental Morse code The telegraph and America’s growing operations, and its viability proved worthy of in a widening plan of the D&RG’s conquests. developed for overseas communication is railroad system would quickly become continued use well into the twentieth century. Along with iron rails, the wire strands that had recognized as the official Morse code today. interdependent in the years that followed La Plata County was four years from its been closing the communication gap across its development. Railroad companies inception and our picturesque region was the country for decades would soon reach By Evan West

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The COUNTY GROWS ~ COMMUNICATION EXPANDS

s with other railroads, the narrow gauge the intended message. This incessant clicking winding into La Plata County would now become the last man to operate the railroad’s Alines utilized the Morse code system sound may be familiar to those who have carry voices where only Morse pulses once telegraph key in La Plata County. to relay data from terminal to terminal. In watched old western movies that recreate the traveled. However, the marginal quality of Amos relates that in later years the La Plata County, the now historical Durango din of early day railroad terminals, complete voice communication over the telegraph lines message phone was the preferred choice for depot was once the repository and point of with the visor-donning telegrapher studiously mandated their primary use to be that of general communications with the train dispatcher, origin for those dots and dashes that carried copying communications as they rolled in on communications and emergency; the veritable yet the telegraph key would continue to carry vital information for railroad operations. The the wire. Another equally important device telegraph would prevail for dispatching the his eastbound train consist (the cars in a train telegraph operator’s primary function was to at the telegrapher’s desk was the “key.” This movement of trains. By the late 1930s, use and their various loadings) information to copy directives from the railroad dispatcher simple switch device would open and close the of the telegraphone was encouraged by the Alamosa. The trainmaster in Alamosa would for train movement and relay this information electrical circuit by manually pressing upon a railroad between Alamosa and Durango in then prepare instructions for the routing to trainmen via a “Train Order.” These orders handle that would touch a contact, thus closing order to allow a direct conduit of information of each car and also determine the power (written on thin onionskin paper known as the circuit. This tool was the mechanism between train crews and dispatchers when requirements to move the manifests over the “flimsies”) were transcribed in a very clear employed in the transmission process, sending trains encountered unusual delays, threatening 4 percent grade from Chama to Cumbres and specified format to convey the critical Morse code to another destination. Multiple weather, or any other emergency. To this end, Pass. December 6, 1968, marked the end of details that governed safe train movement. sounders and keys were often used in telegraph telephone “depots” were provided at terminals, an eventful era as the last train from Alamosa Typical of many stations on the narrow offices that utilized more than one wire system, or a crew could simply tap into the telegraph made its way into the Durango yards. Upon gauge in early years, the Durango telegraph although the Durango station utilized a jack to wire at any location between terminals using tying up his crew from the 107-mile run from operator would also be required to handle access the different wires in later years. a portable telegraphone device. Phone booths Chama, Conductor Jim Mayer received the local Western Union (WU) business through An early Rio Grande want ad for were also erected at locations between stations railroad circular confirming the end of service contractual agreement, although Western telegraphers required that the applicant must where their use was deemed practical. on the old mainline from the east until further Union eventually opened their own local be able to copy Morse code at 25 words per notice. facility in the years that followed. WU held the minute. This may seem a modest feat, yet All Good Things….. But further notice never arrived, and shortly responsibility of maintaining the physical lines imagine this task while tuning out the noisy Interestingly, the use of telegraph along the thereafter the railroad telegraph line was cut along the railroad right-of-way until that task disruptions of a busy station in the heyday of narrow gauge survived well into the 1960s. between Alamosa and Durango. With that was transferred to the D&RGW in the late rail transportation. These proud and skilled In 1961, local resident and now railroad initial and deliberate snip of a mere wire, our 1950s. During that period, the WU lineman technicians of early communication were a historian Amos Cordova found his way into railroad’s role in a form of communication out of Alamosa had motor car privileges to competent lot, and their attention to form and the position of Agent (and telegrapher) at that Mr. Morse once proclaimed God hath occupy the 3-foot mainline to Durango while detail was pivotal to serving their company the Durango terminal. After years of bucking wrought, now became but a footnote in en route to wayside destinations in need of while providing our local community with the “extra board” and seeing the interior of history for this storied community. repair or maintenance. accurate information and responses. virtually every depot on the old Alamosa So how did this telegraph work? In its basic In the early 1900s, the Rio Grande railroad Division, he handled the railroad business Jeff Johnson arrived in La Plata County in form, the telegrapher would receive electrical began to utilize the “telegraphone.” Known affairs in our community while the narrow 1981 and began a 22 year career in railroading pulses sent over the wire via a device called in slang as the “message phone,” this device gauge territory of his company was in the that started on the Durango and Silverton. a “sounder.” The sounder would convert the allowed telephone voice transmissions to be throes of a beleaguered swan song. Having Currently serving as the Project Manager for pulses into audible clicks from which the sent over the existing wire while maintaining passed the railroad’s pre-requisite 25 wpm Blackstone Models, Jeff joined the LPCHS Board telegrapher would interpret the code into the use of telegraph. The 1881 era lines test in Alamosa in 1950, he would eventually of Directors in the fall of 2011. …. .. … - --- .-. -.-- .. … ..-. ..- -. The 1902 Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog Co. catalog. So as a public service, the La Plata offered a full page of telegraph instruments, County Historical Society offers a telegraph designed for learning telegraphy. The catalog aptitude test. Decipher the message above and boasted, “To those who are about to start in life, see if you have the skills to be a telegrapher. either ladies or gentleman, there is nothing at the present time which offers better inducements than telegraphy. The smallest salaries paid are about $35.00 per month, but the salaries usually paid are from $50.00 to $125.00 per month … Those who are not familiar with telegraphy are liable to believe that it is something mysterious and difficult to learn, but this is a mistake. It is very easy to learn, [and] can be thoroughly mastered in from two to six months. And with a reasonable amount of care and application it can be learned at home…” Unfortunately we can no longer order from the 1902 Sears, Roebuck and Look for the answer on page 23

