100 years ago: “Yesterday’s election in Durango for the selection of five commissioners to guide the city’s destinies for the next few years under the recently adopted ‘city manager’ plan resulted in a victory of the progressive element and the citizens who are for advancement.”
75 years ago: “Theater-goers at the Kiva this week watching the ‘March of Time’ newsreel, which portrayed life in the U.S. Navy, in 1940 were surprised to see two San Juan Basin lads going through the mill. Both T.J. Dial of Durango and Thomas Martin of Farmington appeared in the film.”
50 years ago: “A Forest Service crew is shoveling snow in Chicago Basin. This is no ideal scheme to keep crews busy. It’s absolutely necessary. The first Trail Ride of the Wilderness for 1965 goes out Tuesday morning and the high country still is under snow. Forest crews are clearing it from trails used by outfitter Joe Hotter and his group of riders. Trail Riders of the Wilderness, organized by the American Forestry Assn. in 1933, is one of the group’s educational services. The purpose of the trips is to offer the average desk-sitter or housewife an opportunity to get, comfortably, into the remotest corners of the National Forests and Parks.”
25 years ago: “A second engineering report on the condition of the La Plata County Fairgrounds grandstands has concluded that the stands could be fixed and reopened for the remainder of the season.”
Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not be verified.
