100 years ago: “The appropriation of $100,000 for a federal building and post office in this city has been increased one-third, now being $150,000. The bill now goes to the house, where no trouble is anticipated in its passage.”
75 years ago: “Thrifty shoppers of the entire basin are buying heavily at Graden’s semi-annual store-wide clearance sale. Many mothers are stocking up on school clothes for the coming season.”
50 years ago: “An Athena missile finally made it from Green River, Utah to White Sands, New Mexico. On its first try this year the missile fell apart with the debris landing near Ignacio. Scores of technicians and airmen came to search the area. On the second try the missile was also destroyed, but not in La Plata County. The third Athena missile soared properly as it should across the Four Corners. The 450 mile trip took 15 minutes and reached an altitude of 250,000 feet. The Air Force said the missile carried a sub-scale experimental re-entry vehicle.”
25 years ago: MESA VERDE – “The largest fire in the history of Mesa Verde National Park continued to burn out of control, so far avoiding structures and the most famous ruins. The lightning-caused fire, whipped into a firestorm, had torched 2,350 acres on Long Mesa and topped the main escarpment, so that flames are visible in Cortez.”
Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not be verified.
