100 years ago: George Gilmour, “a fine breed onion raiser of Flora Vista for the past 26 years,” relocated to Aztec. He was either “over-supplied with apple jack or recovering from an attack of comatose, or else the reporter on that sheet had a protracted interview with a bottle of grape juice.”
75 years ago: Readers were told to “spread the news” that waste kitchen fat was needed for the war. “Every ounce” was needed for “the manufacture of glycerin” for gun powder and other explosives.
50 years ago: Arson was reportedly the cause of a fire that burned the old Durango Hotel at 516 Main Ave. The doors to the building were left unlocked and three boys were allegedly chased out of the hotel shortly before the fire started, after they attempted to take electrical fixtures from the property.
25 years ago: The U.S. government processed uranium from 1943 to 1963 at the base of Smelter Mountain, initially to build the atomic bomb that resulted from the Manhattan Project. The legacy it left was said to be “groundwater beneath the site contaminated with arsenic, cadmium and uranium.”
Most items in this column are taken from The Durango Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Accuracy of content may not be verified.
