100 years ago: A boulder, estimated to weigh more than 100 tons, “rolled down the hillside, over the track and into the river,” and “demolished” a section of railroad on the Farmington branch.
75 years ago: Members of the American society of newspaper editors attended a chemical warfare demonstration to see a presentation of a new oil bomb, which “exploded a solid sheet of flame” that “burned fiercely for several minutes in an area with a 25- to 30-foot diameter.”
50 years ago: 16-year-old Mike Van Horn was “nursing a sore head” after a light fixture on the ceiling of the Durango High School swimming pool fell 30 feet and struck him.
25 years ago: La Plata County Sheriff’s Department deputies gave a man with a sleeping bag a ride from Farmington Hill to the intersection of U.S. Highways 160 and 550 during a heavy rain shower.
Most items in this column are taken from The Durango Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not be verified.
