Walsenburg
1881: Dr. A.H. Eddy offers for sale 24 volumes of medical works printed in German or in trade for medical works in English. 1886: Telesforo Garcia, county assessor, was lost in a snowstorm for five hours while travelling from Precinct No. 9, Apache, to Butte Valley. 1893: Capillary bronchitis has been determined to be what caused the deaths of several dozen children this winter. 1900: Sisters and brother Mrs. Antoine La Brie, Mrs. S.J. Capps, Mrs. I.H. Lewis and George Strange have left for Dodge City, Kansas for their parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. 1906: W.N. Wycoff rented his house to Mr. and Mrs. Lee Fawks and while Mr. Wycoff spends a few months loafing, Mr. Fawks will conduct his drug business. 1911: Died, Jean George, of pneumonia. He was one of the oldest settlers of the community of Cucharas, having settled east of Walsenburg in 1879. He leaves his wife, daughter Mrs. Joseph Ohrel and son August. 1917: “Spelling is almost a lost art”, says Mrs. Martha Thorne, county school superintendent. 1923: The new school house at Cameron camp stands in a beautiful spot on an elevation just across the street south of the clubhouse 1928: The Ideal and Robinson No. 2 mines will close Saturday, leaving about 300 men unemployed. The Colorado Fuel and Iron still has five mines currently operating in Huerfano County. 1934: Edith DeWitt, Helen Hutman, Irene Cordova and Fred Williams were injured when their school bus was hit by a truck and overturned. 1939: Heavy snow in the forest regions northwest of Walsenburg is proving a hindrance to cutting timber for use in county bridge construction. 1944: The Shosky Café team defeated the Trinidad Prisoner of War Camp officers 48-46 to become Southern Colorado A.A.U. basketball champions. 1949: The fourth Talent Quest this weekend will feature the DeHerrera Brothers, 20 and 16 years old, with song, guitar and violin, Ruben Jaramillo, 24, on the mouth harp, and Lillian Lewis, 21, a singer and whistler. 1956: Some 100 cases of measles and 50 to 60 cases of chicken pox have been reported among Walsenburg small-fry. 1961: The gas war in Walsenburg is apparently over, and prices are back up to 34.9 cents a gallon from a low of 22.9 cents. 1967: At the first annual Agri-Business Awards Dinner, Joe C. Corsentino was named Huerfano County’s nominee for the State Outstanding Young Farmer award. 1973: Tanya Hudson as the Fairy Godmother and Sherri Bevsek as Cinderella are among 14 Walsenburg High School girls who will present a one-act farce in Washington School Auditorium. 1978: Special in March at Pizza Hut is the Sandwich of the Day, Salad and Beverage, $1.69. 1985: Jill Sudar will open a new ladies wear shop in a 900 square foot building of her father George Amedei next to his drive in café north of Walsenburg and it will be called Neesha’s Clothing. 1991: Named to the Santa Fe League All-Conference basketball team at John Mall High School were Mike Maes, Mike Medina, Anthony Ruiz and Kelly Weeks the for boys and Gabi Sandoval, Teri King and Tracey Lenzotti for the girls.
La Veta
1877: The nuptial knot was tied between Mr. “Jack” Wells and Miss Jennie Wyman last evening by Judge Toffelmire. Stokes, of Stokesville, gracefully acted as best man, and this morning was doing as well as could be expected. The bride and bridegroom left by coach south this morning, and with the warm congratulations of their many friends. 1882: M.T. Hills has suggested a name for the settlement on the Upper Cucharas. It is the name of his former home in New York once inhabited by Seneca and Tuscarora and meaning “potato”. The settlers there dropped the middle syllable so Nunda, accent on the last syllable, would be appropriate for our community where at present our main crop is potatoes. 1889: The congregation of the Baptist Church unanimously elected F.G. Walker their pastor for the coming year at $600. 1895: Oliver Bemen is the only candidate for mayor in the upcoming election, being the nominee on both the Citizens and People’s tickets. Sallie Strange is running for clerk and treasurer for the People’s party while for the Citizens are C.B. Bowman for clerk and William Krier for treasurer. 1901: Oliver Bemen is the only candidate for mayor. C.L. Martin is running for treasurer and J.P. Stranger for clerk on both the Citizens and Peoples party tickets as well. Unlike the Citizens, the Peoples ticket includes three women for trustee positions, Mrs. Fannie Simpson, Mrs. W.R. Willis and Mrs. E.L. Hill. 1906: James Nuttall’s new iron fence cost him $100, but it should last 100 years. [Note: 112, so far!]. 1912: Died, Verpucius Nelson Lester, a resident since last spring. He was born in 1826 in New York but lived for many years in Ottawa, Kansas. He leaves sons Lothom Solon Lester, La Veta, and Dr. Pliny P. Lester of Walsenburg, and daughters the Misses Lucy and Mary Lester of La Veta. 1918: The wind the past week has been simply terrific. Not much damage has been done in town, but the roofs of several box cars have been blown off while the cars were in transit, and it reported that part of the roof of the Veta Pass depot went sailing down Middle Creek. 1925: Isaac Patterson, of the well known Patterson family and mule boss at Morley mine near Trinidad, was severely injured by the kick of a mule and lies in critical condition [he died and was buried in Trinidad]. 1931: Everybody and his grandmas attended the P.T.A. meeting Wednesday evening and the school auditorium was packed beyond capacity, to see Dr. Lamme’s pictures he took while in Europe. 1936: An extension club called Stitch and Chat was organized at the home of Mrs. Eugene Ellis and the 15 women present adopted bylaws. 1941: Joeann Roush won first place in an essay contest of Mrs. Carrie Hamilton’s music students on the topic, “Is It More Fun to Listen or to Perform?” 1947: The town basketball league completed its season with Walter’s Barbershop in first, La Veta Cash and Carry, second, Young Brothers Service Station third and Jim’s Pool Hall, fourth. 1952: A Kansas truck driver was killed on La Veta Pass yesterday when his brakes failed, causing him to careen off the road and hit a tree a few miles west of Rock Rest. He was carrying 20 tons of potatoes. 1958: Development of a skiing area on La Veta Pass was urged at a luncheon meeting of the Huerfano County Chamber of Commerce after a survey was made indicating sports enthusiasts would be attracted from a radius of up to 100 miles. 1964: The Huajatolla Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution met Wednesday night in the home of Mrs. Carolyn Sporleder when they honored their La Veta D.A.R. Good Citizen of the Year – Mary Watson. 1972: Nola Long was named delegate to the Odd Fellows Lodge’s United Nations Headquarters meeting in New York City during June and Beth Pene is runner-up. 1977: More than 30 La Veta and Cuchara residents went to Walsenburg to attend Laura Padilla Ward’s piano concert in Elks Hall. 1982: La Veta Rancher Lowell Goemmer was elected president of the Mountains and Plains Texas Longhorn Association for 1982. 1987: A new family in town is that of Bob and Megan Kennemer and children Moira and Galen. 1993: The La Veta Quick Response Team earned $1,505 toward the purchase of a new vehicle in Saturday’s ski races at Cuchara Valley Ski Resort, in which 81 skiers participated with Danny Vietti judged the best overall skier.