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The COUNTY GROWS ~ COMMUNICATION EXPANDS A LITTLE TELEPHONE TALK by Jill Seyfarth uman beings are a talkative bunch. and Kline operated a community-owned HWe’ve always wanted to know what telephone line soon after Marvel was platted Helpful Telephone Hints is going on, even in the early days of La Plata in 1916. In the 1950s a new line connected County, when farmers lived far apart. The Durango to Fort Lewis College, which at It is difficult to imagine a world where everyone did not carry a cell phone, enabling talking settlers quickly embraced the new-fangled that time was located south of Hesperus. The or texting from anywhere at any time. But once upon a time, phones were firmly tethered to a wall by the telephone line, and the receiver was linked to that by a cord. One had to stay in telephone. By 1884, a telephone line was strung Marvel-Kline system was upgraded at about one spot to talk on the phone. As telephones grew in popularity, the telephone company (there the same time to an was only one) offered helpful hints for their use. eight-party line that served the Breen area. From the Summer 1940 telephone directory, in the Animas Museum research library. A caller on the west “When you want to talk with a particular person simply tell the operator the town, telephone side of La Plata County number, if available, and the name of the person desired. This is a person-to-person call. paid a long distance charge to call Bayfield APPOINTMENT CALLS and Ignacio until On person-to-person calls, the called person can be notified 1990. Former Marvel that you wish to talk to at a definite time, convenient to area resident Emma you. No extra charge is made for this service. Horvath remembered MESSENGER CALLS that in the 1950s, If the called person does not have telephone service, the people would go to the telephone company will send a messenger. The rate for the Breen Mercantile to call is the same as the person-to-person rate, plus the cost of use either the Durango sending the messenger. phone or the Marvel WHY NOT CALL THEM UP? exchange to avoid long The telephone is the most personal and satisfactory way Telephones were an important tool in offices throughout the country. In distance toll charges. of sending greetings, congratulations, invitations and this 1945 photo, secretary Lillian Ruland and school superintendent Elza It appears that the condolences. For making reservations when traveling, visiting with absent members of the Needham take advantage of the latest in telephone technology. Florida Mesa area may family and keeping in touch with home and office while away. A telephone call is next best Photo courtesy of Animas Museum Photo Archives have been among the to being there in person.” last to get telephone from the railroad depot in Durango to the service. Usually the phone lines on the Mesa Instructions for telephone use excerpted from the July, 1941 telephone directory in the military post of Fort Lewis, which was located were community projects. For example, a Animas Museum research library. south of present day Hesperus. group of about ten farmers extended a line in Durango had a telephone system of its own, the area around County Road 230 in 1906. OPERATION OF DIAL TELEPHONES supporting 66 phones by 1894. Even the Hikers and bicyclists on the Telegraph Trail remote mines in the La Plata Mountains were now follow part of the old telephone line. METHOD OF DIALING- Remove the receiver and listen connected. In 1905 the Durango Democrat Other party lines connected the folks on for “DIAL TONE” – a steady humming sound. Do not newspaper reported that the May Day mine was Florida Mesa to their neighbors. start to dial until you hear this tone. Leave the receiver off close to completing a new office, ore house and Party lines were common up into the the hook and: tramway, and that telephone service was to be 1980s. One Durango woman remembers 1. Place your finger in the dial opening through which is installed that month. getting in trouble when as a youngster she seen the first figure of the number you wish to call, and turn Bayfield was equally up to date. The town was and her teenage friends would gossip on a the dial to the right until your finger strikes the fingerstop. self-sustaining with its own water-powered flour party line and an adult would overhear them mill giving its name to Mill Street. Bayfield had and reprimand them. 2. Remove your finger and without touching the dial allow a telephone company by 1904. The farmers and Callers learned to recognize the pattern of it to return to its original position. ranchers located outside of Bayfield connected long and short rings that signified a call was 3. In the same way and in sequence, dial the remaining to each other’s lines to create a phone network for them. Nobody ever thought they would figures of the number you wish to call. in the Pine River Valley. want or need caller ID. DO NOT MOVE THE DIAL OR RECEIVER HOOK DURING CONVERSATION Telephone service arrived on the east side of La Plata County in 1916, via the Rosa-Ignacio RINGING SIGNAL – Within a few seconds after dialing the number, you should hear the Telephone Company. H.C. Linebarger and R.P. “RINGING SIGNAL” an intermittent “burring” sound, indicating the called telephone is Hott of Tiffany and A.H. Long of Rosa started Jill Seyfarth is an archaeologist and historian being rung. the company by extending a line from Ignacio to who lives in Animas City. Ruth Lambert PARTY LINE AND EXTENSION USERS – Be sure to listen for dial tone before dialing to Tiffany to Arboles. Telephones were connected contributed to this article. avoid interfering with other parties who might be using the line. to the line as residents’ incomes permitted. On the west side of the county, Marvel

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The COUNTY GROWS ~ COMMUNICATION EXPANDS THE TRANSATLANTIC TELEPHONE CABLE “CONNECTION” TO DURANGO by Jennifer Stollman ulitzer Prize winning commentator PThomas Friedman observed that in a span of just over 150 years telecommunications had rendered the world flat and brought together worlds previously separated by distance. North America and Europe were brought together by the Transatlantic Telephone Cable (TAT), and Durango played a role in that effort. Far from the Atlantic Ocean, a 1972 international conference at the Strater Hotel helped improve telecommunications with Europe. U.S. legislatures, business entrepreneurs, and 19th century reformers, understood that in order to foster stronger diplomatic ties, to create global markets, and to effect positive change, modes of communication needed to be created and cable needed to be laid across land and water. The first transatlantic telegraph cables, laid in 1858 and successfully tested in 1866, carried communication through Morse code. Individuals marveled at how quickly one could communicate across Delegates to the TAT-6 conference gather in the lower level of the Strater Hotel, today’s Pullman Room. Photo courtesy of Rod Barker the Atlantic. The invention of the telephone greatly expanded communication as voices this choice. Conference conveners believed were carried across short and long distances. our town and its remote location served as an In 1927, the first radio-based trans-Atlantic excellent meeting place far from the watchful telephone system was laid, establishing eye of the press and interference by politicians. immediate verbal connections. During conference sessions, participants The twentieth century saw vast improvement agreed that this next cable would connect in communication systems as each new France and the United States—specifically decade seemed to bring a new technology. beginning in Rhode Island. Earl Barker Jr. From 1955-56, the first standardized trans- even planned extra-curricular events to keep Atlantic telephone cable (TAT 1) connected spirits up and minds occupied by arranging Europe and North America, allowing a rodeo, a barbecue, and music. This for less expensive and public telephone telecommunication cable was an impressive communication. Despite these incredible and achievement, including 10,000 channels and fast improvements, communications between was able to quadruple the call capacity of the continents still suffered from delays, the previous cables - combined. Since then, missed and dropped communications, and additional TAT agreements have served to troubles with service. further improve communication across the Cold War diplomatic issues, ever growing Atlantic. markets, and a stream of innovative ideas The role the Strater Hotel and Durango further encouraged the development of played in the1972 treaty negotiations, gave technologies, which improved modes of Durango a spot in the history of world-wide communications. Over the twentieth century, communication. several conferences were held to discuss strategies to advance telecommunication. Durango played a role in one of these Jennifer Stollman teaches at Fort Lewis conferences. From October 29 through College in the History Department and the November 4, 1972 the TAT 6 conference Gender and Women’s Studies Department. was held at the Strater Hotel. Initial conflicts involving political and public issues led to A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society History La Plata 14 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii

