100 years ago: “Some of the largest California oranges ever seen in this city are now offered for sale. By the way, no orange that ever grew can surpass in real toothsomeness of a San Juan Basin apple.”
75 years ago: “Sheriff Bruce Sullivan of La Plata County is the only man in Colorado invited this year to attend the National Police Academy at Washington D.C. Attendance is only by invitation, and invitation is extended only in cases wherein the FBI, upon its own initiative, selects an outstanding officer as being qualified and worthy to receive what might be called a post-graduate academic course in law enforcement subjects.”
50 years ago: “An unidentified elk met death when a Scout hit it a mile north of Durango on U.S. 550. Patrolman Ernest Stevens reported Norman Julian Ottaway, 18, 624 Fourth Avenue, said he didn’t see the elk until he was upon it. Driving a Scout, Ottaway hit the elk and dragged in 88 feet. Damage to the Scout was heavy, but Ottaway was uninjured.”
25 years ago: “The Durango area was a hotbed of news this year. From trash dumps to bike races, from squawfish to an outhouse rescue, from the rumble of a far-off war to a new form of county government, the headlines screamed. The year’s top story was no newcomer to the top 10. For the third time in four years, the Animas-La Plata Water Project took top nod from Durango Herald editors and reporters. This year, the story was squawfish.”
Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not be verified.
