100 years ago: “Arrangements were practically concluded for the special train to Silverton to accommodate those desiring to go from here for the opening day of the big Labor Day celebration. Through the combined efforts of the Durango Exchange and the Silverton Commercial Club, Superintendent McGraw has promised a special engine to pull the special over the hills.”

75 years ago: “Dean E.H. Bader of Fort Lewis College received a telegram from President Roy M. Green of Colorado State College at Fort Collins, giving Fort Lewis the ‘go ahead’ in the matter of forming a ground school at the college for student pilots. The student pilots, if the training unit is established, would be given their ground instruction at the college and their training in the air, from the Durango airport recently cleared near Falfa.”

50 years ago: “For three-and-one half hours 520 kids screamed, twitched and danced at the ETC. Cause for their ecstasy was understandable: A Shindig band and two Go-Go dancers had brought their television talents to Durango. The group is currently engaged in a whirlwind tour of Western and Midwestern states.

25 years ago: “Rescue crews were searching for an Albuquerque man overdue since Friday from a mountain-climbing trip in the Chicago Basin. The air-and-ground search is concentrated in the area surrounding 14,000-foot peaks in the Weminuche Wilderness northeast of Durango.”

Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not be verified.