The COUNTY GROWS ~ COMMUNICATION EXPANDS TELEVISION COMES TO DURANGO by Robert McDaniel enver residents John J. and Sally They constructed a three-sided shelter near DMorrissey wanted to move to Durango, their new Missionary Ridge antenna to house and John found a way to make it happen. an amplifier and other equipment. The signal Collaborating with his brother, Tom, and was carried by large coaxial cable down to investors George Rock and Ben Stapleton, Jr., Florida Road and into Durango where it was he would bring cable television to Durango. distributed to subscribers. Amplifiers were Television was one of the great technological spaced along the route to maintain signal innovations of the 20th century. The first strength. practical televisions dated back to the 1920s, Meanwhile, Durango native V.J. Headrick but TV sets and programs did not come into was discharged from the navy in January 1955 wide usage until after World War II. and was looking for a job. A navy-trained Early television programs were broadcast electronics technician, he was hired to service over the air by stations in larger cities using very and maintain the new cable TV company’s high radio frequencies. People with antennas in electrical equipment. He would stay with the nearby areas could usually get good reception. company off and on for the next 19 years. Rural areas remote from TV stations could Headrick’s friend, Max Gomez, became the rarely get a signal at all. chief installer. At first, cable installations were Cable television first became available in the expensive – around $200 per residence. The United States in 1948 in Pennsylvania. In its company’s investors needed to recoup their up- first 24 years, cable television was used almost front investment, so only the well-to-do could exclusively to relay over-the-air commercial TV afford a TV hookup initially. Before long the channels to remote and inaccessible areas, as cable network extended to most parts of town well as non-remote mountainous areas where and even up the east side of the Animas Valley. reception was poor. Early operations were pretty informal. Much The Morrissey brothers, Rock and Stapleton of the electrical equipment in town was located had something in common – they were all active in Morrissey’s back yard at the family home on in the Colorado Democratic Party. Stapleton Riverview, so V.J. Headrick got to know the was the son of the legendary Denver mayor, four Morrissey children well. Mary [Morrissey] and Rock had banking interests in Denver. Tom Thompson remembers that people used to Morrissey, an electrical engineer, understood call their house when the power went out, the technology and was the “brains” behind wondering why their TV wouldn’t work! setting up the cable TV system in Durango. Charles DiFerdinando remembers that John The Morrissey brothers came to Durango in Morrissey convinced his father and uncle, Sam 1954 to find a good antenna location and begin and Fred DiFerdinando, to keep a television in setting things up. Initially, they would have to the office/waiting room of their taxi company. The McKenzie family on 3rd Avenue had one of the first televisions in Durango. It is pictured to the right of Julie get signals from Albuquerque – Denver was out The taxi dispatcher, who was on duty during McKenzie in this photo from the early to mid 1950’s. Julie recalls there was quite a crowd around the t.v. when of the question. The Albuquerque transmitters television programming hours, could call Elvis appreared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Photo courtesy of Kathy McKenzie were high up on Sandia Peak, and they found Morrissey if there were reception problems. As that an antenna location on the south end of a side benefit, customers could watch TV while offered only one channel – Albuquerque’s nation-wide changes in policies regarding Missionary Ridge could receive signals “relayed” waiting for a taxi, and it was good advertising KOB channel 4 [NBC]. Soon, they installed cable TV were instituted. The local Junior from an antenna on Huerfano Mountain about for Morrissey’s company. new strip amplifiers for Albuquerque channel Chamber of Commerce installed a translator half way between Albuquerque and Durango. Durango Television Network originally 2 [KOAT – ABC] and channel 6 [KGGM - on Missionary Ridge in the 1960s that made CBS]. By 1960, KNME, the Albuquerque PBS television reception via antennas possible in station was added to the lineup. Only channels rural areas outside of Durango. 2 through 6, all “low band” VHF channels, On March 12, 1973, John Morrissey died could be transmitted until later in the 1960s during heart surgery in Denver at the age of when new amplifiers made channels 7 – 13 59. Morrissey was active in many community possible. organizations, and as a Democratic Party Baby boomers who grew up in Durango stalwart, helped bring John F. Kennedy remember KOB’s “Dick Bills Show” in the to Durango during the 1960 presidential afternoons, which featured Roy Rogers and campaign. Fittingly, he was honored by both Gene Autry westerns, as well as “The Little the National and Rocky Mountain Cable Rascals” movies. Television Associations as a cable television The 1960s and 1970s brought many changes pioneer. to local television – transistors replaced tube Robert McDaniel is a fourth-generation native amplifiers, additional channels were added, of Durango whose ancestors included miners, color television became widely available and farmers, and a water attorney. A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society HISTORY LA PLATA 15 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii

