100 years ago: “Bill Shaffer, who went up into the mountains to see how his miners were getting along returned, although he expected to stay several days. He says he killed a couple of bears with a rock and come back for a wheel barrow to bring them in.”
75 years ago: “That Durango is rapidly becoming the archaeological capital of the United States is the belief of I.R. Flora, tree-ring expert and employee of the Carnegie Institution. The locality around Durango provides one of the finest fields in the United States for the study of different types of Indian culture over a great period of time.”
50 years ago: “Frederick W. Kroeger, Basin pioneer and senior partner in Farmers Supply in Durango, died. Kroeger was born near Castle Rock in 1879, one of nine children. The family came to the Basin in a covered wagon 79 years ago, searching for a good farm. After the 30-day trip they found a farm in Montezuma County and stayed there for 11 years. In 1896 they moved to La Plata County. ... Kroeger was known to farmers and ranchers, and townspeople as well, as a man of wisdom and common sense.”
25 years ago: “The La Plata Community Hospital board of directors is looking at ways to enter into a lease with Brim & Associates Inc. without jeopardizing the current tax status of the hospital district’s bond holders. The board’s legal counsel, said that if the hospital enters into a lease with Brim, a for-profit company, the interest on bonds purchased two years ago may become taxable. Currently, the interest on the bonds is tax exempt because the hospital is a special district, and interest generated from bonds raised for government entities is not taxed.”
Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not be verified.
