75 years ago: “Planting of 40 acres of memorial forest on the Lime Creek burn will be completed this week by the Forest Service. In the meantime, workmen for the Service have collected 75 bushels of Englemann Spruce and 50 bushels of Colorado Blue Spruce for seeding purposes.”

50 years ago: “The weatherman has promised blue skies and warm weather for the dedication of the new Durango Herald plant. All readers and customers of the Herald are invited, as well as interested visitors. The speakers will talk from a platform at the top of the front steps. The Fort Lewis College band will start playing marches at 11:50 a.m., so many may want to come early.”

25 years ago: “Among those memories of Durango’s just-completed Cowboy Culture weekend is seeing actor Barry Corbin cross the street from the Red Lion Inn. He was one of several celebrities in town for the third annual Durango Western Arts Film Festival. Corbin, most recently featured as a retired astronaut in the CBS television summer fill-in series, ‘Northern Exposure,’ often plays a macho, gung-ho character who can also be a bit of a nerd. For his stroll, Corbin didn’t seem out of character. He was sporting aviator sunglasses and what appeared to be expensive cowboy boots.”

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