The COUNTY GROWS ~ COMMUNICATION EXPANDS KDUR SETS THE TONE ON CAMPUS by Evan West

n the history of radio 1961 was a only once weekly, on a Wednesday evening of the same year KDUR officially absorbed radio style in 1976, KDUR’s DJs have pivotal year. Against all odds radio had program. all KFLC operations. The newly born station created their own programming, and today overcomeI the emergence of television, and the It would take 10 years for students and broadcast only two miles in its first year, barely students earn English practicum credit for loss of actors, managers, and technicians to administrators to reconsider radio at Fort enough distance to reach all of the Fort Lewis writing and engineering their broadcasts. Fort Hollywood. Twelve million radios continued Lewis College. In 1972, then President campus. On its second anniversary an antenna Lewis College alumni remember KDUR to be sold each year, and thanks to the invention Rexer Berndt approved the creation of a new was installed on the roof of the Student Union, as providing public radio options outside of of the transistor, over 9 million cars cruised the radio station, and once again the student extending KDUR’s range to downtown country music in the 1970s, but since that roads equipped with radio technology. government provided the necessary funding, Durango and parts of La Plata County. time the benefits of KDUR to citizens of the Five years earlier, Fort Lewis College had $6,500. KDUR’s range would remain limited to Durango and four corners area have grown relocated to Durango from its Hesperus Although the FCC granted the new the immediate Durango area until its 35th significantly. Community service programs campus. In town, students could listen to the station its first license in 1975, it would take anniversary in 2010, when the FCC approved include carpool information shared daily, and hits of Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra on more time for the station to return to its the instillation of a 6,000-watt antenna on in addition to traditional weather reports, radios the size of their hands, but only one earlier, short-lived glory. In its first months Rim Drive that today catapults the KDUR updates on the conditions of hiking and bicycle local radio station, KIUP, broadcast weekly the station broadcast only through a public signal as far away as Aztec, New Mexico, and trails countywide. Volunteer DJs at KDUR are updates on events at the college. In 1958 address system in the Student Union building. Pagosa Springs, Colorado. The station no recruited from not only Fort Lewis College, the students capitalized on the growing fad, Tim Weisberg’s “Because of Rain” became longer signs off at midnight, and listeners can but also Durango and the surrounding forming what came to be known as the FLC the first song played over the new stations tune in to 91.9, or 93.9 FM, and kdur.org 24 areas. Ranging in age from 16 to 60, their radio club. For three years the students hosted airwaves in May 1975, as chosen by its first hours a day. programming creates essential connections a twice-monthly program on KIUP. In 1961, station manager Jim Vlasich. In December Since the station adopted a free format between the often-isolated college and its host the club secured a $220 communities. grant from the Fort Lewis In 2011 KDUR relocated Student senate to establish to the state-of-the-art an on-campus station. Ballantine Media Center The new station was in the recently renovated built in a back room of Student Union. The radio the recently constructed station’s new home boasts Student Union Lounge, sound studios, advanced and operated with the call computer broadcasting sign KFLC when it went systems, and ample room on the air in May of 1961. to accommodate future By the end of its first month growth and expansion, such KFLC had logged over 400 as the proposed creation of broadcasting hours, with a digital media major. programming from 6 AM With as many as twelve to 1 AM daily. programs daily ranging In 1962 the popularity from Teen Talk, and This of the station temporarily Ain’t No Disco, to Pacifica faltered. The student news Radio’s Democracy Now, magazine the Independent campus radio at Fort Lewis announced that the College continues to be radio station would be as innovative today as its temporarily abandoned concept first was over thirty due to falling student five years ago. participation. Following the path of perseverance by radio stations everywhere, Evan West is a sophomore the few remaining club U.S. History major at Fort members returned to KIUP. Lewis College, focusing on Fort Lewis programming From the 1949 edition of the Collegian, the Fort Lewis Dramatics Club Broadcasts the play “The Way of the Shawn” on the KIUP airwaves Photo public history. This is his first courtesy Animas Museum Photo Archives once again appeared article for History La Plata. A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society History La Plata 16 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii

COMMUNICATION IS PERSONAL PRESERVING FAMILY LETTERS, AN ALMOST EXTINCT MEDIUM by Jan Postler n this day of instant communication The most damage to personal collections storage. Ink fades and paper darkens from Ithrough electronic media and digital comes from improper handling. Letters that have exposure to light. The acid in wooden picture A Letter From Vietnam technology, the handwritten or printed letter been often read and shared are contaminated by frames, trunks, drawers and boxes deteriorates on paper is becoming increasingly rare. Email acidic, oily fingerprints and torn from being paper. Harmful insects and mold thrive in damp This letter was handwritten by David and cell phone technology makes writing and unfolded and refolded many times. basements and closets with poor air circulation. M. Buchanan to his family in Durango. mailing letters largely unnecessary. Someday If it is necessary to mark a brief identification Paper becomes brittle in hot, dry attics where Buchanan was Staff Sergeant (S-5) at there may be little in the way of letters left note on the letter, use a number two pencil with insects, birds, bats and rodents add to the Pleiku Air Force Base in Vietnam. He from this era to preserve people’s thoughts and rounded tip, never ink. Avoid sticky notes, tape, damage. served as chapel manager and bodyguard experiences. paper clips and staples. Letters can be preserved by being stored away for the chaplains, who did not carry or Does your family have letters and postcards Another cause of deterioration is improper from light, open and flat, in special folders and use weapons. Buchanan is Curator of that have been handed down for generations? boxes that are acid-free and lignin-free. Boxes Decorative Objects and Furniture at the The Animas Museum holds several hundred should be placed on shelves at least four inches Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites. letters and even more postcards in its Permanent off of the floor and two feet below the ceiling. Collections. The stories they tell range from the A collection of letters may be slipped 266/0 mundane to the sublime, revealing the ebb and into individual transparent polyethylene or 21 Sept 71 flow of everyday life and special occasions. polypropylene sleeves and grouped in binders or Letters are personal expressions that go deeper mounted in albums of archival quality. Protect Hi All, than the facts. They express the emotions and them from dust in binders with slipcovers, or values of the writer, reactions to and thoughts albums in boxes. These preservation-quality We had something unusual today. Two about life’s experiences. Handwriting, or writing items (made of acid-free materials and inert rocket attacks in broad daylight. Neither style in typed form, can reveal aspects of one’s glues) are available from archival suppliers. of them were closer than ½ a mile to us. personality. Individual letters that are viewed often may However one killed an army guy and What was it like for a miner stranded in be protected from handling by encapsulating wounded four other guys. What gets me Silverton over a long winter and his young wife, between clear sheets of archival polyester. is there was absolutely no use for it. The living in Durango, who became ill? What does Double-sided tape holds two polyester sheets whole thing is idiotic! a soldier in a distant land reveal to his mother together, with a margin around the letter and ...If you send some games send some about the dangers he faces? How does a shy gaps at corners to allow the enclosure to breathe. that take a few players. Gwen sent me young man find the courage to ask his future Do not shrink-wrap. a couple of crossword puzzles and I wife to the dance on Saturday night? Letters Displayed letters can be framed by a trusted have several different types of “solitare” written by these people give us a glimpse into framer, using archival materials including games. But the only other game I have is their hearts and minds. ultraviolet-filtered glass, acid-free mat and an Monopoly and Checkers. So if you send David Buchanan’s letters from Vietnam to inert frame. Wood frames must not come into some games I’d want ones that others can his family, preserved in the museum collections, direct contact with the letter, and the paper play too. Last night I was going to go to chronicle a serviceman’s reaction to war and backing should be acid-free and durable. A two- bed early but ended up with some guys hometown news. The Vietnam Conflict was the sided letter may be mounted with clear polyester talking about ghosts and UFOs. I didn’t last war fought by the U.S. without corners onto an archival support get to bed until 11:00. And I was tired this such digital communication for display, sandwiched between morning. technology as email, Skype and two sheets of ultraviolet-filtered How about sending me some pictures social networking. What kinds of glass or Plexiglas. of you two? And some of GM and GD personal accounts of significant Your family letters can [Grandmother and Granddad Harris]. events will we have to show future be both preserved and enjoyed And Effie [Evelyn Eldredge, honorary generations? It is well to consider using these techniques. For more aunt]? letter writing as an art worth information and names of archival The number in the left-hand corner saving. suppliers, contact the Animas means “How many days to go / number How do we best preserve letters Museum. of days since the last rocket attack.” on paper that have survived from Here’s a P.S. We just had our 3rd rocket the past? The original letter can Jan Postler has managed the attack of the day. Looks like it will be a be protected by careful handling artifact and archive collections at the long day and longer night. If something and storage. In addition, scanning Animas Museum for sixteen years. happens remember I love you all. provides a digital backup and Trained in collections management means of duplication for family This leather postcard brought greetings from Durango on January, 21, 1907. at the Smithsonian Institution, she D. members without exposing the It was sent to Denver, with a one cent stamp. Treasured mementos such as this has served museums in Tennessee, original to damaging light and can provide future generations a glimpse into an era. It is Critical that they are Montana and Colorado for 38 years. handling. properly stored. Courtesy of La Plata County Historical Society

