100 years ago: “While reports generally of grouse hunters’ luck on Sunday, the first day of the season, were good, few had the good fortune attending Dr. J.B. Ochsner and W.R. Mason who shot 34 birds on the La Platas in a few hours.”
75 years ago: “Mr. and Mrs. Bob Tays returned from a trip to Chicago, where Bob did the fall and winter buying for Graden’s mercantile.”
50 years ago: “Lightning flashed, thunder crashed, dogs cowered under beds and in basements – and the rain fell again. The late afternoon thunderstorm bathed Durango with .45 inch of moisture to bring the month’s total to 3.60 inches compared to 1.49 inches a year ago by Aug. 18.”
25 years ago: “The La Plata County Fairgrounds grandstands are structurally sound, a valuable structure and should be saved, a structural engineer told city and county building officials. John Morgan, president of Morgan & Associates, has done a third structural analysis of the grandstands integrity at the request of the Save Our Fairgrounds Association. ... He concurred with previous reports that the grandstands needed repair and maintenance but said the structure was basically intact and usable.”
Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Animas Museum and Center of Southwest Studies. Their accuracy may not be verified.