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COMMUNICATION IS PERSONAL THE RISE AND FALL OF THE POSTAL SERVICE IN WESTERN LA PLATA COUNTY by Jean Campion he first post office in western La Plata postmistress for the post office located south of board mounted on posts to serve as mail boxes Hanna was the postmistress 1906-1917. She TCounty was built in 1874 in Parrott City the original school buildings. It was named the for outlying residents. The mail was carried from suggested the name change to Redmesa which at the mouth of La Plata Canyon as part of the Breen Post Office. Later it was moved further Breen on horseback. Area residents still refer to the government accepted. The post office moved establishment of that townsite, the first in the south to the Aspaas home, and Annette Aspaas that intersection as Tin Can Corner although all to several different locations after that and county. There was no mail service yet, however, became postmistress in 1907. She served until evidence of the cans is gone. discontinued in the mid-1950s. and none there in the winter for several years. 1921 when Knute Johnson took over. In the Later the Kline post office was moved to Today only Hesperus and Marvel post offices But by 1881 that post office served about 500 early 1930s, the Breen Mercantile was built and Hanford Miller’s store southeast of the old remain. Marvel is currently threatened with residents, mostly miners. the post office moved there. This one closed in Mormon Church. The town of Marvel didn’t closure due to the financial struggles of the A post office was also established at the Fort 1954. exist yet. After it was established, the Millers United States Postal Service. The Hesperus post Lewis Military Post in October of 1880. After A small settlement in Barnes Canyon in the bought land and moved their store (and the office is the distribution center for the residents 1881, mail came on the train to Durango and Hay Gulch area called Content also had a post post office) across from the Marvel school. It of western La Plata County. Marvel serves those then on to the fort weekly by oxen, horse, or office for about ten years beginning in 1901. The continued to be known as the Kline Post Office, in the area who have post office boxes there mule teams through Wildcat Canyon. Delivery mail was carried from Hesperus on horseback by however, because postal authorities were worried and those who mail letters and packages, buy was erratic, though, due to poor roads and bad the postmaster or -mistress. (There were three Marvel was too close in spelling to Marble, stamps, and use other services offered by a small weather. women and two men who held that position which was another town in Colorado. When country post office. It is a gathering place for Marble ceased to have a post office, Lawrence local residents to visit with one another, buy a Miller, then postmaster, petitioned to have the newspaper, and enjoy a slower-paced way of life name changed, and Marvel Post Office became that is quickly vanishing. Like Tin Can Corner, official on April 1, 1953. one day we may talk about the Marvel post office Redmesa was also established largely by without any visible clues left of its existence. Mormon settlers. They originally named the town Garland, but postal authorities didn’t like Jean Campion is a local author and historian. Her that, either, because there was already a Fort published works include historical novels about Garland in the state. The first post office was southwestern La Plata County: Minta Forever and in the home of Frank Greer, and his mother Return to Rockytop.

Ray and Effie Miller (on left) at the original location of the Miller Store and Post office, southeast of the old Morman Church ca. 1930. Photo courtesy of Russell Kennedy

When the Rio Grande Southern Railroad over the years.) One local story is that the reached Hesperus in 1891, a post office was postmistress was riding along with the mail one established in the home of Daniel Bailey about day when she came upon a lone man riding his 3/4 mile north of Hesperus. In 1903 the post horse. She stopped to chat with him, wondering office moved to a store in Hesperus where it what a stranger was doing so far off the beaten remained until 1962 when a new building was path. Turns out his name was Zane Grey, and built at the present location. One of the early anyone who has read his western novels might mail carriers, Don Demarest, tells of driving understand where he got some of his settings. as far as possible up La Plata Canyon, usually Years later Louis L’Amour would buy property in to Mayday, in the winter and then putting on the area and set many of his westerns here, too. his snowshoes to continue his route. He would Another post office came into being when snowshoe up to ten miles one way, sometimes “the Ute strip” was opened for settlement in with a mountain lion following him, to deliver 1899 and a small Mormon colony named Kline the mail to isolated miners. began about seven miles southwest of Fort Lewis. Meanwhile, the Old Fort had been turned The post office was opened in 1904 south of Tin into an Indian School and Superintendent Can Corner (County Roads 128 and 129), so Thomas Breen’s wife, Bessie, was appointed named because tin lard buckets were nailed to a A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society History La Plata 18 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii

COMMUNICATION IS PERSONAL A PIECE OF HISTORY: Communicating Through Quilts by Brianna McCormick uilts, thought of first as protection away from the darker prints that were popular names grace the quilt’s surface are mentioned Qfrom cold, are often works of art, in the previous century. During the depression in connection with a monthly “Ladies Society communicating themes, feelings and beliefs era, quilting was one hobby women could feel Club.” This club was hosted by a different designated by the maker. As quilting is good about. It encouraged socialization and member each month and was involved with traditionally a craft practiced by women, the the production of family goods. Most of the local charity fundraising. Newspapers of the age communication tends to be subtle, though women who quilted during this time learned also tell us that a sewing circle was a part of their when your eyes become attuned, the subtleties their skill in the Victorian Age and incorporated monthly meetings. Could this quilt have been are clear. fancy stitching into their work. The Day quilt one of the fundraisers organized by the group? The Animas Museum’s Victoria Day quilt takes advantage of these skills by including The Day quilt clearly communicates many speaks volumes about the time it was made embroidered names and dates. things to those who are looking, including who and the feelings and ideas of the group who The Day quilt is a signature quilt, meaning made the quilt, when it was pieced, where the constructed it. This 1930s era quilt was created that the top is decorated with names and group assembled it and perhaps what its purpose in part by longtime Durango resident Victoria sometimes dates. Signature quilts first became was. We also see the character of these women Day, wife of newspaper magnate and Civil popular with the invention of indelible inks through their association with this charitable War hero David Day. Mrs. Day moved from in the 1840s and remain popular today. These club, the fabrics they used and the way in which Ouray to Durango in 1892 with her children, quilts are generally made as a keepsake item, not each signed her name. Looking at the quilt, we husband and Mr. Day’s controversial newspaper, to be used every day. They are most often made can see it is the product of a community minded The Solid Muldoon. Though the first few years to celebrate the friendship of the signers who group of women who came from all walks of life of their life in Durango where at times sad for may even leave thoughts for the recipient, such and worked together to make a difference in the Victoria Sophia Folck Day, moved to her Durango home Victoria Day, she came to love her new home as “remember me.” They are also often used as lives of the residents of La Plata County. above the Animas River with her husband, newspaper- and the friends she made while living in La Plata a fundraising tool; a group makes a quilt, sells man David Day in 1892. Mr. Day communicated through County. signatures or seeks signatures of “celebrities” and his newspapers, The Solid Muldoon and then later the Mrs. Day’s quilt gives the viewer a snapshot auctions the completed quilt to support a group Brianna McCormick has degrees in art history Durango Democrat. Mrs. Day created quilts, such as the of Durango society in the late 1930s. It is made or cause. and textiles from the Massachusetts College of Art signature quilt in the Animas Museum’s permanent col- from bright printed fabric, iconic of the age. It is not known why this quilt was made. and Design. She is the museum assistant at the lection. Photo courtesy of Center of Southwest Studies, The Great Depression brought a great change However the quilt itself gives many clues to its Animas Museum. Fort Lewis College. in American fabric preferences: people turned origin and purpose. Many of the women whose

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Barbara and Greg Martin James & Bernice Bowra Mary O’Donnell Beth & Allan Green Jeanne Parks Megan Reid Bruce Spining Jeff Johnson Merl E. Short Caroline & Clark Kinser Jennifer Stollman & Penny Adam Nancy and Derrill Macho Carroll & Maxine Peterson Jerry & Karen Zink Robert McDaniel & Jill Seyfarth Chuck & Janet Williams Jim Duresky Insurance Roger & Shirley Buslee Colorado Land and Title Joe & Brianna McCormick Ruth Lambert Dan’s Lock and Key & Griego Vacuum Karen & Dennis Young Scott Fetchenhier Diane L. Skinner Kathy McKenzie Suzanne Parker Don & Sandy Olbert Kathy Szelag Thomas N. Westervelt Duane & Gay Smith Larry & Billie Gardner Victorian Aid Society Durango Heritage Celebration Les Goldman Virgil & Maxine Headrick Durango Sewing Center Liqour World William & Tuula Bader Gary & Kathy Gibson Marie Roessler William and Annette Ramaley George Hozier Marilee White Yvonne Lashmett In memory of Betty Francis Marilyn & Ralph Barnhart

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COMMUNITY HERITAGE AWARDS Communinty Heritage Awards TRANSFORMING ~ IT’S ALL ABOUT MAKING CHANGES The Story of How La Plata Electric Transformed Our Community by Bruce Spinning n almost any city street or country national response to the economic crisis of Olane anywhere in the United States, the Great Depression, which had much in you can find a utility pole with some “can- common with today’s economic challenges. like” things suspended from it. These are The National Recovery Administration of electrical transformers—specialized coils the 1930s envisioned a system that would of wire and metal designed to increase take electrical power made possible by or decrease electrical voltages based on a host of public works projects like the the needs of the energy users. These Tennessee Valley Authority and the Hoover transformers are a bit like history. How so, Dam and deliver it to remote and rural you may ask? regions. As part of the recovery efforts, a Well, transformers change things and Rural Electrification Administration was history is all about change. If nothing created to help get power to people who changed, there would be no history. History had never had it. is about documenting and tracing changes City people had enjoyed the benefits of over time. electricity well before the Great Depression The crowd at 2011 Community Heritage Awards, honoring those who have contributed to LPEA is this year’s choice for our began. But people in rural places, with preserving local history. Courtesy Kathy Myrick Photography Community Heritage Award because few their dispersed populations and long “Come an’ git it!” will be the communication her a newcomer, Deb’s 36 years in the area changes in the world have had more impact distances, never imagined that the wizardry of the moment on Friday, May 25th. The working at the Durango Herald, Fort Lewis here than the harnessing and arrival of of inventors like Edison and Tesla would Bar-D Chuckwagon will again be the site of College and School District 9-R give her an electricity for everyday use by everyday ever reach them. The kerosene lantern or the Community Heritage Awards, honoring insight that is sure to lead to an enjoyable people. For rural residents of La Plata candle were still the norm for most farm Fred and Diane Wildfang and LPEA for evening. A special performance by the Bar-D County in 1939, this transformation was folk in the 1920s. The best they had was a their contributions to the heritage of La Plata Wranglers will cap off the festivities. Tickets nothing short of stunning. The formation battery-powered radio set that, because of County. Tickets are still available for this festive are $40 each or you may wish to gather a group of the La Plata Electric Rural Electric short battery life, they could only listen to event, the first chance of and purchase a table. Association Cooperative signaled the start for short periods. the season to enjoy the Center tables seating 12 of an area-wide transformation that is LPEA paved the way for people to get Bar-D’s cowboy cuisine. are $480; outer tables continuing today and will continue into the more than just lights and appliances like Gates will open at 5:30 seating 10 are $400. distant future. refrigerators and toasters. It provided things to allow plenty of time Proceeds benefit the La Rural electric associations were part of a like electric pumps to power irrigation to browse in the shops or Plata County Historical ride the Bar-D train. We Society and the Animas have heard the rumor that Museum. Individual there may be desperados and table reservations lurking in the pines, to may be made by calling relieve guests of some 970-259-2402, on-line of their cash. Luckily at www.animasmuseum. for the La Plata County org. or at the Animas Historical Society, this Museum, 3065 W. crime does pay and the 2nd Ave. Reservation loot will benefit the deadline is Tuesday, May LPCHS. Folks will want 15. Special thanks to our to be in the dining area Pies ready for the auction block. sponsors: the Durango Spirited bidding on tasty treats at 6:00 when the first pie benefits the La Plata County Historical Herald, Durango goes on the auction block. Society. La Plata County Historical Society and Silverton Narrow Cal Story, of Treasure Gauge Railroad, First Auction will try to control the crowd of spirited National Bank of Durango, La Plata Electric bidders, vying for ownership of some of the Association, Maynes, Bradford, Shipps and finest pies ever baked in the county. Dinner Sheftel LLP, Southwest Colorado Federal will be served promptly at 7:30 followed by Credit Union, the Strater Hotel and the This 1892 Durango Light Company bill reflects a charge for the number of lights they had installed in the house. For a $7.00 base charge and a $0.75 per lamp fee for two lamps, this consumer paid an the presentation of awards with emcee Deb Women’s Resource Center. electric bill of $8.50. Courtesy of La Plata Electric Association Uroda. Even though her husband considers

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COMMUNITY HERITAGE AWARDS

systems and gave people access to new equipment stipulated that these electrical cooperatives could like electrically-powered hoists to lift heavy loads. distribute power to their members, but they were Today’s natural gas wells, which are an integral not allowed to generate it. REAs were required to part of the area’s economic wealth, are all made purchase their power from commercial utilities, feasible by the electric pumps that help transport which owned power generating stations. In the gas. our area, this was the Western Colorado Power Over a two-year period of canvassing, educating, Company. The costs were high, but almost as soon planning, and organizing, the La Plata Electric as it got going, the demand was high as well. Association, Inc. (LPEA) was incorporated on Even in the early years of electrifying the area, August 5, 1939. A loan was obtained to construct the local utility systems were not producing 188 miles of power lines to serve 350 people. Each enough power to meet demand. Since in some member was required to purchase a share of stock important ways the REAs were in competition in the cooperative for $5.00, which was the total with the commercial utilities, generating firms like Western made it standard practice to cut off cost to each member to receive service. Under the the LPEA lines if the demand exceeded what they REA rules, “Co-Ops” like LPEA made every rate- could supply. Without warning, LPEA subscribers paying member an owner in the enterprise. would find themselves literally “in the dark.” The question facing the start-up LPEA system Across the area, every REA was experiencing was whether this kind of business model would be the same frustrations, and none of them liked sustainable in the face of multiple challenges that it. As a group they felt stymied by a system of often don’t fit the model of a utility as a business. regulations they believed was wrong. So almost all It took some significant courage to energize the of the regional REAs joined together and formed company’s lines on February 1, 1941, with 157 a “paper” company called Colorado-Ute Power. customers receiving electric power at that time. Leveraging their collective credit, they borrowed The first annual meeting of the members was held money and found a location near the town of September 2, 1941. A crew raises an electrical pole by hand in this undated photo from the archives Nucla, Colorado, where they built their own of the La Plata Electric Association. Courtesy of LPEA A key part of the REA system structure generating plant. LPEA Continued on page 22

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Community heritage awards LPEA Continued from page 21 farmer would come into the office and Of course, both the government “settle up,” paying last year’s electric bill DIANE AND FRED WILDFANG: regulators and the area commercial out of this year’s crop money. For a good generating firms cried “foul” and objected many years, this meant LPEA had some Visionaries of Second Avenue to the area REAs end-running the system. significant imbalances on its balance sheet. by Marilee Jantzer White But the REA group was able to show the But just as the federal power rules had hat began with the purchase and Let’s step back for a moment to Second regulators that without a dedicated source limited REAs to distributing power, they makeover of the Leland House by Avenue and 1992, and the changes initiated of power, they would have to forever endure also required the generation companies to W Diane Wildfang quickly gave birth to a vision, by the Wildfangs, the recipients of the La constant interruptions to their service. As have enough in-system resources to provide to renovate Second Avenue. Transplants from Plata County Historical Society’s Heritage is usual in these kinds of controversies, a for the needs of their customers. That was a compromise was reached. The Western crisis for the old Western system. So in the California, the Wildfangs brought with Award for 2012. Colorado Power Company took over early 1970s, the Western system was sold – them to Durango Diane’s experience in real While the Wildfangs’ search for a place to operation of the Nucla Plant and the REAs but not wholesale. estate development and Fred’s expertise in retire may have begun in Whitefish, Montana, got to keep their ownership of the plant The Colorado-Ute corporation that marketing and advertising, and his passion it ended in Durango. On their arrival in 1992, and the power. had been REA-created to build Nucla for history. the plight of Second Avenue and its urgent The Nucla Plant represented yet another purchased the old Western power plants, big transformation in the story of electricity and local REAs like LPEA bought out the in our area and in the status of REAs in distribution systems. America. These area REAs had managed to This was yet another giant transformation gain credibility as real utility systems with for LPEA. All at once, an REA utility that vested value in both the marketplace and in had been created to serve rural customers the industry. suddenly faced delivering power to This also meant they needed to operate multiple urban locales like Durango. This less like a “Mom-and-Pop” store and change brought the utility forward into more like an important enterprise. Early being a fully diversified, electrical system. on, electrical utilities didn’t have meters. This included providing electricity for Instead people got charged for the number everything from a full scale ski resort at of lights they had installed in the house. Purgatory to the area’s hospital and even to But that kind of billing program would a growing state college. not be economically sustainable, so in a The little cooperative formed in 1939 had few short years, meters were installed and been transformed in unexpected ways. Not people began paying for the amount of even the national visionaries who conceived electricity they used. the REA system would have anticipated In those early times, traveling throughout that it would become the kind of system the entire county to read each person’s represented by the evolving LPEA. Besides meter was not feasible. Even if the roads the expanded customer base and profile, had existed to get the meter readers out LPEA absorbed a large segment of the old there, reliable transportation was an issue. Western workforce, and the work-styles Visiting every meter in such a widely and cultural differences were new kinds of dispersed area was no simple task. challenges in and of themselves. So LPEA came up with a solution. What emerged from that time is an entity Each month, the utility sent members a that has understood – possibly better than self-meter-reading card. Using a “copy any organization in the area – that change your dial” approach, members copied the and evolution are the real constants. It is locations of the “hands” on their meters nearly impossible to say what comes next in and then mailed their self-readings back to the electrical utility arena, but what began LPEA. Based on those cards, LPEA issued as a cooperative of a few farmers, has shown monthly bills – which seldom got paid each that an REA with LPEA’s history is likely to month. endure and even prosper for the benefit of People in rural areas had both land and the communities it serves – no matter how goods, but most lacked cash. As a result, much things get transformed. until the farmers and ranchers sold their crops or animals in the fall, they had little Bruce Spinning’s family were Florida Mesa or no money to pay the electric bill. LPEA pioneers. He is a member of the La Plata County Historical Society board of directors. “carried” most of them until about October Fred Wildfang (standing), Diane Wildfang, and her son Kirk Komick. Photo courtesy of the Wildfang family of each year, at which time the rancher/ A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society HISTORY LA PLATA 23 May 6, 2012 Vol. xviii need for renovation quickly replaced their As Diane notes, with work completed on looked to the San Juan Basin frequently Apparently the Society deemed it not worth earlier goal of retirement. At the time, Second the Leland House, it was difficult to ignore the during the 1950s as they renewed their the effort. Cypress Cafe and its next door Avenue was home to car dealerships such as “flophouse” across the street. Constructed in infatuation with the Western genre film. neighbor, Eno’s Wine Bar, another restoration Pat Murphy Motors, built in the 1920s by P. 1892, the Rochester Hotel, originally known Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and 20th project tackled by Diane, are the result of their W. Pittman, where Steamworks now resides, as the Peeples Hotel, held 30 rooms with Century Fox all capitalized on the spectacular efforts. and Pat Murphy’s garage, now the location of just two bathrooms and had fallen on hard landscapes and stereotypical scenery required With this issue, History La Plata has the Durango Arts Center. Within five months times. Diane and Kirk Komick purchased the for the Western film. travelled full circle, from idea to realization, they had secured a bank loan and purchased Rochester, retaining, as Fred notes, “the original Today to step into the Rochester Hotel is and now returns to the idea itself. In 1995 at five properties on Second Avenue, including interior trim, hardware, doors, and windows.” to step back in time to the “Hollywood of a LPCHS board meeting Fred proposed the Leland House. The Wildfangs helped the Diane endeavored to salvage everything the Rockies.” After scouring local archival publication of a supplement to focus on local tenants relocate and Diane and her son and possible. Now downsized to 15 rooms, each records, Fred collected advertising posters history and then volunteered his services as daughter Kirk and Cara Komick began the six- with a bathroom, even those extra doors were from the many Hollywood films that are editor for the publication. Although the title month renovation of Leland House, the first enlisted, and now serve as headboards in many part of Durango’s history. Following the has been changed in recognition of the area step in a creative journey. P.W. Pittman built bedrooms. Significant structural issues were completion of the Rochester’s historically served, it is to Fred and his vision that we owe this historical landmark in 1927 and operated addressed and the courtyard was cleared of its accurate renovations and three additional years the founding of this publication. it as an apartment house for 22 years. And, in debris, testimony to years of occupation by of complying with regulations, Fred succeeded For their efforts on behalf of our this case walls can speak. transient roomers. But it was a quest for the in having the Rochester placed on the National community, their preservation of local history Fred Wildfang has transformed its interior spirit, the soul of the Rochester that attracted Register of Historic Places. and for their transformative vision the LPCHS into a walk through history: each of its 10 the poet in Fred. Meanwhile Diane and Kirk were once again awards Diane and Fred Wildfang the annual rooms bears the name of a prominent figure A published author and poet, one of the hard at work, this time using private funds Community Heritage Award. who at one time lived on or had a close founders of the Western Film Festival and to restore the frame Victorian house built in association with the property. Fred’s research one of the prime movers of the Durango 1890 by T.C. Graden. Then known as Lola’s yielded the vintage photographs and texts Independent Film festival, Fred once again Place, it is now renamed the Cypress Cafe. The Marilee Jantzer White serves on the La Plata which line the walls and offer us an invaluable turned researcher. This time, he focused on State Historical Society had rejected Diane’s County Historical Society Board of Directors. glimpse into Durango’s past. movies. Hollywood production companies and Kirk’s request for funds for its renovation.

Groucho Marx Joins La Plata County Historical Society as Newest Member!

OK, so you got us. Groucho Marx has been dead for over 30 years, so he did not recently become our newest member. Too bad, because his sentiments on joining most any group are well known: “I don’t care to belong to [any organization] that accepts people like me as members.”

Groucho was misguided. The good folks at the La Plata County Historical Society would have welcomed people like him, (and Chico, Harpo and Zeppo too). The members of LPCHS are a diverse lot. Some are descended from area pioneers and some have just moved to the area. All are interested in learning more about the history and culture of the area, and preserving that past for future generations. An exhaustive search of the membership data base does, however, reveal a shocking lack of legendary comedians among the members.

But that does not mean we are lacking in fun. Members are among the lucky few who are able to enter the Animas Museum for free; get invited to the most exclusive and fancy museum events and activities; receive the LPCHS newsletter; get discounts in the museum store; and generally get to associate with people who share your love of history. If we were you (and we are), we would complete the membership form provided here or call the museum directly at 970.259.2402 and reserve your membership today. If you’re in an all-fired hurry, (and we hope you are,) you can also join by going to our website: www. animasmuseum.org. You could be joining the ranks of the soon-to-be-[in]famous!! *Answer to Morse Code headline on page 11 is “History is Fun” headline on page 11 is Morse Code to *Answer A Publication of the la plata County historIcal society